The Not So Epic Week Recap

Hi, it's me.

The one who said they'd update almost a week ago. Sorry. It's been getting slower around work, but I've been tired and doing other things after it that I never get a chance to come on, so now I'm making it up with an awesome week in review epic post!


At the begining of the week there wasn't much to report on things that I did. We've been doing a lot of work in the back, tyding up things and reorganizing while we have some downtime now that Humana is getting slower. Wild Blessings (the Wendell Berry piece) started tech so we shipped the trees over to the theatre using the carpenter's flat bed. The only other thing we had to do for Wild Blessings was do some set dressing. Doc, Taj, Elliot, and I put sheets of greenery down, and then added individual pieces of fake long grass. That lasted toward the end of the day on Monday, and then Tuesday morning the rest of the department came to finish it up.

Wednesday I had some stock projects to do, but I also had to gather some props for the Apprentice Showcase. I found some awesomely cheesy records while looking for a Barry Manilow one. Then I organized some chandliers that were down from where they had been hanging (we had new lights installed a couple of weeks ago, and they were in the way), and then I had to organize the table lamps a little bit.

I finished up the table lamps this morning and then went on a Lowe's run to pick up a few things and then headed over to the theatre to drop off something for Doc.


One of the biggest organizing projects we have is organizing our soft goods fabric area.

There are a ton of bolts of fabric, and a lot we probably don't need. Joe and Elliot made new holders out of one of our shelves that we had, and the left over pieces of sono tube. They then pulled out all of the fabric and we all took down the storage we had.


We had a pallet that we were stacking all of the wood on, but Joe realized it wasn't going to fit through the aisle. He tried to get the fork lift in and raise it up high enough but as soon as he moved the whole things came crashing down. We then had to lug everything to the main aisle but we finally got the entire thing down and all of the wood in the dumpster. Now all that's left is organizing all of the fabric.

Tomorrow I will be working on a project for Roanoke, one of the ten minute shows. We had actually already done the show for the Apprentice Tens, but the set is a little different in this one so I'll be working with on a Native American spear.

Into the Woods...err Shop

Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that. I'll do more of a recap of the past week sometime this weekend when I've gotten more rest.


I will tell you about yesterday. For the show Wendell Berry (that's not it's real name, but I don't know exactly what it's called, it's a show the head of ATL co-wrote about the works of Wendell Berry) calls for a pretty slim set, except for these huge 20 foot tall trees. The other day, Elliot and I went over to a local supply store to pick up sono tubes. After we got them back Taj worked on sanding off the wax that is on it, then muslin and a mixture of wood glue and paint were applied to the tube.


After that was dry, we had to do a treatment on the trees using dry-vit. Dry-vit is basically this thick, almost grits consistentecy, medium used for insulation, kind of like stucco. We had to apply this on the trees in sections, and then scrap lines into it to give it a textured bark effect. It really doesn't take that long to do the tubes, but it does take it a long time to dry (about 12 hours). Because of this, we couldn't do full tubes because it would be resting on itself. We thought it would take longer and we had planned to divide into groups and work two shifts during the weekend. The first shift took the afternoon off yesterday, and then the second took it today. By the end of the day it was apparent that we probably wouldn't be coming in over the weekend, because Joe and I were able to finish the trees so that they all had half a tree covered, but it was still up in the air. I told Joe that I wanted to stand the trees up and pretend I was in a forest in the shop to which he replied, "Then you can be in your own personal production of Into the Woods." I like this idea.

Yesterday was the opening for Under Construction. We ended up getting empty seat passes, so we figured we wouldn't get in because it was in our smallest stage. Luckily, Slasher was playing, so we ended up going to that. It was hilarious, so much better than when I had read it a couple of months back. The show really played up that it was campy, and that it knew it. I love shows like that, because it just ends up coming across as fun, not like other shows that are campy and try to be serious. We headed down to the bar like always and hung out for some drinks.

Today was a pretty slow day. It was my half day, and things were pretty slow and quiet at the shop. I spent the morning putting away a ton of props that had yet to be put away from at least January to gear up for college weekend and the tours of the shop. Today also was the opening for Brink, the apprentice show. Since that show was sold out for the opening, we went as a group to watch a final run through of the show. I worked on a ton of the props, so it was good to see a lot of my work on stage.

After Brink, I was told that I wouldn't have to come in, but I ended up getting out about 2 hours early. It's going to be nice to have a weekend where I can relax, and maybe read some of the books that I have pushed aside that past couple of months.

Smoking Feet

Today was a pretty relaxing day, which was good because Heather and I (along with the rest of the shop, but we work the most closely together) were loopy from sleep deprivation and the long hours at the shop. We found almost everything funny. We finished the fake box springs today with the horrible fabric seen above. It actually turned out to be pretty easy and fast, especially because both of us were working on it.

The two beds were a bit different in construction since one of the beds has a fog machine inside to simulate the actor's feet smoking. With that one, after a layer of batting was stapled loosely around the frame I stapled it to the bottom, then the frame was screwed back on.

