Caroline, or Change
Props Master: Emma Gold Anderson
Fall 2016
Scenic Designer: Randy McMullen
Director: Jim Fisher
Faculty Advisor: Lauren Reinhartsen
Food and Kitchen Props
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(Image 1) The final layout of the dining room table during act 2, scene 2. The latkes (images 3 & 4) were consumed on stage. There were also food products on stage that, while not eaten, needed to be kept fresh for each show. These food items included fake gravy (made of flour, water, and food coloring), celery to be chopped on stage, and fake homemade liver pudding (made of Grapenuts Cereal, oatmeal, cornstarch, water, and food coloring.) The fake goose was altered from one found in stock (image 5), and then filled with buckshot to weigh down the bird so that it didn't wobble when being transferred from its baking pan (image 7) onto a serving dish.
Also in this scene there is live fire used to light two menorah candles, done so by the 10 year old boy playing Noah. The original menorah we had planned to use, as can be scene in image 9, had very shallow candle wells. As a result, there was an issue with the candles falling out after the actor had lit and replaced them. After evaluating first menorah, I decided it would be best to find a new menorah with much deeper wells. The one chosen can be seen in image 6.
Laundry Room Props
Many of the scenes in this show revolved around laundry. Caroline, as the family maid, does the washing, drying, ironing, and folding of the family's laundry. Because the actress wanted to choreograph her movements with the laundry in time with the music, I pulled final props and several rehearsal props for her to practice with as soon as rehearsals began.
The Bus
The bus prop pictured left was built for this show using 1" box tube. I helped supervise the construction of this prop, the welding and main build of the bus completed by Joe Craig. The siding of the bus was covered with lauan and a small strip of aluminum. The lights within the bus were practical, and wired to a single switch which the actor could turn on and off.
The Toys
Noah was often on stage during scenes where he was not very involved in the dialogue, and thus I found time period appropriate toys for him to play with while on stage. His favorite toy to use was the ball-in-a-cup toy.
