A Very Strange Image

It’s near Halloween and maybe this story and its accompanying video is a good opener for this site.  We will inundate you with costume ideas over the next two months with Halloween costume ideas.  

Not a costume, but some version of this very strange image might be incorporated into your Halloween costume.  Watch the whole video for maximum results. Click Here 

Welcome to our Easter Amazon Store          

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Presently, we are featuring suggestions for the upcoming Easter holiday to include Easter Bunny costumes.  You will (with a little search) find Biblical costumes, as well, when you actually enter into the wide world of Amazon. 

Sock Puppets n Stuff

Sock Puppets lets you create your own puppet shows in seconds, then share them on Facebook and YouTube with just a few taps. A great variety of puppets can be found from a number of different sources including children’s catalogs such as Kaplan , toy stores such as ToysRus, and big-box stores such as K-mart, Target and Dollar Tree. Another great source for puppets is yard sales and local publications such as BuySell Bulletin. Creative adults and children can make their own puppets from socks, felt, and other household items.

And nowhere was the French supremacy in the field of large inflatable more apparent than on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, the city’s main boulevard, where locals recently celebrated the street’s 125th anniversary with a performance by Les Plasticiens Volants, a French troupe of puppeteers who are world famous for large-scale extravaganzas that tell stories using giant puppets filled with helium and air and controlled by ropes.

With original music by Bruce Haack, scenery by William B. Pitkin & Kevin Frisch, marionettes by Coppola & James Wojtal, jr., lights and sound by Terry Alan Smith, and directed by Michael Leach, Puppetworks’ The Jungle Book is a fantastical journey of one of Mowgli’s adventures with Akela the wolf and Baloo, the Bear, and filled with temptations of the monkey folk and other such animals of the Indian jungle.

When you are learning ventriloquism, you may not get the drone at once, but a little practice will enable you to do so. When once you hear that clear, distant-sounding drone you may know that you have your mouth as it should be for ventriloquism, but until you do produce that you must hark back because, unless this foundation is laid properly, all that follows is unsatisfactory and your ventriloquism will lack that distant quality, to obtain which is to be a ventriloquist.

Educational wooden toys encourage curiosity and help to explore the things around.Wooden puzzles for toddlers and toddler puzzles games, matching puzzles memory games and colorful wooden shaped puzzles are really very allowable for a toddler’s play.Wooden marionettes and wooden string puppets give a great enjoyment to a child as well as they learn to express and expose themselves in a smarter way.

The award-winning puppeteer-actor has honed his skills creating and animating puppets since the age of 10. He landed his first paying television gig in his late teens for a CBS affiliate in Baltimore, where he ultimately attracted the attention of Muppet designer and future mentor, Kermit Love, who introduced the ambitious teen to legendary puppeteer Jim Henson, who created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and dozens of other famous character.

Props Master and Props Designer

The most common means of organizing props is the use one or several props tables.  A props table is simply a large table in the wings where props are laid out for use. Usually the table is covered with heavy paper which is divided into sections for each prop, appropriately labeled. The props are often outlined to make their proper place obvious. It is then quite simple to look over the table to see if anything is missing. Atlanta Props designed this grocery set for a Perdue chicken television commercial. Atlanta Props was responsible for the design of the set, the construction, and all the fixtures and props.

During Strike for each production, the Props Designer, in collaboration with the Prop Shop Student Manager , is responsible for returning props to Storage in good repair and suitable for future use. Makes sure all borrowed or rented props are returned in good condition. During Strike, the Props Designer will collaborate with the Prop Shop Student Manager in returning props to storage and insuring all items are returned in good condition. At the end of the day’s rehearsal the props master should organize the crew to put away props as needed.

Props Master Guidelines

Work with the Props Crew Chief to determine the best location for each prop Set up. Monitor prop usage to ensure props don’t get damaged and that they are being used the way you intended them to be used.

But not all theatres can afford seven full-time staff members in the prop shop, as Milwaukee Rep has. Guy is fortunate to work at a well-established LORT theatre that has an annual operating budget of over $9 million. At Playmakers Rep, things are different. The theatre, which is part of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Dramatic Art, operates on a budget of just over $1 million, and so is able to employ only a properties manager and one prop carpenter and welder full time. A student assistant and work-study part-timers help fill in the gaps.

