John Del Bono
John Del Bono
SESSION #5: Dead Man Walking
FEATURING: John Del Bono, Scene Shop Foreperson, then Property Department (2000)
Interview conducted by: Dr. Clifford (Kip) Cranna, Dramaturg Emeritus, on 06/25/2025
(transcript read time ~ 9 minutes)
JOHN DEL BONO [JDB]: Okay, hi. My name is John Del Bono. My role with the San Francisco Opera was with the Properties Department, and my connection to Dead Man Walking is I was a first-year prop mechanic at the time.
KIP CRANNA [KC]: And I’m Kip Cranna. I’m called Dramaturg Emeritus now at San Francisco Opera. Pleasure to talk with you, John, about Dead Man Walking, and your recollections about that show. But before we get into it, say a little bit about how you came to be working at San Francisco Opera in the first place.
JDB: Well, I’ve been a stagehand my whole adult life. I got into it right after I got into high school. I decided it was going to be my career to be a stagehand, and I spent the first ten years of my career doing rock and roll and industrial theater, mostly through shops, and I landed in Local 16 in 1997, when the movie boom was happening up here. And after a couple years, I was brought in on Lori’s [Harrison, Property Master] second year. She wanted to establish a prop shop, and she hired a bunch of us that had come out of the local scene shops, and that’s how I got started with the SF Opera.
KC: So props were not being manufactured in house before that time?
JDB: They were, but not nearly to the degree of perfection that Lori wanted, and the amount of in-house-made props, where she was, and still is, obsessed with making sure that everything is exactly perfect. It needs to be exactly what the show calls for.
KC: And so you were involved in actually manufacturing props, at this point.
JDB: Yeah, I started on the Ring in ’99, and the first thing I did was take a whole bunch of mummies -- not mummies, mannequins -- and we cut them up, and articulated all their joints, to make a big, giant pile of dead soldiers, which never made it into the show. So the very first props I worked on here got cut before they (laughs) made it onstage.
KC: Sounds like a fascinating scene.
JDB: Yes.
KC: And what is your recollection about getting started with Dead Man Walking? Michael Yeargan, of course, had worked here on quite a few shows before that, as the designer, and he... Did he design the props for the show?
JDB: I don’t recollect. My biggest recollection of Dead Man Walking was this amazing amount of research that Lori Harrison had done. She came armed with a portfolio of photos and drawings, and photos of measurements of the actual gas chamber in Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary], and the table, and she was absolutely dead set on we are going to prop this show exactly as it needs to be done. And it was interesting because kind of up until that point I’d always worked for shops that their intention was to make a profit on whatever it was they were building, and Dead Man Walking was when I first realized that while it was important that you did things efficiently, and got it done, how much time you spent on something wasn’t nearly as important to Lori as what you did, and what you turned out. And so, it was my first... I remember, like, feeling this sense of relief, that, oh, I’m here to make art; I’m not here to make anyone money. And it was neat, because I got to fall into this world where what you produced was more important than how much time it took.
KC: So you could spend as much time as it took to get it right.
JDB: To get it right. You know, we still had deadlines and budgets and what have you that we had to work within, but no one was pressing you to get it done a little quicker so they could make a little bit more profit. So, all of a sudden, I find myself working in the arts. That’s when I realized I was in the arts was Dead Man Walking, and that we were here to put the best we can in front of the audience.
KC: Well, I know that shows evolve during rehearsals, and there was a workshop, of course, mostly musical, before the actual rehearsal period began. Do you remember any of the changes that happened with the props during the rehearsals?
JDB: I wasn’t really part of the rehearsal process. She had us kind of stuck up in the shop there, just cranking out props, and I was pretty new to the whole situation so I didn’t get very involved into ZA until the last couple weeks --
KC: That’s the rehearsal studio.
JDB: -- when we started putting stuff in. Yeah, in the rehearsal studio, so...
KC: Well, obviously, the major prop that is most memorable from the show is the death table --
JDB: Yes.
KC: -- where our prisoner gets strapped down for the lethal injection. How did you go about creating that?
