The Center for Youth Evangelism team produces this six-day event – the largest youth event in the world - every five years and it attracts visitors from over 100 countries. A key element in the CYE program is the enormous central stage which serves as the focal point for daily presentations and is the main stage for the event’s ongoing dramatic production.

Tom Ryan, CSSI’s design manager, met with the CYE team for several months to understand the story components and identify how the set could be designed to accommodate them. “Scenically, this was a simple project,” Ryan says. But the sheer size of the stage – which is 136 feet across, from side ramp to side ramp, and, including the 6-foot high stage and nearly 40 feet tall roof truss – presented some challenges.

The completed structure that viewers saw on stage was the Palace of Xerxes, brought to life by a team of eight carpenters, on average, building the set for eight weeks and four full-time Chicago Scenic artists who spent eight weeks painting the set. One of the most memorable touches on the palace was the six-foot-tall, eight-feet-wide lions that were scenically painted to appear three-dimensional.