Prop Shop

Electronics, Paints, Prop Making, Scenic, School Work, Texturing, Woodworking

I started working in Penn State’s prop shop in January of 2023. This involved making whatever we are assignment for the current show. Penn State does 3 productions a semester. In the shop we are assigned props that our props head sees learning experiences in. Obviously there are some projects that need to be done like painting a piano case, but we also get to learn along with the process of more complicated projects. A few examples of this would be foam carving, wood working, castings, or learning a different way to achieve something we have already done.

Blood Razors

Our biggest show of the 2024 season is Sweeney Todd. I am the blood tracking supervisor. I deal with any prop that contains a blood effect. The big prop I have been working on is the blood razors. We have a ton of stock plastic razors that I had to figure out how to make it look like a throat was being sliced. I drilled little holes in the blade where a pipette fits into. The rest of the pipette is hidden in the handle of the razor. When the actor is doing a death scene, he squeezes the pipette and blood shoots out a tiny hole in the blade onto an actors neck.

: Razor

: Razor and Pipette

: Razor with Pipette Hidden

Blood Razor Testing

Ostrich Lamp

For our second show of the 2024 spring season, Tartuffe, I took on the project of making two Ostrich Lamps. I made the skeleton out of PVC. I used proper projection when heating and bending the pipes. I then had to figure out a way to attach the feather lamp shade. I started with branches like a tree and ended up using chicken wire to model out a rough shape. I installed the electrics myself for the lights and paper mache the lamp to look golden. The base of the lamp I built up with foam and thermoplastic to model it.

: Skeleton

: First Attempt at Feathers

: Second Attempt at Feathers

: Second Attempt at Feathers

: Eletrics

: Base

: Paper Mache

: Working Light

: On Stage

Poison Bottle

Our last show of the 2023 season was Bonnets: How Ladies of Good Breeding are Induced to Murder. I was the assistant props manger for the show which means I was going to production meetings, emailing the designers and director for props lists, and attending technical rehearsals for notes and feedback. Thankfully Bonnets is a relatively low prop shop, so it was not too overwhelming for my first show assignment. I was in charge of the poison bottle prop. To start I did a bit of research to see what a Baroque poison bottle would look like, and found a bottle in our warehouse that I was happy with. We cannot allow glass on stage so I has to mold the one I found and cast it in plastic. I designed a label and painted the bottle to look like stained glass. The director also wanted the bottle to light up and smoke when the cork was pulled off. To achieve this, our shop had a micro fogger ruffly 2×3 inches that fit inside of the bottle. The lights were remote controlled fairy lights I ordered and wrapped the inside of the bottle with.

: Two Part Mold of a Glass Bottle

: Poison Bottle Casting

: Final Bottle Shape

: Stain Glass Treatment Samples

: Painted Poison Bottle

: Label

: Labeled

: Final Bottle on Stage

: Final Bottle on Stage

Beginning Projects

I fabricated baked goods for our production of Into The Woods out of various foams. For our production of Emilia, we needed to make about 100 books and because real books would be too heavy, we made these books using a combination of wood, styrofoam and real books. One of my first projects in my fall semester, October 2023, were fancy opera glasses made out of children’s binoculars for our production of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.