Creating and Lighting the Theatrical Model

 Lesson # 1: Make accurate measurements. Lay out your proposed ground plan. Cut from light wood and cardboard your proposed set pieces. Move them all around...a lot! Re cut, Re align, Re think.

 Lesson # 2: When you arrive at a concept that makes sense...stick with it! Decide how to utilize it effectively and then...Light it so that you...and your prospective  Director,  Lighting Designer,  etc. can also visualize your Design.

Lesson # 3: Produce a model that looks like this. Simple and Effective. The use of space and scale should all be affected in order to effectively produce a play on a real stage for maximum audience participation and effect.

Set Model for THE MERCURY THEATRE - DRACULA (unproduced)
The action takes place on multiple raised levels with only the table and chair as props.

LILI closes...what next?

 My production of  LILI for the Hip Pocket Theatre has closed it's run. These photos, dutifully taken by my husband Sam Silva after the performance ( while I smoozed with the theatre-goers ) give a pretty accurate image of the actual set when compared with my original design.

 The strings ( cables actually) of café lights and colorful pennants which hung at each side of the stage and lit up magically during the carnival sequences,

 The Balloon prop pieces, carried in by the Carnival Girls and placed in the upstage brackets. Using 12" diameter inflatable beach balls on dowel supports instead of actual balloons worked perfectly! Hardy and fully inflated for the entire run of the show, and most of all "wind-resistant". I discovered that a strong prevailing wind blew through this outdoor space almost nightly which precluded the use of some of my more intricate set pieces..... So a hardy bracing with 2x4s was in order all around. Less mobile, but no less functional or beautiful.

It takes a great number of people to put on any show, and  LILI  was no exception. I was very lucky to have available such an incredibly talented and professional ensemble, both on stage and behind the scenes to make the show come to life each evening. "Enchanting" is the word which I heard most often, both from the critics and from the audience after each performance. That is exactly what I was shooting for, so....Success!

And now, you may ask....What Next?

Some photos from my production of "LILI" for the Hip Pocket Theatre this summer!

 Poor LILI threatened by the nasty Shopkeeper...

 Rescued by the handsome Magician...

 Drawn into the Carnival by the wily Jacquot...

 Where she sees the Magic Act!

And at last meets the PUPPPETS!

The overall design for this show works perfectly. There were several compromises in the staging which led us to a much more simplified play. In the end though it all worked magically to enthrall the audience, which is everything I had hoped it might.

Onward to the next project! Stay tuned!

LILI Opened August 14th - Dog Puppets Onstage!

 Here are some production stills from my production of  "LILI" which just opened at the Hip Pocket Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas.

 The Dog Act from part 1 of the show. The Trainer in the center is actually attached by strings to the two dogs in order to make the "act" work. As he raises his hand and tosses the ball to the dog, it travels down a string from his finger to the dog's nose. Once in place the Puppeteer grips the ball string and the Trainer can then lower his hand.

 As I imagined they might, these two stole the show opening night!

See previous posts for the design and construction of these simple dog marionettes. They turned out to be amazingly lifelike and adorable.

Time for LILI at last!

It is hard to believe that almost a year has passed since I first began work on LILI, and now it is time to travel to Fort Worth, Texas and the Hip Pocket Theatre and turn my designs into the reality of a full stage production!

LILI opens August 14th for a four weekend run through Sept. 6.

If you are in the Fort Worth area this summer, head on out to the HPT and see the show!

Dog Marionettes completed

 I built the two Dog marionettes back before my surgery, saving the fur coverings for afterward while I was recuperating.
Here they are completed:

 PIERRE the smaller of the two at 18" high with his balancing ball. The ball has a hollow tube running through it. A string runs from nose to a ring worn by the "Trainer" who tosses the ball and raises his hand at the same time so the ball is "caught" by Pierre on the nose. A magnet holds the ball in place so the Trainer can then lower his hand and eventually snatch the ball back from the dog's nose at the end of the act.

 "What You Lookin' At?"
 I found this fleece-like synthetic fur which looked more like actual dog hair than standard faux fur. It is judiciously hot melt glued to the wooden body with some area's left uncovered and painted off white.

 CHLOIE is Pierre's larger sister at 26" tall. Like Pierre she catches and balances a ball on her nose by the same method.

