Sites Unseen

I’ve cobbled together some good links this week. Before we get to that, I wanted to mention that I will be at USITT in Charlotte, NC, this year.

From now until April 25, 2011, Rose Brand is running a contest called “How did YOU do it?” Submit a photo or video along with a detailed description of some theatrical wizardry or artistry you pulled off, and if it’s good enough, they will feature it… on their blog. Also $50.

This has already been making the rounds, but if you haven’t seen it yet, NPR’s Morning Edition had a story called Objectively Speaking, It’s All About The Prop Master. It talks about what a Hollywood film prop master’s job is like; you can check out photographs at the site, or listen to the story that played on the radio.

A Collection a Day is a daily photograph of related objects grouped together.

A collection of globes
A collection of globes

The American Package Museum (via S*P*A*M) is a fantastic collection of images of packaging through history. They do not list the years the various packages were in use, but they include size and scale references.

Here’s an interesting rant over at the Full Chisel Blog: Please Do Not use modern glue to repair old furniture. It ties into one of my own rants about how chairs were built to come loose over time, because the alternative is for them to break. The author rails against all modern glues, but polyurethane glue gets the brunt of his complaints (that’s what Gorilla Glue is). I’ve never used hide glue before, though I’m tempted after reading this. If you really, really do not want to set up pots of boiling water in your shop, the article points you to some modern alternatives of “hide glue in a bottle”.

What’s in a Prop Bible

What is a “prop bible” and why do we have one? We can answer the first question by answering the second; if a prop master were to disappear off the face of the earth during the preparation of a show, the prop bible would allow his or her replacement to pick up exactly where the process was left off. Thus, a prop bible would have any and all information which a prop master has picked up in the course of propping a show about the props and their various details.

Some of our prop bibles
Some of our prop bibles

The first thing a prop bible would have is a copy of the script. Like most prop masters, I like to have the script printed on one side of regular copy paper and placed in a three-ring binder. This lets me add notes, highlights, and otherwise mark up the script. It also allows me to write more detailed notes on the opposing blank page.

The next vital item to have in the prop bible is an up-to-date version of the prop list. The subject of what goes in a prop list is a discussion in and of itself. I wrote about how to read a script back in 2009; while it touches on some parts of creating a prop list, I haven’t explicitly written about the process yet. The important thing for the purposes of this article is to have a single document which lists every prop and piece of set dressing that is expected of you.

Next up is all the information the designer gives you. Drawings, draftings, research and inspiration photographs, and even verbal and written descriptions should all be collected as much as humanly possible. You may not be able to fit full drafting plates in your book, but if possible, you can print out or photocopy at reduced size or selected portion of the drafting with an indication that the full-size version exists in another location. I often do my own supplementary research; I indicate that these pictures did not come from the designer or director, as this can sometimes be an important distinction.

The daily rehearsal reports are also integral to a props bible. The stage managers will (hopefully) sum up all the prop notes and discoveries during the day’s rehearsals and send it out to everyone on the production team. This is where many of the notes about the usage and practical requirements of the hand props will come from. When someone asks “Why is Hamlet’s sword so short?”, you can point to the rehearsal report where the actor decided he would hide his sword under his cape, and a longer sword would stick out the bottom.

Other preproduction information to have copies of includes minutes from production meetings and any other meetings with the director, designers, or stage managers. Basically, any communication, written or verbal, where decisions are made about props should be included in the bible so you don’t end up making a fool of yourself by picking out a chair for a show which the director told you weeks ago was not the style he wants.

Your prop bible is also where you want to keep all the other relevant information about your production, such as the contact sheet, schedules, and any contract you may have signed.

As your process gets underway, you need to ensure that your prop bible remains up to date. You can also add information about the sources of where your props come from. If they are borrowed or rented, you can keep contact information for the source. You may also record information about stores or vendors where you buy items from. The actual financial documents, such as receipts and invoices, are not kept in the bible; in most organizations, you need to submit the original copies of these to the accounting department or some similar department. But keeping track of the budget and keeping your budget estimate up-to-date is a good thing to have in the bible. If you were to drop off the face of the earth and someone else had only the prop bible to finish the show with, he or she would want to know how much money was left to spend.

