Celebrating 60 Behind the Scenes

Volunteers Rod Bowen (Left) and Mark Hepworth (Right) are building their 60th set for the Xavier Performing Arts Department

by Maci Schimberg (X22), XHS Foundation Intern

Volunteerism is a cornerstone of the Xavier faith community so it’s probably no surprise that Xavier has an abundance of wonderful active volunteers over the years. What can come as a shock is the truly “behind the scenes” volunteers behind the curtains. Rod Bowen and Mark Hepworth have been the set designers for all musicals and plays since the inception of Xavier High School, and are currently working on their 60th set for the spring play titled, The Play That Goes Wrong. The duo are both former Rockwell Collins engineers with a passion for helping the Xavier Drama Department in any way they can since 1999. 

When asked about their love of set designing, Bowen and Hepworth said they love getting to express themselves through an artistic and engineering outlet when it comes to building these complex sets. Then when asked about the dynamic between the two of them Bowen said, “He asks me what looks good, and I ask him how to build it.” 

Bowen’s favorite set productions included ones such as Starmiles, Secret Garden, and Little Shop of Horrors, and Hepworth said his favorite set productions include Hello Dolly, The One that Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Noises Off.

When they are not building sets you may find them helping out with construction and installations for Xavier administrators and staff; such as making bookshelves and installing cameras. When building a set, production can come with a lot of down time, so the two have figured out some ways to keep themselves occupied. Hepworth says that they have a lot of fun behind the scenes saying he likes playing games with Bowen, such as “guessing the piece of wood” and “how many productions it’s been in.” “It’s a fun game we play,” said Hepworth. Along with hiding Beanie Babies around the sets for the student actors to find while they are rehearsing.”