For Halloween props, canned cobwebs and paper witches will only take you so far with Halloween planning. For that extra wow factor, look up  Halloween props. Categorized in handy sections to find everything you need quick, your haunted house props and theatre props are all available in one party prop shop!  See you local costume shop.

The Props Department

At the first Production Meeting, the Props Master should request the Props Budget for the show. For shows with a large budget, the Props Master may request an advance of funds required for the creation, purchase or rental of Props. Currently, the theatre policy is that the TD is responsible for giving an advance check to the PM, hopefully by the first production meeting. Activities During rehearsals Organize, from the props crew, a props running crew and develop a clear and precise schedule for them for the run of the production.

The Props Designer

Bernie only makes a few of these each year and not many are put up for sale. This 36 plat, two tone brown & black stock whip is a prize for anyone’s collection. I imported this whip and sold it over 15 years ago and it was the keystone of a private collection.

The Props Designer discusses the budget with the Director and Staff Production Manager/Technical Director and determines if any props will have to be bought or rented. The Props Designer is responsible for obtaining a purchase order, check, or petty cash from the Department Administrative Assistant and making arrangements for purchase or rental (see Petty Cash policy ). At the end of the day’s rehearsal the props master should go to the post-rehearsal production meeting and receive notes from the director and designer and then develop a priority list for the completion of the props.

Naturally it is the star who catches the eye and ear of the audience. When the hero does and dares it is he whom the spectators are with heart and soul, and the curtain goes down upon the last set while auditors join in exclamations of rapture over the work of their idol. They fail to take into consideration that when from his trusty revolver sped the fatal bullet which winged the bold, bad villain, none other was responsible for the blank cartridge and the wreaths of white smoke which curled above than the humble property man.

THEATRICAL PROPERTY

The term has readily transferred to television and motion picture production, where they are commonly referred to by the phrase movie prop or film prop In recent years, the increasing popularity of movie memorabilia (a broader term that also includes costumes) has added new meaning to the term “prop,” broadening its existence to include a valuable after-life as a prized collector’s item. Typically not available until after a film’s premiere, movie props appearing on-screen are christened “screen-used”, and can fetch thousands of dollars in online auctions and charity benefits. 

I remember a troupe performance I saw in which the choreography to each and every song used a different prop, and the effect was much too busy. The performers looked more like trained seals showing off thoeir collection of tricks than like dancers offering a dance perfrmance. I would encourage you to put at least one dance that uses no props at all in between each prop-oriented dance. Props are most effective when they’re used to provide a change of pace. Be prepared with all show props for first and subsequent technical and dress rehearsals (all props in place and prepared to begin at each rehearsal’s start time).

The Props Table

If consumables are used in a performance, the Props Designer is responsible for obtaining a purchase order, check, or petty cash from the Department Administrative Assistant and making arrangements for purchase (see Petty Cash policy ). Props Designer consults with the Director of the production regarding when consumables should first be used in rehearsals. Props Crew notifies the Props Designer when restocking is necessary. During the rehearsal period, the Props Crew behaves as any other crew (electrics, paint, set construction, etc.) in attending work calls held by the Props Designer These work calls may include building or shopping for props.

Set decoration can and should be really rich and detail-oriented,” he says of his affinity for putting the intimate touches on scenery. “It can be a major contributor to the effect that the play has,” he says. Other props departments throughout the country have shops that are variations on Guy’s setup at Milwaukee Rep, but not all have the budgets to retain such diverse staff. In smaller shops the props master has a very hands-on job. Before the end of the semester the props master must turn in their paperwork package as defined and discussed with the faculty props designer.

Prop Masters

Ms. Erdman knows from bodily fluids. As a freelance props master (or “prop tart,” as she calls herself), her job is to buy furniture, make accessories, whip up batches of blood or do whatever else it takes to make sets look and feel as authentic as possible. Ms. Erdman was one of about 50 props people who gathered on Friday night at the Public Theater for an informal meeting that gave attendees a chance to network, watch demonstrations and exchange insider tips on the latest techniques in an area of theatrical design that often goes unnoticed and unheralded.

The Props Master should be at strike. The Props Crew Chief, Crew and other volunteers may be there helping, but it is primarily the PM’s job to make sure every prop is struck and returned to the correct location. This is important because only the PM knows which items were borrowed and they have the best feel for what items are not worth keeping for future shows. The PM is also responsible for removing all labels from prop tables and throwing out all trash in the prop area. If there was any food in the show, this should be disposed of. NO food should be left in RLT refridgerators.