Ellie Lash

Set Progress for Matilda the Musical as of November 21st.

The Bishop Feehan Theater Company is in the midst of putting together and tying the bow on their winter show for the 2025-2026 school year: Matilda: The Musical. 

One thing that sets this production apart from musicals Feehan has done in the past is the focus on the set. The creative team decided to go bigger and bolder than they have ever gone before. 

The design consists of three main parts. The structure at the center is stationary and provides a visual representation of Matilda’s house and bedroom. The structures on stage left (the actor’s left) and stage right (the actor’s right) are both movable to provide backgrounds to certain scenes. For example, the structure on stage right spins 90° to change the setting from outside to the bathroom in Matilda’s house. 

Theater company Stage Manager and Feehan senior, Myles Flores, is the brilliance behind the design. He spent many hours planning, creating, and 3D printing the design for the set over the summer. He had to print over 10 models until it was perfect and ready to share. When asked about his inspiration, Myles said he wanted the set to be “dynamic” and described how he played with how the pieces could move around each other and went from there. 

Another key player in this process is the theater company director, Mrs. Jessica Strunin. When asked about why she decided to go with Myles’ design, she reflected on the nature of theater, saying,

Mrs. Strunin also shared that her favorite part of the set is all the hidden entrances and exits that allow the magic to happen. She made sure to credit the other adults who have helped in this endeavour, including Mrs. Kelly Gomez, who teaches classes such as robotics and engineering at Feehan. Mrs. Gomez “has taken all of Myles’s drawings and made them real,” says Mrs. Strunin. 

Of course, there have been some mistakes and roadblocks along the way, including figuring out how to paint the roofs of the structures, and the large size of the buildings had

to be cut down to fit better. But as Mrs. Strunin said, “You gotta be okay with making mistakes.” 

See the set for yourself at Bishop Feehan’s production of Matilda: The Musical on December 5, 6, and 7th. Tickets are on sale now!