JDB: Well, first of all, you know, Lori had excellent pictures, excellent measurements, which made it real easy. We knew exactly what it is she wanted us to build. But then we found out that the table was going to be coming up through a trap downstage towards the end of the show, and the trap wasn’t big enough to accept the table in its final configuration. So we got the measurements of that trap, and we built all the parts of the table, and then we had to build probably about eight different little mechanisms that allowed us to bring it up in a certain position. It came up looking like a bed, and the head and feet were running on- and offstage. So it would come up, and then we’d spin it around 90 degrees, so the feet were pointed at the audience. Then there was another tilting mechanism that brought it up into its tilted position, where he sings his aria from, and then the feet and legs had to be able to be pulled out into their position, and locked into there, for it to look like that. And then it had to collapse all the way back down, to be able to go back down into the trap.
So at that point, the shop -- Lori had had it for a year, and it didn’t have any metalworking capacities. There were no metalworking tools in there, and we realized that this was all going to have to be fabricated out of aluminum and steel. And so Lori went out and bought a welder, and we bought a few crude metalworking tools, and we got to work on the table. And it went through a few different iterations, and we did a little bit of prototyping, but what we ended up with looked exactly like what Lori had taken photographs in Angola, and it was quite the hero prop. (laughs)
KC: Did you have welding experience as part of your training?
JDB: Yes, yes, my background was in welding, and Lori has a bunch of experience with Local 16 welders, and so it was a real easy transition to move into that. And actually, I think, we’ve got a pretty good welding shop going on up there now.
KC: Do you remember the first rehearsals with the singer, John Packard, who had to be strapped into this thing?
JDB: [00:08:09] Okay, so this is one of my seminal operatic moments. We were told that we were going to do a full run through at Zellerbach, and they wanted the chair. And I had been warned that myself and Steve O’Reilly [Property Department] were going to be in costume, and we were actually going to be the ones manipulating the chair for the show. Now, I’m, like, pure theater technician. I never acted. I never auditioned for shows. And, for the most part, I don’t really follow the stories of the shows I’m working on, or I don’t follow the music. I follow enough to be able to do my job as supporting the performance from backstage, but I’m, like, pure stagehand.
So I was a little nervous about the fact that I had to go out and do that, but it was the table I built, and I knew I was the right person to manipulate it. So when we got to Zellerbach, our rehearsal space, for that rehearsal, we kind of got briefed by an AD [assistant director] on what it is what we’re supposed to do what our action was, and when we’re going to do it, and when to do the certain things, and that we were going to get cues from an ASM [assistant stage manager] at the first part. And so we had to set the table on a break, because it needed to be secured to the floor, so they took a break, and we got the table secured to the floor, and we got it positioned, and we double-checked and triple-checked everything.
And then they started the scene, and he started... We went, and it was time for us to go and grab him and take him to the chair. And I grabbed his arm, and I was really surprised that he resisted me. I wasn’t expecting that. And I was like, oh, man, and so, instinctively, I grabbed him harder, which surprised me, also. (laughter) And so we go, and we’re walking him up to the chair, and we’re going through the motions of getting him in, and strapping him in, and he’s trembling, and I’m like, oh, this is intense. And I find myself trembling, also, you know? And I’m kind of surprised by that. And so we get him all strapped in, and then we get to the point where Steve and I are supposed to step back, and I think he sings an aria, then Sister Prejean sings a little something, also.
And I looked up, and everyone in the artistic and production tables were bawling, and I was like, oh my gosh. I have never experienced anything like that in my life, and it’s still probably the most powerful -- what does Matthew [Shilvock, General Director] call them? The emotional experience of my opera career. I really didn’t see that coming, and I was really blown away by it, and it kind of changed my whole perspective of this Company, and what we’re doing, and why it’s important, that day in Zellerbach under work lights. It was an amazing experience.
KC: There’s the photograph that shows him being led along there, and trembling the whole time.
