Crafting the Impossible: Craig Toquam’s Backstage Brilliance

Craig Toquam, alumni parent, is the talent behind a key part of what makes our recent theater productions shine: set design. All that is seen on stage—the look and feel of a production—has stemmed from the mind of Craig Toquam. 

Having initially not been very interested in art growing up, Mr. Toquam learned that he had a real passion for building and creating things. Craig’s first real project came from an idea his son, Michael, had years back: a full-on Master Chief costume for a church costume contest. Unfamiliar with who Master Chief was, Craig asked Michael for a picture—he knew that if he could see a picture of it, he could “build anything” if he had the time to do it. “I’ll just figure it out,” Craig smiled. 

After a few trips to the store for random materials and some feel-it-out-as-you-go craftsmanship, Master Chief was brought to life. Michael’s costume ended up being the talk of the costume contest, and its success prompted him to ask his dad once more for another awesome costume the following year. This went around, and Michael requested a fully functioning Dr. Who Dalek costume that someone could sit in, control, and move around the room. Mr. Toquam worked hard, accomplished Michael’s vision, and the Dalek won first place. 

Working on fun costumes for Michael was just the beginning; however, making Master Chief and the Dalek really sparked something within Craig. He soon found himself wanting to do more—and bigger. This quickly evolved into Craig jumping in to assist with large-scale set design for MCA theater, where he has been pouring his time, energy, and passion ever since 2022’s “Oklahoma!” 

However, helping out in the theater was not entirely foreign to Craig. “Out of college, my first job was touring the United States and Canada doing musical comedy, so I always loved theater. It just gets me in my heart—theater.” Much of Craig’s inspiration behind his designs stems from what truly is the heart and soul of our theater productions: the students. 

Being on stage in front of an audience is difficult for anyone, no matter the age, yet many of our highly talented students grace the stage with such confidence. “I want it to be cool for the kids,” Craig said of why he works so hard on his sets. “I want the kids to be inspired so that they can raise their level of acting, because I think if the kids feel like they have some cool stuff around them, that they will raise their level—they will concentrate more, they will try harder and be more confident. I think it just helps everybody.” 

Reflecting on the set for The Wizard of Oz specifically, a piece that was especially fun to work on was the Wizard’s control room, what with all its gizmos, gadgets, and bright lights. “I really wanted that to be cool,” Craig smiled. “That took ten days to figure out… maybe two weeks.” Through trial and error, and with the help of Owen Marvel, the Wizard’s control room came to life, and boy, did it look fantastic! That is the brilliance of Craig’s approach in that he works like he’s on an adventure, always finding new paths to take and tools to use along the way. 

Looking to the future, Craig has some ambitious, albeit super fun, projects in mind for stretching his skills. “I want to build,” Craig paused to laugh, “King Kong coming over the roof of my house.” And as if that was not enough, Craig is currently studying animatronics with the hope of creating a wearable Sven from “Frozen” to be controlled by an actor/actress on stage. Things like this set Craig apart. 

Mr. Toquam is one in a million. He is talented yet humble, gifted yet selfless. Craig does not just have the creativity to bring what is in his mind to life, but he puts in the time and the effort and leans on those around him to accomplish his vision and put on a show for the ages.