A Different Rake

It's Spring Break and I spent nine hours at school - but that's because I'm using the time to build the set for our musical, Wizard of Oz. It's an ambitious set design but one that I'm excited to be working on.
As with any school play, we have a very tight budget ($1000) and limited space: the stage is literally a box on the side of the elementary gym. So I decided to create a semi-circle rake with a half circle, curved wall behind it. The idea is to force perspective, making the stage appear deeper than its mere 24'. Remember, there's all of Kansas and Oz to be crammed onto that stage.
In the picture you can see the joists laid out for the rake. I built each section as an individual piece that could be reused on other productions. Here's how I built each section: two, eight foot long 2x8 boards were ripped on the diagonal, producing four joists. Add some 14" long blocking and nail a sheet of plywood on top. I was able to locate some "slightly used" plywood on campus so that helped with the cost. There were a couple odd shaped pieces added to make it more circular.
Several students showed up to help, but since none of them brought tools, there wasn't much for them to do. In the afternoon I started on the wall but will post more about that tomorrow.