The Properties Director's Toolkit

Managing a Prop Shop for Theatre

Sandra Strawn, Lisa Schlenker

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351380423
• Edición: 2
• Categoría: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Categoría: Teatro

This book explains and provides templates for organizing and managing a prop shop, from pre-production organization to production processes, budgeting, and collaborations with other production areas. It explores how to plan, organize, and maintain a prop shop for safe and efficient production work.

Chapter 1
Sense and Sensibility

If you were to google props, it might be surprising to discover props seems to have something to do with boating or airplanes instead of theatre. Actually, a propeller hung as décor on the wall of a stage set, carried in by an actor as part of their character, or attached to a modified bicycle to represent an airplane as it is peddled about the stage would indeed be a prop. Props, or stage properties, embrace the enormous possibility of being just about anything to help tell the story on stage and to support the understanding of character for the audience.

Unique talents and skills are necessary to build stage properties. Frankly, the skill set needed to be an artisan in a prop shop is endless, as one never knows what experience or knowledge will pop up as helpful in the process of creating props for the stage. The “hard” skill sets (upholstery, welding, woodworking, molding, design layout, crafting, to name just a few) might all be learned through education and diligent study. However, the “soft” skills seem more innate, and prized above all are curiosity, a thirst for knowledge/exploration, and the desire to nurture ideas, relationships, stories, and storytellers.

The head of the prop shop is often called the properties director or the prop master. A director is a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization; from dirigere, meaning ‘to guide’. A master is a skilled practitioner of a particular art or activity—or having or showing very great skill or proficiency. Leading a prop shop requires a balance of both definitions, which may be why the titles are used so interchangeably. Managing a prop shop for an individual show build in a season of shows requires the alchemy of being an active artist and storyteller as well as strong leadership in managing and inspiring other creative artists, understanding and channeling the vision of the director/designer, and the constant challenge of organization, communication, collaboration, resource allocation, budgeting, and deadlines.

A properties director needs the willingness to embrace constant change and will thrive on the shifting sands of the creative process. As the creative team’s ideas coalesce, concepts are embraced and abandoned, finally maturing into clarity within the developmental journey to show creation.

This arc presents multiple opportunities for the “3Cs of leadership and management”:

Collaboration

Communication

Creativity

As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.

—Amy Poehler

Collaboration is the heartbeat of working in props. Everything from start to finish involves the input and ideas of others.

A good collaborator:

• Builds trust and promotes buy-in and inclusion
• Understands prioritization and time management
• Is a good listener
• Can communicate ideas with clarity
• Exhibits a calm, supportive, caring, and committed demeanor
• Is willing to explore, dream, challenge, and offer “what if” ideas
• Plays well with others.

Being a collaborator in the design process allows the team charged with creating the world seen on stage to develop solutions or alternatives by contributing toward the whole vision. Building on ideas developed in the initial director and designer concept discussions, the properties director joins the process to give input into the design and definition of the stage props, from the things the actors handle to the furniture on the stage to the décor on the wall. This might be done individually in a meeting just with the prop shop or in a larger group including all area heads. Often times things overlap into multiple production departments, and having input from all areas allows the information and problem-solving process to embrace everyone’s talents and ideas. The area heads in scenery, paint, lighting, sound, special effects (FX), and costumes can contribute their ideas and experience as they help to define unknowns, present solutions, bring alternatives for consideration, and share the load.

As the designer delivers the initial prop list, drawings, and research, the properties director often invites the prop shop artisans to contribute ideas on construction methods, product usage, or supplemental research information. This adds to the collective foundation of discovery and creation. Like an interesting layout of dominoes, each decision or choice can alter other choices. Each idea presented might trigger another thought and develop a new or better solution. Dreams can become reality as alternatives are presented and priorities are determined. Budgets and deadlines can be “massaged” to support crucial aesthetic and storytelling elements when viewing the greater whole.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

—George Bernard Shaw

Communication is vital to good collaboration. Regardless of where any one person sits within the structure of the organization, having the ability to communicate well with colleagues is the key to success.

A good communicator:

• Speaks with diplomacy to reach understanding
• Is truthful in representing issues and presenting challenges
• Is proactive in taking responsibility and ownership of their part of the process
• Demonstrates integrity in the information flow
• Maintains accurate, organized files/documents and shares them openly
• Utilizes appropriate levels of notification and inclusion
• Advocates for appropriate expectations—for the shop, for the designer, for administration, and for other areas of production
• Is nimble and able to respond to change, supporting paradigm shifts from the designer, the director, rehearsal, or other areas of production or administration
• Seeks input and advice before it’s needed—seeing the note before it becomes a note.

How is that done? The properties director has a responsibility to foster dialog up and down the hierarchy of any theatre operation. Communication with the artistic director requires active engagement in conversation about that person’s vision and goals from a repertoire and presentation standpoint. This is Big Picture stuff, but it’s important to understand what can be contributed to the collaborative endeavor at that level. What stories are important to this leader? How do they wish to take the audience on that journey? Where do they need help? Maintaining an open mind and understanding the artistic priorities makes everyone better partners in carrying out the “boots on the ground” work toward realizing the vision of the artistic leadership.