(the box is where the machine sits)

After flipping it over I stapled it to the top. Another board was put on top of that to cover the machine so that the actors could sit and lay on the bed. With the piece I couldn't staple over it because we needed to still have access to the inside, so I ended up stapling a tiny piece around that to hide the wood. The second bed was much simpler because it was a normal bed. The only difference in the technique was that we had to cover the entire top as well as the sides because the mattress gets shoved around, and it would expose our secret that it wasn't a box spring.

Both beds were done by the end of the day. Doc played around with the fog machine for a while troubleshooting it. I have more pictures of the bed process, but sadly I left my camera at work so it's phone pictures for now. Hard Weather Boating Party tech starts tomorrow, and Absalom opens tomorrow night.

Flashback: Fake Food

I decided that for my first flashback post, I should do it about fake food. I've done a lot of fake food here at ATL and also some at BMC. Fake food is essential in props.

At Brevard, since our stage was so small and in a blackbox, fake food was really hard to pull off so I did a ton of stuff with real food. I'm really good at faking alcoholic drinks that are edible and can be used onstage. Most sodas look like alcoholic drinks, and can be used as a substitute. I don't like to add food coloring to edible drinks because of the risk factor in it dying fabrics in the inevitable case that it will get on costumes or set dressings. Also, food coloring adds a taste that most actors do not prefer (including myself). The best remedy for this is either combing drinks, or watering down them.


One of the tough things about using real food is the actor's diet restrictions. For Eat Your Heart Out, the actress who had the most food to be consumed onstage was a vegetarian. I had to make oysters and snails that looked like the real thing, but wasn't. I ended up using different varieties of canned mushrooms. The actress, thankfully, wasn't opposed to having the mushrooms touch a well cleaned oyster shell. I went to the local fish market, and arranged a deal with the guy and ended up getting the shells for free because he was going to toss them out anyways.


The one thing I have found that I make the most is fruit trays. I think it's because of the easiness of it, and also because of how well it can be translated to different time periods and still fit the scene. During BMC's production of The Magic Flute, I had to make an extremely big fruit dish that the lead was supposed to pretend he was gorging himself on. Since it was done on a proscenium stage, and with a full orchestra pit separating him and the audience I was able to cheat and use some foam to help build up the structure, using less fruit and vegetables. The back was completely uncovered with any fruit, but because I covered the other three sides of the foam building blocks you could not see it.


I also did a tray for ATL's production of A Christmas Carol along with some other savory dishes. Most of the dishes I pulled fake food from the back and rearranged them, but others I had to make from scratch.


Mark had some research of food that he liked and we used that as a basis for some of the creations. I recreated a pudding dish by painting cordial glasses on the inside and filling it with tissue paper. This not only made it look like there was pudding in the dish, but also helped out the fact that I was not using glass paint, but rather acrylics. Because it was acrylics it was see-through and the tissue paper blocked the light from escaping. After it was assembled I dressed it with doilies and various plants from the back.


Normally the creation of fake food is done with foam. Using blue foam is one of the best materials because of it's availability (if you have a Home Depot or Lowes, you have some and won't need to get it ordered) and ease of use. It also comes in a wide variety of thicknesses, and are pretty firm so it won't cave in and will hold up well to wear and tear of multiple shows. Here is the creation of a pie (a very weird pudding/meat/we had no clue pie) from start to finish:



As you can see in the first picture, I am cutting out the base on the band saw. In the second picture I am adhering multiple layers of foam using green glue because we did not have the desired thickness. After I had sculpted and sanded the entire thing, I added a layer of foam coat over top of it to smooth out some of the holes in the foam. After that it got it's paint treatments. I think it came out looking pretty decent to what my research picture looked like. It took me about half a day to finish the entire thing, and much of that was drying time.

The Day I Became the Crazy Corn Syrup Lady....

Today was hectic. And it wasn't because of the stress of Humana looming over the shop.

Today, driving into work, my tire blew. This is the second tire that I have gone through since being here. I have horrible luck with tires, so this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but it made my day a little more hectic. Doc helped me during lunch getting my spare on, and both Mark and Doc made sure I had a ride to get back to work after I dropped off my car, and a ride to go pick up my car. It was conveniently during trips to and from the theatre. Can I just tell you how much I love my coworkers and how amazing people they are??

My poor car :(

I began work finishing up some projects left over from yesterday, and afterwards I was at a standstill of things to do. Mark had to pick up some things for me to the projects I was assigned today so I ended up taking the van to Kroger to pick up some things for Slasher.

And by some things, I mean 20 bottles of corn syrup and three jars of pickles.


The thing is, we normally buy out most of the corn syrup in town during October when we run our annual production of Dracula (corn syrup=fake blood...see?) and it's a normal occurrence for them then, but when it's March and someone buys out almost the entirety of the two cheapest brands of corn syrup you get funny looks. To top it off I had to buy some pickles (a pickle jar gets thrown so we needed to make a plastic jar, but the plastic jar is much bigger than the normal glass pickle jar so I had to get more to put in so it didn't look weird).

