New Orleans knows how to put on a spectacle. This is a city where history is always brushing up against theater, and where the line between the real and the romantic is blurred. So when the Orpheum Theatre hosted Anne Rice: An All Saints' Day Celebration, the evening wasn’t just a tribute; it was a love letter to the aesthetic world Anne Rice spent decades building, one lush and shadowy detail at a time.

Downtown FabWorks had the privilege of shaping the physical environment for that storytelling: the lectern where tributes were spoken, the stained-glass trees glowing with ethereal color, the angelic header floating above the video screen, the wrought-iron fencing overgrown with greenery that framed the stage like the entrance to an old Garden District mansion, and the grand pillars and portico that pulled everything together. Each piece needed to feel like it belonged in Rice’s universe — gothic, emotional, slightly supernatural — but also durable, safe, and designed for the precision of a filmed event.

Building a World, Not Just a Stage

The first creative challenge was tone. Anne Rice’s writing doesn’t live in minimalism. It lives in rich texture: velvet shadows, candlelight, and baroque detail. So the scenic environment needed to hold that sense of romantic gravity without slipping into parody or overwhelming the performers.

The lectern, for example, had to look like something you could imagine in a cathedral or a century-old library, but it also needed to be light enough to be easily moved. We designed it with precision-cut framing, faux-stained-glass panels and integrated lighting to add dramatic glow and invoke historic gravity.

The wrought-iron fencing served as the visual “gate” into the event’s world, and as a structure to hold lush vegetation that would complete the backdrop. From the house, it framed the stage; on camera, it added texture and depth around the speakers. While the fence pieces are made of lightweight wood carved with our CNC machine, we worked movie magic in the finishing department by leaning into colors and texturing that invoke the heavy, aged ironwork motifs you’d see walking along St. Charles at dusk. Like all other elements on this stage, the fence had to whisper “old, weathered New Orleans” without being literal street architecture.

But the stained-glass trees were where we got to have the most fun. They weren’t just decorative; they were mood carriers. Their color and translucence were meant to echo votive candles, old chapel windows, and the lush, overgrown settings Rice’s fans know by heart. Real stained glass would have been too heavy and too fragile for what the show needed, so our team engineered transparent acrylic, which is lightweight, camera-friendly, and luminous when backlit (the design also called for built-in shelves on the back of each tree for lighting elements to rest on). From the audience, they looked like they belonged in a dream sequence.

When the Scenery Has to Fly

Some of the most striking visuals of the event had to live above the stage — and that meant our work had to be built with flight in mind.

The portico, the angel header, and the stained-glass trees were all designed to be flown. Suspended scenery carries a certain paradox: it must look heavy, but actually be light. Every ounce matters, every attachment point must be engineered, and everything needs to be balanced and safe.

For the portico, we designed an internal frame that was strong but lean. The exterior surfaces were sculpted and finished to read as stone with the right aged, heavy, historical feel. It had to float, but also carry a sense of architectural permanence.

The angel header above the video screen was essentially a sculptural illusion. Up close, it’s a carefully supported structure with hidden rigging points; from the house, it appears like a guardian figure presiding over the evening. When the lighting switched to rehearsal mode and we stepped back to take it all in, the effect was exactly what we hoped: reverent with a theatrical presence.

Rigging was a full-team effort, coordinated closely with the Orpheum crew. The priority was a clean, secure, and perfectly balanced install, getting each flown element exactly where it needed to live for the duration of the show. Our fabricators were on site through load-in, programming, and show day, making sure every piece settled into place safely and stayed rock-solid until load-out began.

Paint, Patina, and Practical Magic

If you’ve ever seen a film set up close, you know scenic art is half science experiment, half alchemy. What looks like hand-carved cathedral stone is often foam, hard-coat, and eight layers of precisely controlled paint. What resembles wrought iron is often aluminum or wood dressed with patina tricks that only work under a specific color temperature of light.

For this event, finish quality mattered deeply. Every detail had to read both in person and on film. High-resolution cameras are unforgiving, and theatrical lighting can exaggerate or flatten texture.

Our team worked closely with our collaborators at Q+A Events and Production to make sure surface finishes were stage- and camera-ready. Hard seals, texturing, and patinas were layered and tested until they behaved exactly the way the show needed them to.

The result: a world that felt old, sacred, and full of emotional weight even though every element had been designed, fabricated, and finished with movability in mind and within a tight production schedule.

A Tribute Worthy of Its Storyteller

For our team, this project resonated on a level far deeper than fabrication. Anne Rice didn’t just write stories. She built entire worlds that people feel emotionally tethered to, and she did it with New Orleans as her most iconic, atmospheric backdrop. That’s part of why this collaboration felt so natural for us. We know the textures, moods, and visual rhythms of this city in our bones, and we were able to channel that understanding directly into the environment we built. At its core, that’s what our work is about: stepping into feelings, narratives, and themes, then shaping them into physical spaces you can stand inside.

This on-stage tribute to a literary icon, for our part, reflected the magic of scenic fabrication at its best. And it was an honor to help build it.

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There’s a reason that our motto is “Good People, Good Work—Excellent Experiences.” If you’re dreaming up an immersive space or thinking about how to create a built environment that's impactful yet light on its feet, we’d love to be part of your process. We’re proud to offer creative solutions that match your standards and elevate your audience's experience.

Ready to make some magic? Drop us a line at info@downtownfabworks.com to schedule a free discovery call today!

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