Tag Archives: Adam Savage

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Monday Morning Link-O-Rama

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“Making the Props Pop” is a nice news article about Bonnie Durben, a props master out in San Diego.

Over on the Stage Manager’s Forum is an interesting game called “Hell in a Handbag“. You take a simple note from a rehearsal report (such as “Maria is holding a book in I, 3.”). The first person comes up with five questions that arise from that seemingly innocuous note (“What color should Maria’s book be? What size? Any particular title or author? Will the audience see the inside? Hardcover or softcover? Used or new? Should it have a pricetag on it? Does it need a bookmark? Ribbon? Tie closure? Does it get thrown? Dropped? Destroyed? Burned?”). After asking those questions, that person adds a new note for the next person to ask questions about. It’s a great look at how even ordinary props can have many considerations which need to be answered for every production.

In case you missed it, hear is a video of Adam Savage (from Mythbusters) talking about why we make at this year’s Makers Faire.

Joseph O. Holmes has taken these interesting photographs of workspaces over a four year period.

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Friday Notes

Things continue chugging along here. King Lear began previews. I’m furiously preparing the first four chapters of The Prop Building Guidebook to submit to my publisher at the end of the month. Yet I still have time to find fun things on the internet.

Here’s an interesting story on how a film prop (technically, a mask) became a real-life prop used in protests around the world. This article on the V for Vendetta masks shows who is behind them and how this all came about.

Christopher Schwartz, former editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine and current founder of Lost Art Press, has published 14 principles of shop setup which he has developed over 20 years of woodworking.

In the same vein, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters’ fame have 15 DIY Workshop Tips, including an ingenious nesting work table and indispensable tools to have.

In our current production of King Lear, we needed to provide them with a paper bag. Not just any paper bag. Only a specific size would do. I eventually found a place online we could order a close-enough size, provided we cut a few inches off the top. So I thought this history of the paper bag posted on the MoMA site was particularly apropos to the situation.

I don’t mean to nerd out, but did you know there’s a whole club of people who build R2-D2 replicas? I haven’t signed up to view the forums, but you can still browse the galleries, and read a few issues of the online magazine they publish.