A tour of the Mythbusters Shop

By Eric Hart | Published: February 25, 2009

I’m not the only props person who is enthralled with Mythbusters. Working there would be a dream come true. There is a video on YouTube of Jamie giving a tour of their shop. It’s an amazing space, the kind every props artisan wishes they had. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have an entire warehouse to fill with tools, materials, found objects, and miscellaneous parts. Still, it’s a great video to watch, showing how they organize all the various bits they’ve accumulated over the years, and the challenges of keeping order in such a large shop.

Mythbusters: Behind the scenes tour, part 1

Mythbusters: Behind the scenes tour, part 2

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Props on Paper

By Eric Hart | Published: February 23, 2009

John sent me a link to his Props on Paper site. John is the head of props at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. He has a large number of paper props he has produced from over a dozen shows.

There are a number of other sites which have collections of downloadable paper props. You don’t necessarily need to search for theatre props; there are large communities of replica prop makers and role-playing game prop makers with all manner of documents available online.

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has a number of replica paper props from the early twentieth century, such as telegrams, drivers licenses, and library cards. They also have a nice section on making paper props.

P.I. Vintage has a lot of photographs from their Spy and Private-Eye Museum. Some are too small to be useful, but clicking through will find you many gems.

The Propnomicon blog has a number of posts on paper props.

A great source for researching vintage ephemera is eBay. Though it can be hit or miss, it’s one of the few sites where hundreds of people are uploading photographs of actual historic relics. You can search for your specific prop need, or search for “vintage ephemera“, or browse the Collectibles category.

You can also find a large number of actual historical documents online, which you can adapt for your use. For example, say you’re dressing a New York City apartment building, and want some realistic documents hanging in the lobby.

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Shakespeare’s Movables

By Eric Hart | Published: February 20, 2009

Over at the Popular Woodworking blog, Megan Fitzpatrick has an interesting post about joint stools in Shakespeare.

I’ve been reading a bit of Shakespeare lately (everyone should have a hobby, no?), and in several of his plays, the term “joint stool” appears, often in the service of a taunt. That’s piqued my interest in “moveables,” that is, early modern stuff such as furniture that shows up in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. (I’m hoping there’s a dissertation somewhere therein.)

I’m sure there’s a dissertation there; maybe there already is one. We seldom think of props in a scholarly manner; most of us work in props because we like building and/or searching for things. We know props are more than objects; they describe the characters, and add detail to the world on stage.

Perhaps the most popular book which delves more into the “why” of props, rather than the “how”, is The Stage Life of Props, by Andrew Sofer. I’ll admit it; I’ve only read small parts of it. I’ll have to find time for it before this year’s SETC Theater Symposium in April. The symposium is focusing entirely on props, and Mr. Sofer is one of the keynote speakers.

I’ll be presenting a paper called, “Devising a Mental Process for Approaching a Prop”. It should be interesting to hear the other papers. Be sure to check back here in April for my coverage of the Symposium.

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Jay Duckworth

By Eric Hart | Published: February 18, 2009
Jay makes a flat foam figure.

Jay makes a flat foam figure.

I’ve been working in the props shop at the Public Theatre for the past week and a half. Jay Duckworth is the props master there, and a fantastic guy to work for. You can see his work on his website.

Jay runs a podcast on props. You can listen to “Prop Dept” on iTunes. I’ve never really dealt with podcasts before, so I don’t know how you would get it if you don’t have iTunes installed. I have it, so I was able to download the latest five episodes. He presents tips and tricks such as making a barb-wire crown that oozes blood, turning a switchblade comb into a switchblade knife, and making slime.

You may also notice I’ve added a link in the sidebar to Submit a Link. If there is anything you think would be of interest to this blog, whether it’s pictures, tutorials, news, etc, send me the link and I will check it out.

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Actors Theatre of Louisville Props Shop

By Eric Hart | Published: February 16, 2009
A view of the furniture aisles from the hand prop aisle

A view of the furniture aisles from the hand prop aisle

Mark Walston, the props master at Actors Theatre of Louisville, has a comprehensive and continually updated Flickr stream of photos from the props and scene shop at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

I had the pleasure of working with Mark and the others there for a few months. It’s a great shop, and an amazing storage space. The giant train seat in the center of the photograph above is one of the pieces I built.

I have some more pictures after the break:

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