Once the show is “frozen”, you can begin the process of documenting the show. Pictures of every prop are vital, as are pictures of how the set dressing is arranged on stage. Prop preset lists and running sheets from stage management and run crew are good to have, too. If props are arranged a certain way backstage, either on prop tables or on shelves, photographs or even diagrams of these arrangements can also be included. You should list the consumables used during the show, including how much is needed per show or per week. Any sort of food, blood, or other recipe-based prop can have its recipe recorded and instructions on how to prepare it. It is especially helpful to have a pristine copy of every paper prop used, so that new copies can be made; if you have digital versions, you can burn these to a CD to keep with the bible as well. At this point, the prop bible becomes the document with which a person can recreate the props for a production down to the last detail.

In some cases, a theatre actually does remount a production it did in the past, or rent out the props as a complete package to another theatre. Even if your organization does not do that, the prop bible still comes in handy for a number of other reasons. Sometimes you want to track down the vendor of an item in your props stock; looking through old prop bibles can sometimes yield this information. Often, we get artists who remember certain props and want us to track them down. “I remember using a green table when I did Hamlet here in 2004,” a director may reminisce. “Can we get that for our next show?” You may not have worked in that props department back in 2004, but if your predecessor had kept good bibles, it would be a mere matter of looking up that show, finding the photo of the table in the bible, and matching it to an item in your stock. Or, it may reveal that such an item was actually rented in 2004, and you can call the rental place to see if it is available.

The point of all of this is that when wagering against what information you will need in the future, keeping accurate records now will ensure you always win that wager, regardless of the situation.

For more on creating and maintaining a prop bible, I highly recommend Amy Mussman’s book The Prop Master, as well as Sandra Strawn’s The Properties Directors Handbook. You can read that last one for free on the internet, and I have a link to it on my sidebar, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, now’s your chance to see what you’ve been missing.

Kabuki Props

San-nin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsu-gai 1860 by Toyokuni III
San-nin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsu-gai 1860 by Toyokuni III

Kabuki is a traditional form of theatre in Japan which began around four hundred years ago. It is a highly stylized form of theatre, and its use of props is very formalized and full of tradition. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how they use and make props in Kabuki. I don’t speak or read Japanese, so while I took care to double and triple-check all the terminology, someone more knowledgeable than I may still find mistakes. Still, I hope you’ll find what follows to be a good overview of props in Kabuki theatre.

Terminology

The word for props is 小道具, or kodōgu. Kabuki distinguishes between different categories of props just like those of us in English-speaking countries. If you need a refresher, check out my article on the different categories of props, as well as an illustration of these categories. Hand props are called 持ち道具, or mochidōgu. Mochidōgu include accessories, swords and other weapons, fans and armor (or yoroi); basically, everything which is portable. Set props, such as furniture, set dressing and other items left on stage for the duration of the performance, are known as dedōgu. Large props are named 大道具, or ōdōgu. In the US, we would consider ōdōgu to be scenery; indeed, the Japanese treat it as a separate department as well, with different technicians involved, so we will not spend any more time on it here.

Props which are used up at each performance (consumables and food) are called kiemono. Props which are broken and destroyed each performance are kowaremono. Vehicles and portable shrines are known as norimono. Rigged and trick props are called shikake, or shikake mono. A great example of a shikake mono is a branding iron with a button-activated electric filament which ignites a match head to produce a puff of smoke. Red paint on the iron also serves to leave a red mark on the actor being branded (McNicol 33). Kabuki also considers several other items to fall under the realm of props, such as animal costumes (nuigurumi), footgear (hakimono) and headgear. Unlike in the US, snow, snowflakes and artificial blossoms (tsuri eda) are responsibility of ōdōgu, rather than the prop makers (Scott 155).

Among the most difficult props to make are the decapitated heads, known as 首 (kubi) or kirikubi. Kubi are divided up into dakubi, or “low-class” head, and jōkubi, or “high-class” head. Dakubi are usually cotton forms stuffed with wood shavings, sometimes covered in Japanese paper, with crudely painted features and hair. The neck may have a piece of red cloth attached. Jōkubi are more realistic and well-made. They can be carved out of oak or paulownia wood, or made of papier-mâché over a wooden base (hariko no kubi). The construction of these were reserved for master carvers, who attempted to capture the exact likeness of whichever actor it was supposed to represent. Examples of jōkubi from the Meiji era (1868-1912 CE) still remain in existence at the Fujinama warehouse (more on Fujinama in a bit). Continue reading Kabuki Props

Review: A Guidebook for Creating Three-Dimensional Theatre Art

Guidebook for Creating Three-Dimensional Theatre Art
Guidebook for Creating Three-Dimensional Theatre Art

A Guidebook for Creating Three-Dimensional Theatre Art, by Ann J. Carnaby, is quite the mixed-bag in terms of books about props.

