Category Archives: Useful Sites

Useful Sites

Links for the End of the World

This week has been especially hard for a lot of us in theatre in the US. A lot of the diversity inherent in our community feels threatened, both by potential policies that will pass, and by the implicit approval of hateful behavior in people across the country. We are also anxious about the safety nets and health insurance we rely on for some semblance of financial security in our lives. We are worried about our international collaborators, who already face difficulty crossing our border and working here. And of course, we worry about the theatre itself, which now must work under a President-Elect who has crossed IATSE picket lines in the past and shown no hesitation to jackhammer artwork into a thousand pieces if he can make a buck off of it.

Theatre can survive. We’ve survived the complete banning of our craft by governments and religions in the past. Modern theatre continues to survive its complete censorship (Belarus Free Theatre) and even survives in war zones where its leaders are assassinated (Jenin Freedom Theatre).

But we need to recommit to protecting everyone in our community and making sure the theatre remains a safe space for us to work and tell our stories. And we need to continue telling stories to ensure our country can stem the tide of demagoguery and bigotry that has plagued it throughout its history.

That’s my piece for now. Onto the links:

The USITT Member Spotlight shines its light on Jeff Bazemore, the props master at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. Jeff only finished graduate school a few years ago, and he has already proven himself to be a rockstar in props and an integral resource for others.

Popular stage shows like ‘War Horse’ are leading a puppetry revival. If the world is having a puppetry revival, perhaps there’s some hope after all. Macleans takes a look at some of the puppeteers and companies leading this revival.

Wired showcases the work of Jordan Boltan, who constructs hundreds of tiny props, set pieces, and costume elements, then arranges them to make delightful posters for various films.

Useful Sites

Back with Props Links

Sivir’s Chakram, League of Legends – Volpin Props is back on his blog, with a big write-up on the massive (but lightweight) Chakram he built. He mills many of the parts on a CNC machine with urethane tooling board, then molds and casts them. Lot of great pictures here.

Criminal Minds: Take a Tour of the Killer Prop Room – This TV Guide video takes us into the prop room of Al Eisenmann, who has been prop master on the show for the past 11 years.

The secrets of a horror movie effects maker – This interview with Mike Kelt, founder of the special effects firm Artem, takes us behind the scenes into the world of zombies and gore. Plus, he shares his fake blood recipe with us.

‘Star Trek: Beyond’ Prop Master on Paying Homage to the Original Series – Yahoo News brings us this video with Andy Siegel, prop master of Star Trek Beyond. He shows off a number of iconic props from the movie, and details how they relate to the props from the original series of the 1960s.

Useful Sites

Friday Rehearsal Notes

6 Theatre Workers You Should Know – American Theatre just picked Karin Rabe Vance as one of this month’s theatre workers. Karin is the props master at the Alley Theatre, which just had a major renovation done to their production facilities. Her shop produces some enviable work, and as a fellow S*P*A*M member, she is a great help to the props community.

Designer Lez Brotherston claims boom in theatre admin jobs has taken toll on technical roles – I once walked the facilities of a theatre company which had gone out of business and were auctioning off their building and assets. The admin office was filled with rows and rows of desks; they probably had 30 people working in there. But they had no production or technical workers on staff, and produced only one show a year. I’m sure other reasons exist for their bankruptcy, but I can’t see how a setup like that could ever be successful, even with a constant infusion of cash. Anecdotally too, it seems more and more young theatre artists want to get into the admin side of things, and fewer want to do any of the hands-on work. But ultimately, you can’t get a show in front of an audience by sitting in front of a computer all day or by talking in a meeting. You have to physically build, paint, sew, wire, and source every last bit, and then heft it through the theatre door.

Free Download for Halloween: The Coffin Chapter – Just in time for Halloween, or perhaps for your remount of Christmas Carol, comes this free chapter from one of Lost Art Press’ books. It’s a lot of hand woodworking, but you can easily adapt the instructions to build one with power tools. I’m dying to try this out.

The Humble Book Bundle: Cosplay – If you haven’t heard of “Humble Bundles”, they take a bunch of products and let you buy them all for however much you want to pay, with all the money going to charity. From now until October 28th, they have a bundle of cosplay books, which feature a lot of stuff that prop builders will find interesting. They are all e-books, but it’s very high quality stuff; some of the books have been reviewed here before, and others are by well-known prop builders whose work has been featured on this blog. Check it out before it’s too late!

Useful Sites

Land of Props Links

Backstage and Now the Boss: ‘The Only Girl in the Building’ – The New York Times takes a look at Jennifer Diaz, the first female head carpenter in IATSE Local 1. Besides exploring her career, it is also a great look at the inner workings of the most famous stagehand union.

Behind the Scenes at the Guthrie for “Sense and Sensibility” – Twin Cities Live talks with Patricia Olive, the prop master at the Guthrie Theater and fellow S*P*A*M member. They also talk with Linus Vlatkovich, the props carpenter for the show, who has been at the Guthrie for 44 years.

Scare Trick or Treaters with a Pneumatic Moving Box – Make Magazine has this great little tutorial on using two syringes to make a pneumatic opening box. There’s no air compressors or electrical parts here, just cheap, simple trickery.

The History of Wine Containers: Featuring Guest Writer Emily Kate – Your play takes place in the past; what kind of container does your wine come in? Emily Kate looks at the history of how wine was stored. You don’t want to make the anachronistic mistake of using a box of Franzia in your Ancient Egyptian show.

Sine Curve Tutorial – Finally, Lost Art Press shows us how to draw a smooth sine curve, which is a little detail often found on period furniture.

Useful Sites

Saturday’s Monstrous Links

First Person Monster Blog with Shannon Shea – Shannon Shea is a well-known creature and effects artist who worked on films like Predator, Batman Returns, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park. He has not updated his blog in a few years, but it has a treasure trove of stories and information if you are willing to dig through the archives.

How to Make a Halloween Mask “Sculpting” – Ed Edmunds shows you how to sculpt a scary monster mask out of water-based clay in this half hour video.

Building a Life-Size Replica of Poe Dameron’s X-Wing – Not quite life-sized, but still pretty amazing.

Got bored, made electric shaver (handheld heatwire foam cutter) – Here is a short little tutorial about making a hot wire cutter run off of a 9V battery.  I am not sure why you would want a hot wire cutter that is the same size as a knife blade, but here you go.