theatresetsandprops

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Check out this live interview with Production Stage Manager Lisa Dawn Cave (Frozen, Fun Home) and Capathia Jenkins (Newsies, Caroline, or Change) from Black Theatre United on 11/4 at 6:00pm EST through Live & In Color!!

For actors and backstage workers! Join live and ask questions!

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Pro pics from Spelman på taket/Fiddler on the roof - Malmö Opera, Sweden 2017- 2018

Photography by Malin Arnesson                                                    

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“Indecent” by Paula Vogel

Cort Theatre, 2017

Starring Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi, Richard Topol & Adina Verson

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The Alley Theatre and their staff need the support of the larger theatre community in the wake of hurricane Harvey. 

The flood destroyed their Neuhaus Theater, scene shop, sound and lighting equipment, prop shop, and prop stock storage. 

Later in the day, props master Karin Rabe would mention the tens of thousands of props that were destroyed.

“All of our luggage, foliage, rugs, china, typewriters, computers, books, paper props, kitchen items, lamp shades are all gone,” Rabe says. “There were probably 20,000 pieces of china and 70 TV sets down there.”

In the storage room, unseen amounts of props lay in waste. Mach wants to reach the back part of the room because he saw something he can’t get out of his head. Earlier that day, he took a preliminary tour and found a lone doll lying on a table, her body splayed helplessly, as if she were acting a scene in a tragedy. To get to the room, the party takes a dangerous path.

On the ground of the laundry room, white detergent mixes with the mud water, creating a goop that almost makes some of the party trip. A rack has fallen over. Hundreds of programs for the Alley’s recent production “39 Steps” have meshed into a single wet mound, right next to the Alley’s entire collection of yet-to-be-printed tickets that have all nearly dissolved, forming a thick layer of white mush in the water.

The group forges on, wading past the broken machinery of the laundry room and into the back side of the Alley’s vast prop storage room. An ornate Chinese vase filled with leaves and water sits upright — here, everyone notices the upright objects right away.

Right next to it is the doll. It’s a gem of a creation, a Victorian era doll featured in the Alley’s beloved “A Christmas Carol.” It’s the doll that’s given to the Scrooge, which later manifests into an eerily beautiful ghost. A steam clock, a giant candy cane, Scrooge’s chair — these other iconic “Carol” items also lay toppled in the water.

Click here for information on donating. 

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Teatro natioal de Sao Carlos | Bosc d'Anjou

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A look at all the tech that goes into Angels in America at the National Theatre, London. 

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Come From Away performed with folding chairs in an airport hangar

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Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Imperial Theatre, Broadway)

Designed by Mimi Lien 

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Congratulations to Mimi Lien, Rachel Chavkin, Bradley King, and Nicholas Pope on their Drama Desk Award wins for their work on Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812!

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The blasters used in The Force Awakens were built around functional Airsoft guns that would “kick” when the trigger was pulled, thus giving the actor an indication of when it fired. Furthermore, built-in lights allowed for practical glows and interactive lighting to better simulate a blaster shot and guide effects artists when animating a blaster bolt.

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Guys, we really need to make theatre spaces more accessible to patrons that utilize open captioning, ASL interpreters, audio descriptors, as well as mobility aids.

And we need those resources to better integrated with the production side of things because I swear at some theaters it’s a hot potato everyone tries to pass off to someone else and the wheels totally fall off.

To say nothing of needing to open theatre spaces up to theatre artists with disabilities. It took me (an abled stage manager) working with a lighting designer who uses a wheelchair to realize how many stages, backstage areas, tech tables, storage closets etc are not wheelchair accessible. It’s something I try to make note of it when I come across it.

(I hope I’m not using incorrect terminology and if I am please let me know. I’m not up on all of the right ways to say things but I want to get better and I want to help but I’m not sure how)

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This is so great!

I got this book today and I *LOVE* it. She has the same reason for my love of being on the crew

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me, walking into any theatre ever: it’s beautiful

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Chicago's gonna be lit in September!!

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Madama Butterfly at La Scala, 7/12/2016.

Photos by Brescia/Amisano.

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I just got the process of taking line notes "mansplained" to me tonight....

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Woo boy. I have a couple of stories about Seussical. Not my favorite musical. Our set designer decided to make the Truffula Trees, Horton's nest, and the Pill Berry Bush all out of metal, it was cool learning to weld and cut metal, but it looked interesting. And one night during intermission, we had a little girl out on the stage (we had a thrust stage) and the parents were encouraging her. We eventually wheeled Horton out on the stage to get her out of the way.

Good god....that's awful.