First let me start with the good. The first chapter is probably one of the best-written texts on developing an approach to building those props you need to build which you’ve never built before. It is one of the reasons I got this book. When I began writing my own book and working on my presentation for the 2009 SETC Theatre Symposium, I discovered this book; after reading the first chapter, I recognized the similarities in our approach and knew I was on to something.

The second chapter on safety is also wonderfully comprehensive and useful for the theatre artist.

It is after that when the problems begin. This is a good idea for a book, and that’s what the majority of it feels like: an idea. The writing is chopped up into so many bullet points and little blurbs that it never feels like more than an outline or book proposal. The interesting parts are not fleshed out enough, and the uninteresting parts are given an equal amount of room. Even the layout is troubling; this book has so much white space (some pages have only a handful of words), that were it removed, it would probably be more like a large pamphlet rather than a whole book. The first two chapters show so much potential, with an author who obviously knows her props, while the rest reads like a poorly-made PowerPoint slideshow. And let’s be honest; no one can make a PowerPoint slide sound interesting.

Speaking of layout, should I mention that the headings throughout the book use a font that looks suspiciously like Comic Sans? That, along with sample projects like cow masks and elf shoes, promise a certain amount of quirkiness, but the text itself remains dry and humorless.

Perhaps all of this could be forgiven if the photographs and illustrations were well made. Alas, this is not so. Even the largest pictures are no bigger than a wallet-sized photo, and they are all in black and white. Some are so washed out you cannot make out the details, while others are left with no context; for example, a photograph of a “shampoo bottle costume” shows a costume without a person inside of it, so it looks like a regular shampoo bottle. With a plain background, you cannot even discern the size. Some of the sections do not even have photographs. This may be forgivable in the chapter on materials; a picture of “muslin” would be nice, but not necessary. However, there are a few projects which do not even include a picture. With the descriptions sparse as it is, neglecting to include a photograph makes one wonder why the project was even included.

Since I mentioned the chapter of materials, I’d like to mention another problem I have with this book. In a seemingly random collection of materials one would use for making props, the book lists generic materials alongside brand-name products. So one page will talk about urethane foam, while the next page discusses Sculpt or Coat. The whole chapter reads more like the contents of one’s supply cabinet rather than a comprehensive overview of the materials available to a props artisan. Without placing a product like Sculpt or Coat within the context of materials, you make the discussion irrelevant to an artisan who lives in an area where one cannot buy Sculpt or Coat, or it becomes obsolete when the brand goes out of business. Finally, I just have to point this out: the book lists “backpack frame” as a material. Really?

I do not mean to heap complaints onto this book, but I feel I need to give a fair review. The final major problem I have with this book is its lack of focus shown by its choice of projects. Of the 31 projects, 7 are “animal heads” and 7 are crowns/hats. The rest of the projects include costumes, a puppet, shoes, some masks among other random props. It feels like the projects want to be either more general, or more specialized. If one is interested in learning more, there exist books on any of these project types that explain the processes far better. Perhaps if the projects were more exemplary, this type of hodge-podge collection could be overlooked (Thurston James’ Theatre Props Handbook takes a similar scatter-shot approach in the materials and techniques it explains, but makes up for it in its wit and sheer amount of knowledge it contains), but one of the projects is literally hot-gluing flowers to a costume.

I don’t know what it is about books about theatrical props where even when a talented artisan is involved, the end result feels cheap, shoddy and incomplete. You only have to browse the crafts section of any bookstore to see any number of trite and instantly forgettable books which are nonetheless chock full of beautiful full-color photography and clear writing. If you are looking for general books about theatrical prop-making, you would be better off with Andy Wilson’s Making Stage Props, James’ Molding and Casting Handbook, or even his aforementioned Theatre Props Handbook. If you want more focused books on specific crafts, such as millinery, puppets or costume crafts, you can find any number of books with far better instructions.