This really simple design has rendered a surprising range of "dog like" movements with just a twist or dip of the controllers. The tails are wooden beads on heavy plastic zip ties and mounted to the rump of each dog. As they walk the tails "wag" .

These were designed just as a 2 minute walk across bit while the Carnival set pieces are moved into place behind, but they turned out so well that I'm afraid they will steal the scene and the audience's hearts as well. So they may have to make another appearance at some point in the play.

LILI - More Costume Designs!

 Marcus, The Magnificent in his street clothes and "Peachlips" his on again, off again infatuation.

 Rosalie, Marcus' assistant in the magic act, here in Part 1 and Part 2 outfits. I'm not trying for period accuracy here since LILI is a fantasy after all. Just a general inflection of another time and another place.

 Jarnac, the Notions Vendor who tries unsuccessfully to take advantage of Lili. And Corvier, the owner of the Carnival who's primary function i9n the play version is to order the set pieces to be moved into place and the lights to be lit for the......

MAGIC ACT! Here are Marcus and Rosalie's costumes for this pivotal sequence in the show. All white and red sequins these are designed to dazzle the audiences eyes so they don't notice those two figures in back, all in black, who are actually making the "Magic" happen!

LILI - Costume Designs !

 After a brief break for my cancer surgery I'm back in the final stretch of completion for my production of  "LILI" opening August 14th at The Hip Pocket Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas.

Above are designs for the CARNIVAL GIRLS ( two identical young ladies who move the set pieces into place during the show ) and ACROBATS ( four Puppeteers clad all in black who adopt these and other costume pieces when they are needed on stage for prop and set movement).

 LILI herself has 4 separate costume changes within the show.
 Above is the plain gray dress in which she first appears in Part 1 of the play...and for Part 2 this more adult blue dress which comes to symbolize her growth as a character.

 Along the way to that growth, LILI has an unfortunate encounter as a waitress for the Carnival. Her ill-fitting uniform only highlights her complete ineptitude in that job. Later when LILI has come into her own somewhat, we are treated to her dream fantasy in which she is the ultimate alluring waitress who gets to dance with MARCUS, the magician.
The four costumes above were designed with quick changes in mind. LILI will have to zip in and out of these outfits very quickly indeed in order to keep the action of the play moving.
In fact, the ill-fitting waitress costume is a breakaway designed to fit over the original gray dress and is whisked off in a flurry of comic activity leaving our heroine dazed and confused!

PAUL, the puppeteer dresses in an almost Spartan manner, but with that extra bit of tailoring his inner vanity requires. This is a good example of costume as character builder. He will loom light and simple in and around all of the colorful carnival action.
JACQUOT, his assistant and companion is a much looser and unencumbered fellow. His causal style is the perfect bridge between PAUL and LILI as they navigate the rocky road to their final dance of love which ends the play.

More this weekend...

More Puppets for "LILI"

 Here is my sketch for the workings of the two Dog Marionettes which feature in my production of  LILI.
One Dog is roughly 22" tall and the other is smaller at just 14" tall. The two dogs are a part of a Carnival act which Lili witnesses on her first entrance into the carnival. They also feature later on in the show.

 This is the smaller of the two Dogs - "Pierre", a little white poodle, seen here in his test stringing on the "gallows" ( yes, that is what it is called!) and before his fur skin has been applied. The gallows holds the controller securely at the correct height for the puppeteer which  is just slightly above the waistline. A spool of black braided nylon fish line is positioned near the top which makes stringing the marionettes quite easy.

 The bodies of these marionettes were fashioned from pine and cedar, carved to shape with both a skill saw and a Dremel Mototool before finally being sanded smooth by hand. I built up the musculature on each dog by applying 5mm craft foam for head, ribcage and upper legs. This will all be covered with white fleece fur after the exposed sections have been painted white.

Pierre features a moving mouth animation which adds greatly to his fidgitty nature.
A small magnet is embeded in the tip of each dog's nose and a special string runs through the nose to a ring worn by the actor playing the Dog Trainer. At the right moment the Trainer tosses a ball into the air ( hollow ball with a tube running through it, string running through the tube )  raises his hand making the string go taut which allows the ball to fall right down onto the up turned nose of the dog. The magnet holds the ball in place as the Trainer lowers his hand and let's the string go slack.
A very simple but highly effective trick sure to delight any audience!