The thing is, nobody asked me why I had what I had in my cart. I had the perfect, best excuse ever "You see I work at Actors Theatre, and I'm making fake blood for a show that we are doing that is set on a slasher-horror film shoot" As someone who once worked as a cashier (for many, many years) I would have been curious, but I guess that's just me.

The day ended with me making another trip out, this time to pick up a light and stand from a light company and making more of my bean bag babies.

Humana Madness

Today starts our month and a half (roughly) of overtime in preparation for the Humana New Play festival. So far, it has been too hectic and the pace seems kind of slow right now. I'm sure it will pick up once more of the shows go into tech, but so far so good.

A little about the Humana festival (told by a person going into it for their first year). The festival is essential a play competition where new works our picked from a pool of thousands of entries to be staged at Actors Theatre as our final shows of the season. 33 years ago, (or maybe it is 34? I don't remember) Humana gave a grant for Actors to produce these new works, and they continue to help fund the event every year. I compare the festival to be the mini version of summer stock for a regional theatre. There is a new show going into tech and opening multiple times per week and we are in overdrive to make sure all of the props get produced as needed in the short time span we have. The Humana Festival is so huge mainly because of it's track record in brining in prize winning playwrights, such as Marsha Norman (Night, Mother) and Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) to name a few. A lot of these shows get funded to make runs in bigger theatres, and eventual some make it to Broadway.

My bosses, Mark and Doc, have a small festival blog that they are writing for the Courier Journal (Louisville KY's newspaper). It is a great insight into what we are doing, and especially because it's from their viewpoint. Check it out at http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/humanafest/blog.html I love reading it, and I work in the department! But in all honesty, it does go into things more, especially things that happen during meetings, rehearsals, or while we are all in our own corners of the shop working on our own projects.

Speaking of projects, today was a pretty light load. I began the day cleaning some props from Humanas past for the Humana kick off party on Thursday, and then after our morning meeting I worked on a few hand props. My first assignment was for the show Slasher where I had to create a document that looked like an injunction. The fun thing about working on paper projects is filling in what needs to be written. I really like making stuff up, especially when it's me pretending I know what I'm doing, but also another thing that I love is making up things that are totally insane. The beauty of props for the stage is that only the actor really can read what it says. As long as you got the layout of the document correct from an audience standpoint everything else doesn't matter. After I started cleaning a diaper bag that is used for Absalom. It is only a set dressing, so tomorrow I will fill it up with some things to give the bag some weight and bulk.

After lunch, Alice our overhire props master, gave me an assignment for the apprentice company's show Brink. The apprentices are basically the acting interns at the theatre. They help run crew for the shows, get cast in smaller roles, get to partake in some classes, and also help the departments during work hours. Their show is crazy, and none of the props make sense. Last week I had found five babies and wrapped them in birthing blankets for a scene in the show. The babies were going to be used for juggling purposes. After a week with them, they decided that they didn't like the babies that they had, and my task was to take the heads of the babies, and make a muslin "hacky sack" filled with a pound of beans.


I found that one of them had a voice box, and so I went around the shop with the headless body of a baby doll pressing the button to make it talk. I felt like the next door neighbor in Toy Story, the one who would take apart all of the dolls. It was hilarious. After a few frustrating attempts, I finally was able to get the bag on the head, so that a.) beans wouldn't spill out and b.) It could be thrown without coming apart. I sewed the new hacky sack baby into a new blanket and put him with the other props for Brink.

My final project of the day was one that I took from Heather, the soft goods artisan. She was busy working in sheer curtains so I decided to help her out since I had no other projects on my list. For Absalom I made a box that would house a stack of dishes that would be used during the show. I had to put some blue foam at the bottom to make it look like it was a bigger stack of plates, and then I put some brown craft paper over it to hide the company logo and delivery stickers.

New Beginings

I don't know why I continuously decide to sign up for more of these types of blogs. I currently already am on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr. Live Journal, and probably five more blogs that I don't even remember now (including an older Blogspot that I now can no longer get into). I'm a little obsessed, I know. I figure that even though the chances that people will even read this it's a great resource for me to have an "online scrapbook" of what is going on in my life.

A little about myself:

My name is Jessie and I currently work as an intern in props at a theatre in Louisville KY. I graduated college the spring of '08 with a degree in theatre performance, but followed my love of prop making instead of continuing the performance side. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it and have been doing it for so long, but I needed a change, and something that would push me and allow me to focus on my strengths in physical creativity (instead of the psyhcological creativitiy that acting gives me). I really do love prop making as much as acting, and I don't know how I was so blessed to get the gig I did.

That's a little bit about me, more will come in the entries I post. I really want to try to continue this as actively as I have my other blog (if you want to call it that): http://charisma13.tumblr.com I think I have kept up with that one more frequently because of how easy it is to use and post something within seconds. I usually just post pictures of what goes on during my day.

This blog will be about my life, and mainly focusing the development of my craft and the "world" after college. I hope if you find this blog it is entertaining. If you are into props, let me know! The prop world is very small and not much is out there. I love meeting new people.

Ok, this is it for now. More to come later