Scope and arrangement
McLane's professional career as a set designer is represented through the designs in this collection. The designs are largely for American theaters and include a number of sets for high-profile Broadway, Off-Broadway, and touring productions such as South Pacific (2001) and Sunset Boulevard (1998).
The collection contains working drawings and plans for backdrops; front and side elevations of scenery and props; construction and lighting specifications; texture, color, and paint samples; reference images; and ground plans of theaters and show spaces.
Paper designs reflect McLane's earlier career and date from 1988 to 2004. They contain technical drawings, elevations, research material, blueprints, sketches, notes and some color artwork depicting scenes. There may be electronic and paper designs for the same production.
The electronic files span from 2002 to 2015 and contain comprehensive records of McLane's design work. They include files created in drafting and design software such as AutoCAD and VectorWorks, and in other applications such as Photoshop. Alongside technical drafting documents, the files frequently include photographs of scale models constructed during the design process, the theater, the work in progress, and the performance. Through the electronic records, the evolution of a set design from concept sketch, to model, to finished production can be traced. These files also contain some audio and video recordings, schedules, lists, and a small amount of professional correspondence.
Thirteen set designs by Douglas Stein, McLane's colleague and friend, are included in the collection. The collection also includes scripts, some of which are annotated, mostly from the 1990s.
Arrangement
The designs are arranged by the year given on the item, which may not be the year the show was performed. Scripts are arranged alphabetically.