The Girl Cave

[Disney-Obsessed]

WOW! I wish I took Theater! We have a pretty small school, so theater class is VERY small!!! I want to take art, though! Who paints the props for the plays? How do the teachers come up the with next play? DO the students have a say in choosing a play?!? Wait, so if someone had a capsule in there mouth with blood, is the capsule plastic? Is the blood made out of edible materials? (not that you would want to eat it!!!!) How does the person camouflage the capsule so it's unseen to the audience? Or is it so small that it's unnoticeable? And yea, I am getting into this!!! I just think that it's so interesting because I never do anything with theater, but I may start!!!

 

[softball chick]

WOW! I wish I took Theater! We have a pretty small school, so theater class is VERY small!!! I want to take art, though! Who paints the props for the plays? How do the teachers come up the with next play? DO the students have a say in choosing a play?!? Wait, so if someone had a capsule in there mouth with blood, is the capsule plastic? Is the blood made out of edible materials? (not that you would want to eat it!!!!) How does the person camouflage the capsule so it's unseen to the audience? Or is it so small that it's unnoticeable? And yea, I am getting into this!!! I just think that it's so interesting because I never do anything with theater, but I may start!!!

For every show there is a props mistress (that's me for Dracula) who is charge of getting all the props together - which basically means looking through our "prop shop" which is in our director's office, going out to buy props, or making them when we can. As for choosing the next play, our director does that in spring-ish and announces it at our end of the year picnic (and sadly no students have no say - although he has seemed to get ideas from us before). And I'm not sure exactly what the capsule is made of, but I'm assuming plastic. Yes the blood is edible (or at least non-toxic) and because the audience is so far away from the actor it would be unlikely they would be able to notice the small capsule from their seats.

 

[Disney-Obsessed]

Can any person in theater class work on the props? How do y'all make the props look realistic?! If too many students dislike the play, will the director change it? Who's the director? Teacher or student? UGH! Even if the fake blood is edible, I don't think that I'd want it anywhere near my mouth!!! Who cleans up after the play?

 

[softball chick]

Can any person in theater class work on the props? How do y'all make the props look realistic?! If too many students dislike the play, will the director change it? Who's the director? Teacher or student? UGH! Even if the fake blood is edible, I don't think that I'd want it anywhere near my mouth!!! Who cleans up after the play?

For the class shows, yeah anyone can work on them but usually only 2-3 of us do and for the "mainstage" shows a couple people from crew work on it. Many times the props literally are what they are - i.e. we use a real telephone, fake flower bouquets, fake cigarettes (that last one was fun...I got to figure out how to use them for the last show). Once the show is announced in spring, it is set and there will be no changing it. But for the advanced theatre shows (like Dracula), those the class actually does get some say in choosing, so we get some control for those. Our director is our drama teacher, but occasionally for an adv theatre show students will direct scenes - we had that last year for two little scenes we did in spring. And after the show, we have what is called "strike". That's when the crew and sometimes cast members go and basically take apart the sets, put away the props, and return the stage back to its bare self, ready for the next show.

 

[Disney-Obsessed]

For the class shows, yeah anyone can work on them but usually only 2-3 of us do and for the "mainstage" shows a couple people from crew work on it. Many times the props literally are what they are - i.e. we use a real telephone, fake flower bouquets, fake cigarettes (that last one was fun...I got to figure out how to use them for the last show). Once the show is announced in spring, it is set and there will be no changing it. But for the advanced theatre shows (like Dracula), those the class actually does get some say in choosing, so we get some control for those. Our director is our drama teacher, but occasionally for an adv theatre show students will direct scenes - we had that last year for two little scenes we did in spring. And after the show, we have what is called "strike". That's when the crew and sometimes cast members go and basically take apart the sets, put away the props, and return the stage back to its bare self, ready for the next show.

A lot of work must go into these plays! How long does a play that a student would perform in last? If a prop is unavailable and cannot be purchased, who builds it? A parent or do the students get to help? Do you have to try out for adv theater? I dislike how small my school is....... :/ SO how big is the "props'" closet? Are all of the props saved?