JDB: Yeah. So, you know, I don’t often cross that line from the backstage area, but that was pretty wild. And really, like I said, now I understand what it is what we’re doing, and what’s really important for our audience to see. And I don’t want to do it ever again. (laughter) I’m more than happy to be backstage, pulling lines or supporting the show, but it was a pretty cool experience.
KC: So you’ve never actually been onstage since then?
JDB: I’ve been onstage a few times, for various -- I think in Trovatore we’d all go out with the chorus, and then when they were doing singing we’d grab furniture and strike it and what have you. And I still really prefer not to be in costume for those, but it’s part of the job. I do say whenever I feel like I’m getting nervous onstage, or if I have to be out there for a while, and I start to become self-conscious, I just focus on how ridiculous the prompter looks, with his head popping up from underneath the stage, (laughter) giving us lines. I’m like, this is silly.
KC: That’s your way to keep the focus.
JDB: That’s my focus, yeah. (laughter)
KC: Tell us about the opening night experience, then, after this emotional rehearsal. What was it like when you finally actually did the show?
JDB: It was wild. I mean, we knew what our job was, and we’d done enough rehearsals that we were there, and were comfortable, but it was an experience to be down center in front of an audience like that. It was a little nerve-racking, but we focused on what we had to do, and the audience loved it. I mean, we all know that. That was pretty wild, to be part of a big production like that.
KC: Joe Mantello, the director, was doing his first opera. He’s a Broadway guy. Do you have any recollections about working with him?
JDB: I just remember... Because, like I said, this is my first year with the Opera, so I didn’t really have experience with anyone, but I remember how he would get so close and so intimate with the performers when he was giving notes and what have you. He wasn’t one of those “voice of God mic” giving direction from front of house. I can remember him coming up and really, really connecting with people and doing all that. And I knew, from what I’d heard other people saying, that he was a big deal, and it was a different way of working than we were used to, so... Yeah.
KC: Sounds like a satisfying experience as far as you’re concerned.
JDB: Yeah, yeah.
KC: Are you going to be working on the show this fall?
JDB: No, it’s a rental. I’m sure there’ll be some notes and what have you. I work at the scene shop now, so when these shows come in from other companies there’s usually something broken or something that needs some modification to fit on the stage and what have you, and so we’ll be at the shop, supporting it from there.
KC: All right, so you may need to repair another execution table.
JDB: Another execution table, for sure. (laughter)
KC: We’ll have to see what happens when it finally gets here. Is the production here yet? Do you know?
JDB: I don’t think so. I think it’ll be not too long from now, and it’ll probably come to our shop first, and we’ll look through it and see if we can identify anything that needs immediate attention.
KC: It’s a well-traveled show by now.
JDB: Oh, I bet. Yeah.
KC: Yeah, it’s been a lot of places. I’ve seen it, actually, in quite a few places.
JDB: Another recollection about the show, actually, if I could, was what Michael Yeargan designed was pretty complicated from a running crew standpoint, and there were all these sliders, and movements, and traps, and what have you that would slide back and forth when different scenes would come in. The stage was constantly moving back and forth. And Steve and I had a cue, because we were in costume, where we’d walk downstage with a couple of chairs and set them down center for Helen and De Rocher to have a conversation in. Yeah. And the first time we tried to run it in the PCA, it didn’t go very well at all.
KC: And, of course, artists run-through.
JDB: Yeah, the very first run-through with show light, and not in work light. And when we went to go do it, the cues weren’t happening correctly, and so I’m trying to walk downstage with this chair, and you’d step on something, and you’d start going stage right, because the grips were pushing it that way, and then you’d go to step off of that and there’d be a big hole in front of you and all that. (laughter) And I ended up almost all the way stage left by the prompter. It got so screwed up. Like, I finally was able to find the clock that we have in the pit to figure out where I was. So, technically, it was a challenging show to run, you know, and it took quite a while for us to get all those cues dialed in for it.
KC: Any involvement in the cars that are in the show?