Even the Simple Things Need Designing

 The major set pieces for  LILI  have all been completed. Some minor things still need to be made, like these two small step stools. Not part of my original design, I realized  during assembly for the Puppet Booth that the actors who bring the Header in and attach it would need a bit of height assistance in order to do so.

So I quickly drew up this plan for the stools in a simple country style and cut them out of pine and lightweight cedar lumber.

 Here the various pieces have been cut and sanded, ready for assembly.

 And here is one of the stools fully assembled. I added the dowel brace underneath for extra stability. I will paint these to coordinate with the set, then disassemble and pack them flat for transport as I have with all of the rest of the set pieces.
Quite a bit of work for two props which will only be seen on stage for 30 seconds tops, but even the little touches require design, I believe.

This is also true of set dressing items such as the pillows which will be placed on the bare benches on either side of the stage when they represent the Caravans in which the actors live in the carnival. I found some commercially available pillows with texture and pattern that I liked and will use on the set, but I needed something a bit more special to go along with them.

So I found some stencil patterns that would work and used then to adorn leftover pieces of canvas as I am doing above. Sewn into a pillow with some yarn tassels at each corner and paired with the pillows i purchased, these will give a colorful and period detail to the plain benches during the show.

I will add stuffing when I get to Texas this summer so I can trasport them rolled up to save space in the van.

Balloon Props - Final

 Who lurks behind them beach ball balloons?
Being the thorough fellow that I am I needed to inflate all of the beach balls almost full of air in order to glue the suction cup assembly to the bottom of each as well as check each one for any leaks, etc.
Sure enough one of the green ones wasn't holding air! I used a plastic patch kit for little kid's swimming pools and it is just fine now. This vinyl cement has to cure for 24 hours to form a strong bond to the balls.

 The handles sorta look like fencing foiles, but are actually made of pine with a 1" thick dowel inside the PVC pipe grip. This allows the whole thing to be rotated on it's axis by nimbly turning the little wooden ball at the bottom. The central balloon dowel is attached in the center of the handle and the four other dowels of various heights will be glued in angled holes drilled in the larger of the two circles.

I screwed a 1/4" hex nut into the top of each dowel and cemented that in place before using epoxy resin to cement another nut on top of that one ( the epoxy really bonds the two metal nuts together ) and when dry I wrapped black electrical tape around both nuts.
Above you can see how my evil plan works. When fully inflated the "balloon" is simply screwed into the top nut securely and it stands quite firmly at attention on it's dowel "string".

TA-DA!
Both props are finished and ready to transport to Fort Worth. The "balloons" will be slightly different colors and arrangements on the two props. Once there, I will glue the four outer dowels firmly into the handle, inflate the beach balls fully and screw them in place. To hide the nut and bolt connection I will fasten some brightly colored wired ribbon to the base of each suction cup like little streamers.

If my inflation tests are any indication these should hold their air pretty much through the entire month long run of the show. If they do start to "wilt" the inflation nozzle is easily reachable on top of each ball.
 Much easier to deal with than having to mess with helium before every performance, and not likely to pop!

The brackets which will hold these on the set will be fairly simple 18" X 18" wooden constructions with an outer section just wide enough in diameter to firmly hold the handle in position without tilting.

Balloon props for "LILI"

 A part of my set design for  LILI includes two large bunches of helium balloons which are brought onstage by my Carnival Girls during their dance and then placed in brackets on either side of the Puppet Booth as it is being assembled.
It would be easy enough to use actual balloons...except that the Hip Pocket Theatre is an OUTDOOR venue and said balloons would be buffeted about by even the slightest breeze. Soooo I devised this engineered prop which will not only be more durable but in the end much easier to maintain.

And it involves NO helium at all!

 I found a company on line that sells all sizes and colors of Beach Balls ( here's a plug for https://www.beachballs.com in Seaford, Delaware. They are Great!) And they had 16" solid color inflatable balls which have a finished diameter of 11", the perfect size and  in just the right colors for this project.
 If you are curious or thinking of using this idea be forewarned that the 16" listing is for the ball Un-Inflated, measured as it lies flat after manufacture. Any reputable dealer will also list the inflated diameter as well.

