Zora Senat, assistant stage manager (or “Assistant Boner,” as the crew called her), of a new play called Bone recently sat down with PLAY to discuss many facets of the innovative show. A Sit & Spin production, Bone is inspired by a comic created by Jeff Smith and will open Feb. 2 in Shanley Pavilion. Sitting under pink twinkling lights in her Foster-Walker Complex single, Senat, a Communication freshman, detailed a two-dimensional world of talking bones and great red dragons.

PLAY: Tell me about Bone.

Zora Senat: The director, Aaron Weissman, wrote it along with the help of stage manager Alex Hartzler. They took the main story out of this comic book series and made it into a play.

PLAY: What’s the significance of the title?

ZS: There are three bones that the whole play is centered around, and they’re cute little 2-foot-tall off-white puppets that look like actual bones. They have faces and arms and legs and weird bone-shaped heads. I’m very excited about the puppets. That’s actually the main reason why they brought me on – they wanted some artistic help with the puppets. Every week we have what we call “Bone Class,” which includes me, the director, the stage manager and the puppet designers (Katie Foster and Dan Kohler). We all collaborated to mold the clay into what we thought the bones should look like.

PLAY: Are there any other puppets besides the bones?

ZS: There’s a big, red dragon that’s comprised of a head and an arm. Chris Hejl, who plays the character, manipulates the head and the arm to make it look like a full dragon. It’s really cool looking, but it’s pretty creepy.

PLAY: What’s the set like?

ZS: It’s pretty intricate. There are two large wheels on either side of the stage. We’re really trying to go for this comic book-y look. When the audience sees the play, we want them to think “big comic book.”

PLAY: What is the significance of the wheels, if any?

ZS: At certain points in the play, the wheels turn to reveal 12 different scenes that are inspired by the comic book.

PLAY: So if this is a comic book, who are the superheroes?

ZS: The bones aren’t technically superheroes because they don’t really realize that what they’re doing is all that heroic. They’re just these three little characters who stumble into this new world, and the show is about their reactions and interactions with the population of this world. It’s really hard to explain, because it’s a bunch of comic books packed into one 60-page play.

PLAY: What are the costumes like besides the three bones?

ZS: Brittney Lower, the costume designer, is doing an awesome job, as usual. She’s really taking the whole comic theme and running with it. She’s making the costumes look as 2-D as possible by drawing in shadows and emphasizing shadows where they ought to be.

PLAY: Is the show like Avenue Q?

ZS: (Laughs.) That’s what everyone says when we try to explain the show. Yes, it’s very much like Avenue Q – except not a musical.

– Alex Brown