JDB: Yeah, we worked on the Camaro, and stripped it out, and then another crew member, Don Roth, who was on our crew, had donated a Toyota Celica. That was the one that belonged to the two teenagers. And we pulled that apart, and pulled the motor and gas tank out of that, and then, once you do that, you’ve got to add some weight to the car, or cut the springs, to make it look normal again. So, yeah, that was fun. And the fact that Lori bought a Camaro that came all the way from Michigan -- was pretty cool. Then we all fought over who’d get the car when it was done.
KC: I’m thinking of the scene where Sister Helen drives to Angola. She doesn’t actually have a car there, but she’s got the semblance of a car.
JDB: Yeah, I built that. That was the little steering wheel on the box gag, yeah. (laughs) We went and pulled a steering wheel out of a junkyard, and mounted it to the box, and gave her a place to put her feet and what have you. I remember working... I forgot about that prop. And we had an injection machine, also.
KC: Yes, you were involved in that, as well?
JDB: I wasn’t. Someone else built that. That was built by the Electrics Department, but it was kind of a goofy-looking thing, I thought, but it was effective for the audience.
KC: Right. I remember also working with our sound designer, Roger Gans, on the sound of this death machine, the injection machine --
JDB: Yes, yes.
KC: -- as it set off its three doses. And what other prop challenges do you recall from the show?
JDB: You know, 25 years is a long time ago, (laughs) so... It was that table that occupied most of my time and effort for that show.
KC: We talked with Lori a little bit about the Coke machine at the end of act one. Is that something you --
JDB: I think that was something that she bought, and then kind of... We worked on it a little bit, and turned it over to the Electrics Department, also. Yeah, that one got set on that stage left slider that went on. That was another thing: it was a fun show to work, also, because the sliders would come offstage, and you’d just switch out all the scenery on them and then go right back out.
KC: This big unit -- I’m looking at a photograph that shows the prisoners on various levels, in silhouette. That looks like a hugely heavy unit of scenery. Is it as heavy as it looks?
JDB: It was very heavy. This whole show was heavy. Because it was so boxy, too. But I do remember seeing it in a pile at Indiana Street, and it took up a lot of space, even disassembled. But these were heavy units for us, and that was one of the early challenges for the carpenter crew was to get all these big, heavy units to roll really well.
KC: And they’re metal, I presume.
JDB: Yeah, metal, and with wood boxes on top, usually, is the construction style that we do. But even then, all those stairs are all steel, and I think those were all bought -- they weren’t fabricated -- so they were really stairs that you’d buy off the shelf for doing scaffold work and what have you.
KC: But unlike a Broadway show, where the show stays onstage for the whole run, this had to be in rep, coming down every night and being disassembled, more or less?
JDB: And broken into as big of pieces that would allow for us to be able to push it into the Patch, and get it around the corner, and let whatever the next evening’s performance in.
KC: The Patch being the scenery storage area.
JDB: Our storage area upstage, yeah.
KC: So lots of challenges. And I know you may have had experience with shows that have come from elsewhere that were not designed for rep.
JDB: Oh, absolutely. (laughs)
KC: And that is a real challenge for you guys.
JDB: Absolutely, it is. It always is, and some have been a lot worse than others. (laughs) About that time, when I was new, also... Darn it. Nabucco. An Italian Nabucco that we got from Italy, that was purple and aqua, and the entire set had been built to the building of the opera house that it came to, so it had no way of supporting itself when it got here, and it didn’t fit our building, because our building, of course, is a different shape than the building they were in, and we had to start from scratch, turning the façade that they had put on the interior of their stage into actual scenic elements and wagons and what have you.
KC: Might have been simpler to just build a whole new production from scratch. (laughter)
JDB: Often, when all is said and done, you wonder why you didn’t do that in the first place.
KC: Yeah, I’m sure. It seems like a good idea, if you see an attractive-looking set on a stage, but if it’s not meant to be taken apart, it could be a big problem. John, thank you so much for talking with us.
JDB: Thank you.
KC: This is fascinating.
JDB: Well, thanks for the opportunity to come in and share my thoughts. I really appreciate it.