The balls were just perfect.
 Now how to get them to stay on the end of the oak dowels I had chosen to stand in for "strings"? Some experimentation yielded a very practical solution. What you see spread out on my workbench at the top are black metal "lift legs". These are sold at most hardware stores and building suppliers ( I got mine at Lowes HI). These have a flat surface with a 1/4" threaded bolt and are used in the real world as replacement adjusting feet for things like washing machines and refrigerators.

Gluing these directly to the bottom of the beach balls didn't give them enough support, so I added 2 1/4" silicone suction cups (also from Lowes) by drilling a 1/4" hole through the middle and screwing the foot up from the inside until it sits firmly within the cup as shown above.

Now I inflate the beach balls, but only until they are lightly firm, not all the way, and using a flexible vinyl adhesive ( used for repairing things like swimming pools and, duh...beach balls!) I attach the cup and foot assembly to the bottom of the ball. This is the end opposite the inflation nozzle at the top.

Starting to make sense?
Looking like a balloon to you?
Great.        I will post the rest of the assembly tomorrow!.

LILI Groundplan

 Here is a purely esoteric post of the groundplan for the stage set for  LILI. In most theatrical enterprises the sets are built and painted by a crew under the direction of a Shop Carpenter and the Designer.

Since I function as my own carpenter and painter( and pretty much always have ) I know what I will have to do to make my set a reality in the actual space involved. Above is the groundplan for the full set in position for Scene 5 of the play. All of the scenic elements are carried onstage by the actors and set in place for the remainder of the show, with the exception of the "Magic Curtain" and "Magic Table", which are positioned when needed and then struck by the actors. Likewise, the tables and chairs are moved about and positioned as required by the action of the play.

The reality is pretty much just as I envisioned it last year when I built the set model seen above. The positions of the chairs and tables here were altered to make a better photograph of the overall setting. The Puppet Booth and Caravan Panels have been built and painted and are very close to the model in appearance and function. The Tables and chairs were constructed earlier this year and are already in Fort Worth awaiting the first rehearsal.

I am working on the Balloon Props and the Magic Curtain now and those should be ready within the week. Then the Set will be finished and stored for transport to the Hip Pocket Theatre in late July when we will start staging the show!

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Magic table 3 - final

 Here I am, looking a bit glum, while painting in the stars and circles in the design on the blank canvas of the Magic table covering. This is a bit tedious and if you work at it too long a certain amount of dementia sets in, so frequent breaks are recommended.

 After the shapes are dry, the black wash of the background is added. I have never worked with professional theatrical scene paint. Pretty much always way too expensive! Nowadays you can have any color under the sun mixed at your local Home Depot for about 1/4 the price.

 I budgeted this entire set to be painted with just one quart of each color in my design palette. I buy a quart, and then thin it down by about 1/3 which renders a very usable color with good saturation. The flat black wash was thinned down to less than 1/2 the original mix. This renders a very fluid but unsaturated wash which drys in subtle shades of black and grey. I like the texture of the black which I can then manipulate by over painting in certain areas once the first wash is dry.

 The entire covering is now completely dry and finished except for the upper 3/4" which will be stitched to the Table Top piece. While it is still unpleated, I stitch the gold fringe trim to the bottom by hand.
I wanted a wider fringe trim, but that was just too expensive per yard, Outrageous, actually! So after much deliberation, I settled for this smaller fringe. It serves the purpose and I can live with it visually ( and price wise!)
 A Designer's life is so full of these little compromises!!

 And, finally, here is The Magic Table completed. It measures 38" tall by 24" wide at the base, and 18" round at the top. The painted canvas is artificially pleated and stapled in place top and bottom. It will never lose it's shape come wind or high weather! The rubber castors just beneath the fringe trim will allow it to glide silently into place on command during each performance.

And here is a detail of the Table Top, where all the "magic' will occur. Can you see the trick? It is part mechanical and part painted optical illusion. If you can't see it...GOOD! That is the intention, because of course it is a Magic Table!

I can tell you that the props and implements required to make the 5 minute Magic Act happen during  LILI have cost more than the entire set and puppet budget for the show. But if the Magic Act doesn't work, the whole show falls apart. This was the challenge I faced in adapting the film to the stage.

I believe I have come up with a novel and workable way of doing it, which you will just have to come out to the Hip Pocket Theatre this summer to find out!