Rice opera set finds new home with Habitat for Humanity
Shepherd School donates high-quality materials to nonprofit

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

	PHOTOS BY JEFF FITLOW
	Music graduate students Shea Owens, left, and Robert Lilly take the wood from the opera stage to the Habitat for Humanity donation truck.

Though the stage of this spring’s opera was deliberately minimal, the set continues to get maximum use. After the final performance of “Our Town,” the set’s floor was taken apart and donated to Houston Habitat for Humanity to be used in a future building project. 

The Shepherd School has a long history of donating past sets to high school and community theaters, but this is the first time a set has found a home with Habitat for Humanity. However, it’s not Shepherd School technical director Troy McLaughlin’s first time working with the organization.

“I really enjoy volunteering with Habitat for Humanity,” McLaughlin said. “Even when it means I’m up on a roof in 80-degree weather and helping with construction. I knew that they would find a good way to use this wood.”

Purchased from Olshan Lumber for about $500, the high-quality wood can be used in a variety of ways, including in flooring as it was in the Rice production. McLaughlin said he reached out to Habitat for Humanity as soon as the set design for “Our Town” was submitted.

“I knew they could use it and was so happy to find a new life for our set,” he said.

The Shepherd School donated the wood used for the set of “Our Town,” which starred Tyson Miller (foreground) and Chelsea Morris and Brenton Ryan (right).		Troy McLaughlin lends a hand to the donation.