Believe it or not, creating sets and props for our elementary school musicals was one of the most rewarding projects I've EVER done. Designing then building objects that meet all the constraints for the environment engaged almost every one of my skill sets, from research, to design, to building, to coordinating.
My goal: Create beautiful designs within substantial constraints!
· Inspire kids to be bold and big
· Accommodating, to allow many children to participate
· Achievable with volunteer labor, skills, tools, and time
· Light, nimble, and safe for kids to move or use without adults
· Small, thin, or foldable to fit in the wings during the show
· Cheap. This was an elementary school production after all
· Easily dismantled to avoid storage issues
Each production required an enormous amount of effort, from many different people, but in the end, they were always more than the sum of their parts. Working with the other talented parents and teachers to make that happen was an absolute joy.
Online photos from other productions were the starting point for most of my sketches, and therefore posting these pictures is my way of giving back.
Two Scenes in One - Kiss the Girl Lake Scene with Seaweed and Palace Kitchen
To save space, I put two different scenes on opposite sides of one prop. To help the kids move it safely, I also added handles to the edges so it could be pulled when folded.
Kiss the Girl Lake Scene
I made the willow "leaves" out of green plastic sprayed with additional colors for depth and then cut with rotary cutter. The "tree" was duct insulation wrap I painted brown.
Palace Kitchen
In the scene we had a table in front of this piece where the action happened.
THRONE AND THRONE ROOM
I stretched rolls of metal-like ribbon fabric from top to bottom then attached LED light strip to top. To make sure they didn't lose the remote control, I made a little box to store it. The whole thing was made with light materials except for the structure and then mounted on wheels.
Dock/Pier - Multi-purpose Boxes
I made multi-purpose boxes we re-used each year, sometimes connecting them to form bigger boxes. These need to be VERY strategic or you end up with lots of boxes laying around, which are heavy and bulky because kids need to be able to stand on them.
Multi-purpose Boxes
We did reuse these boxes to create staircase in the Beauty and the Beast, several years later.
I have no idea why Behance is turning this image upside down!!
Extras
I tried to use material that was already at the school, not being used, rather than buying new. For instance, the green stalks were some sort of plastic molding that I cut up and spray painted. The pieces of foam were around from other shows, I simply cut them differently, then repainted and added glitter.
Ursula
This was not my project but it was fantastic. A big fan blew out her tentacles. We put everything on wheels so it was easier to move, but we made sure an adult was around for this one.