Chairs for Tea

Back in 2007 when I was working at the Santa Fe Opera, we were mounting a new opera called Tea: A Mirror of Soul. It had a heavy Asian influence, with scenes taking place both in Japan and in China. I was given a drawing of a chair, which they needed nine copies of.

drafting of a prop chair
drafting of a prop chair

If you study the drawing, you’d notice a few things. First, it’s rather small. Normally, a chair is eighteen inches off the ground; this is only twelve. Second, the back stiles for the circular back are offset from the back legs (if you don’t know what a stile is, check out my “parts of a chair” diagram).  Wooden chairs usually have a single piece of wood running from top to bottom in the back for strength. Where the back meets the seat is the point where a lot of stress is placed on the chair, so relying on the strength of a joint rather than a solid length of wood is inviting trouble. Finally, you may notice that the back has pieces floating in the air. That’s always an engineering challenge.

attaching the back stiles
attaching the back stiles

The seat of the chair was two and a quarter inches thick. I decided to skin the top with a piece of quarter-inch plywood and the bottom with eighth-inch lauan, so the interior frame had to be one and seven-eighths inches thick. That gave me a nice big chunk in the back to attach my back stiles to. I also added some bolts through the joint for extra reinforcement.

Bottom of the chair
Bottom of the chair

The rest of the joints were glued and doweled.

Next came the fun part: the back. We (the props master, master carpenter, and I) needed to figure out a way to make the back pieces appear to be floating. As I mentioned above, I was making nine of these chairs, so the process had to be repeatable as well. The master carpenter was also making a throne with this same cut-out design in it, so he began developing a jig so we could rout the design out of a solid piece of wood. We had discussed using plexiglass in the middle so the pieces would actually look like they were floating, but that would not be strong enough. Instead, we would hide a steel frame inside and have small pieces of steel connecting the pieces. Between the distance of the audience, the sightlines, and the smallness of the gaps, a few pieces of quarter-inch rod steel painted black would be as close to invisible as we could make it.

Dave making a routing jig
Dave making a routing jig

The photograph above shows David Levine, the master carpenter, working out the jig. Note that he’s not actually cutting yet, which is why his dust mask and goggles are off. It was a complicated, multi-piece jig with several steps involved, but the results were beautiful and consistent.

For the back ring, I sandwiched poplar boards on either side of a piece of quarter-inch plywood, with the grain of each side running perpendicularly to the other. In other words, I made a giant Oreo cookie out of poplar, with a creamy plywood center. The interior back pieces were cut out of a solid piece of poplar,  made by gluing several boards together. I put this in the jig and cut my design out.

steel reinforcement in the back
steel reinforcement in the back

Before I had cut out the back pieces, I had routed the channels in where I would hide the steel rod. The channels were as deep as the diameter of the rod, so once they were in, the whole back could get a coat of Bondo and be sanded smooth, and no one would be the wiser. The steel rod continued sown into the stiles and up into the “horn” at the top so the whole back could be tied together with the same steel structure.

I cut the top horn piece out of a solid chunk of poplar, which I made by laminating two boards with their grains running in different directions.

finished chair for Tea
finished chair for Tea

Looking back, even as I write this article, I see a number of things I would do differently, or at least experiment with to see the results. As with any complicated prop, you learn a lot just by building it, but because you will never build the exact same prop again, it can be hard to assimilate that learning into your overall experience. As it turned out with this prop, I had only finished three of the nine chairs by the time they were cut from the show. It seems the stage was getting too cluttered, and the chairs were one of the more extraneous elements, so away they went.

That meant I got to keep two of the chairs, which let me test just how long my construction would actually hold up. The back on one of them did eventually break away from the seat, though not where I thought it would. I contemplated building more of a steel structure, but worried that the extra weight would either make it too heavy to carry, or even make it more likely to break; picture using a crowbar versus a stick of wood. The crowbar is extremely good at separating two pieces of wood from each other, where a stick of wood is just as likely to break itself before pulling the wood apart. Now look at a chair. The point where the back meets the seat is the focal point of a lever formed by somebody leaning back in the chair. If the stiles were metal (like a crowbar), it might tear the seat apart if you leaned back too hard.

But I digress and ruminate too much. Enjoy the pictures of the chair.

Making and finding props for theatre, film, and hobbies