Tag Archives: set dressing

Wednesday Link-atomic

November 4, 2009 Eric Hart 2 Comments

Here we go again!

In Part 2 of Jesse Gaffney’s posts concerning her process, she discusses how she makes a budget.
This guy has quite a collection of masks he’s accumulated over the years.
The Early Office Museum has an amazing amount of information concerning all the props and accoutrementsÂ of offices going all the way back to the sixteenth century.
What the World Eats is a project by photographer Peter Menzel which documents what families throughout the world eat in an average week. It’s helpful if you ever need to set dress a kitchen in say, Japan. It is also a book: Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

Slave Shack set props

October 21, 2009 Eric Hart

Slave Shack, at the Algonquin Theatre, opened this past Monday. It is my first off-off-Broadway Props Master credit, as well as the first off-off-Broadway scenic design credit for Natalie Taylor Hart (my lovely wife). It is directed by Debra Whitfield and stage managed by Elizabeth Salisch, with lighting designed by Deborah Constantine. Today, I’ll be looking at some of the set props and dressing and what went into this show. Once the show closes, I’ll examine the hand props; as of now, just showing them will give away too much of the story line.

As you can see, the stage is tiny – around twelve feet by fifteen feet. The setting is the corporate office of a senior executive vice president in Manhattan. Natalie did an amazing job capturing that grandeur in such a small space. My advice to her was that since the furniture pieces couldn’t be grand in scale, they would need to exquisite in construction and appearance. Everything in this photograph was built, found, modified, and painted by the two of us.

I originally built the desk so it could be taken apart for easier transport up to the theatre, but we were able to get a large enough vehicle from Zipcar. I built the structure out of 3/4″ plywood that was left over from the Public Theatre’s Bacchae and was headed for the dumpster. I covered it all in Masonite which was literally being carried out to the trash; the smooth surface saved me a lot of time in sanding and filling. The metal surface is from an off-cut piece of sheet metal I’ve saved for a few months. I worked over it with a wire wheel brush hooked up to a drill to give it that pattern.

I built the bar the same way I constructed the desk. The Masonite already gives you a fairly smooth and neutral surface. For added smoothness, I put on two coats of primer, sanding in between each coat.

The decanter on top was a tricky find; all the scotch decanters we could find were either too expensive, too ornate, or had the word “scotch” engraved on them, which we didn’t want. Natalie finally found the perfect one on Etsy. I knew Etsy sold handmade objects, but I was surprised (and pleased) to discover they also sell vintage items.

We needed a number of artifacts to dress the set. Natalie did not want to limit the artifacts to Africa, and asked for artifacts from other places where Jack Blake, the lead character, mentions he has traveled. In addition, she did not want any of the objects to be functional, so all of them (save for the jar on the left, which was needed for a bit of stage business) were figures or instruments. The large woman statue is from the Harlem Market, while the foo dog and other creature is from Pearl River. The drum is from the director, while the jar is from Natalie.

Debra, the director, wanted a fertility goddess statue placed apart from the rest of the artifacts. We could not find an appropriate one within our budget. Natalie collected photographs of a number of fertility statues, and working with the director, developed her own design which she then sculpted out of foam.

Stay tuned for next month when I can discuss the hand props. Until then, keep coming backÂ for your normal dose of prop news and stuff you can use!

Reprints

Amateur Theatricals

August 5, 2009 Eric Hart

From Amateur Theatricals, by C. Lang Neil, 1904 (pp 140-141)

Arrangement of Scenery

The two things to be aimed at are to have what is actually wanted, and to make the scene look natural and effective, always remembering that a very great point is gained if your stage looks attractive. To this end bring everything to bear upon the stage setting that will please the eye, and make a good picture. The aid of the ladies may often be relied upon to arrange such a scene as this with the best results.

Everything used in the scene should be set at rehearsal, and the actual furniture and properties wanted at night should be used, not substitutes. Thus the actors will be able to regulate their movements on the stage; the table will be of the proper shape, the chairs will be well placed, not too high nor too low, nor too heavy to move easily. If the couch is used it must be placed in the exact spot, and not in the way, and a few books, writing materials, a lamp, handbell, etc., can be distributed in any way that seems desirable either for use or ornament.

For a drawing-room the draperies should be of a lighter shade than for a dining or other room, in fact, everything should be appropriate to the place and occasion.

For a cottage scene there should be plainer draperies, the floor covered with a drugget or plain carpet, a plain wooden table, two or three windsor chairs, and, where possible, a few kitchen utensils displayed to give the scene an air of reality.

Much taste and ingenuity may be exercised in the arrangement of the stage should a garden scene be required.

The screens should be covered with a trellis work, with branches of evergreen arranged upon it, or a piece of green baize may be hung over them, with a quantity of ivy fastened on it, and perhaps a few artificial flowers fixed here and there. Pots of shrubs and flowers may be placed at the back and sides of the scene, and green baize should be used in place of a carpet.

In short, whether the scene represents an interior or exterior, amateurs will do well to utilise anything and everything that will not only be suggestive of the real thing, but that will approach reality as nearly as possible.