 

[softball chick]

A lot of work must go into these plays! How long does a play that a student would perform in last? If a prop is unavailable and cannot be purchased, who builds it? A parent or do the students get to help? Do you have to try out for adv theater? I dislike how small my school is....... :/ SO how big is the "props'" closet? Are all of the props saved?

Fall plays run for 3 shows, advanced theatre goes for 2, and musical goes for 5 shows. If someone has to make a prop, either a student or the teacher probably would. To get into adv theatre, you have to take the two years of theatre classes that come before it or get special permission from the teacher. Our props closet is a medium smallish room that is FULL of old props and yes we save almost everything from a show - we are constantly reusing props from old shows for our new ones

 

[Disney-Obsessed]

Fall plays run for 3 shows, advanced theatre goes for 2, and musical goes for 5 shows. If someone has to make a prop, either a student or the teacher probably would. To get into adv theatre, you have to take the two years of theatre classes that come before it or get special permission from the teacher. Our props closet is a medium smallish room that is FULL of old props and yes we save almost everything from a show - we are constantly reusing props from old shows for our new ones

Is musical theatre basically Broadway? Why does adv theatre get one less play? Are the props organized in the closet or are the just kind of set around? How do the stage directors/prop managers change the scenery and props for every new scene? How do they change everything so quickly? Sorry about all of the questions!!!

 

[softball chick]

Is musical theatre basically Broadway? Why does adv theatre get one less play? Are the props organized in the closet or are the just kind of set around? How do the stage directors/prop managers change the scenery and props for every new scene? How do they change everything so quickly? Sorry about all of the questions!!!

It's alright - I don't mind answering them all. Musical is literally just a play with songs in it, that is the songs help drive the story. Often yes it is what people think of when they think of Broadway (I sure was guilty of that until a couple years ago). Sound of Music, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked - all examples of "musical theatre". In our specific room, they are sorta "organized", but that basically just means organized chaos and only those who know there way around it can find anything in there. For every show there is a running crew whose job it is to change the scenes. They have incredibly specific jobs and practice really hard to make the scene changes go as quickly as possible.

 

[Disney-Obsessed]

It's alright - I don't mind answering them all. Musical is literally just a play with songs in it, that is the songs help drive the story. Often yes it is what people think of when they think of Broadway (I sure was guilty of that until a couple years ago). Sound of Music, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked - all examples of "musical theatre". In our specific room, they are sorta "organized", but that basically just means organized chaos and only those who know there way around it can find anything in there. For every show there is a running crew whose job it is to change the scenes. They have incredibly specific jobs and practice really hard to make the scene changes go as quickly as possible.

To be in musical theatre, do you have to sing? Or can you still be in musical theatre without having to sing? If a prop were to get damaged on stage, how would the running crew/prop managers handle it? If one person on the running crew didn't do their job correctly, could it mess up the whole play?

 

[softball chick]

To be in musical theatre, do you have to sing? Or can you still be in musical theatre without having to sing? If a prop were to get damaged on stage, how would the running crew/prop managers handle it? If one person on the running crew didn't do their job correctly, could it mess up the whole play?

Typically yes singing is helpful, but I know some people who aren't the strongest singers but maybe are good dancers so they do more of that in the show (they just won't be the leads w/ all the solos). If it gets damaged, you punt through the rest of that scene/show, and then after they would probably try to fix/replace it for the next time it's needed. And if they don't do there job, something (like maybe a chair) might not be in place when it's needed or it could be as bad as a platform isn't braced right and someone could fall from it - that's why crew is SOOOO important to any show

 

[Disney-Obsessed]

I would definitely NOT want to be on the crew! I'd be too nervous about making a mistake! And thank you for answering my many questions! If I can think of any more, I'm gonna come and ask you!

 

[bballermegz30]

Does anyone know where I can get park, firework, and parade music on my ipod? I've been looking but I can't find anything :/ I'd like to have some before my trip in a few days! Thanks