When working with the people the artistic director hires to conceive and tell these stories, articulately voicing concerns or suggesting alternative ideas to production design teams in a face to face meeting or via email requires not only creativity and positivity but also truth and diplomacy. Striving to meet the creative team’s dreams in an environment of less than abundant resources can easily fall prey to negative dialog, and the resulting hit to collaborative relationships severely undermines trust. Adversaries cannot be partners. Advancing a true partnership with directors, designers, and performers often requires patience, clarity, and a willingness to gently educate.

Honest evaluation of project feasibility in a timely fashion is a must for fostering strong ties with the production director, who is doing the best to wrangle all the various shops and production numbers. Budgeting prop resources is more often than not a moving target, so frequent and detailed correspondence with production management, replete with options based on the realities of each situation, is essential to build trust and to get production management support in return. Functioning as an island is unhelpful when the connection to production management can be strengthened through clear and ongoing dialog about expectations, resources, and the individual unique challenges each project represents.

Trust and openness are paramount not only with artistic collaborators but also with senior management. From the production director on up to the senior administrative managers in each department, all of these folks are working to corral the resources allowing the prop shop to do the job and get paid for doing so. Using production management as a conduit to upper administrators can develop positive relationships within the company and secure invaluable resources. From trades of marketing materials (free tickets or program acknowledgments) in exchange for donated goods, materials or services, to investigating what that same marketing department might need from props professionals (a couple items from stock to make a window display more attractive or a televised behind-the-scenes segment resulting in increased ticket sales) requires keeping an open mind and honestly entertaining requests for assistance in a variety of ways. Likewise, the theatre’s development department is a huge partner to production in writing grants funding anything from apprentice positions to specialized equipment vital to various aspects of creative work. Prop departments in turn have the ability to lend a hand with efforts benefiting the theatre’s bottom line. Donating a spectacular or interesting prop to a fundraising auction, providing a behind-the-scenes tour or chat for a select group of donors, or assisting with décor for the annual gala are examples of productive cross pollination between the prop shop and development based on mutual respect of one another’s strengths and abilities. When properties directors have a demonstrable track record of working “across the aisle,” it cannot fail to attract positive attention from the executive director, from whom all numbers flow.

Communication among peers and lateral colleagues, while it may seem to go without saying and is perhaps an underlying assumption, forms the bedrock of teamwork within the production department. Each area has special skills to share and props crosses all boundaries on virtually every show build. Maintaining good humor and a sense of shared responsibility, helping others and allowing oneself to accept help, will earn respect and trust and strengthen connections with production colleagues. A strong collaborative relationship with other area heads depends on empathy as well as advocacy, and constantly reaching out to touch base is one way to keep those doors open.

The importance of observing, listening, and accepting input from the prop shop artisans and show run staff cannot be overstated. These people, individually and as a team, are a deep resource best cherished and supported, and the strength of these human assets is in direct proportion to the time and energy given to listening, acknowledging, sharing information, and managing their creative skills and attributes with respect and evenhandedness.

Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought.

—Einstein

Creativity is the underlying quality defining everything done in the shop and is the basis of thought when approaching a new design. The prop shop must find or build all of the details of hand props from books, weapons, tea cups, and candlesticks to furniture and stage dressing enhancing the scenic environment. Ideas may evolve from a foundation based on historical research or may be something referenced obliquely from an actual object. Sometimes the designer has extensive research or drawings demonstrating what is needed, but often the information evolves from discussion, rehearsal notes, and input from many points of view and diverse artists involved in the process. Having a grab bag of solutions and a broad depth of experience in making things allows the prop “build” to become a rewarding and engaging process, delighting the designer or director who dreamed it up and strengthening the confidence of the actor who has to interact with it onstage.

Creativity is:

• Innovation—improving on a previous solution/experience
• Invention—creating something entirely new
• Imagination—to form images and ideas freely
• Improvisation—solving a problem within limited time or resources
• Curiosity—the insatiable desire to learn and explore
• Flexibility—willingness to adapt to new information or viewpoints
• Vision—seeing the “What if?” The roulette wheel of product and process

Brainstorming options to present to the designer that show different ideas and address the particular situation allows for an enormous pool of solutions to be offered. It might be a different way to build something, allowing it to match what the designer envisions within the budget and build time frame, or it might be a different or new product offering the desired finish, strength, durability, ease of working, or expense. Developing that particular reservoir of creativity relies on experience and investigation. These provide a foundation in problem-solving and a grasp of products: knowing what materials are available and comprehending the attributes those materials have so they can be used in various and different ways. The understanding and knowledge of many skill sets in building, sculpting, sewing, drawing, and crafting allows “riffing” on those processes, spawning different ideas. The ability to juggle it all to transcend traditional notions and create something new in a different way epitomizes the ideal trajectory of prop work.

This is the artistry of manifest invention. The option to build it, buy it, borrow it, or pull it from stock is often the initial step. But then one’s imagination can run free, seeing beyond the “as-is” to envision the enhancements through which a prop might become better or different and how it might fulfill the designer’s vision, the actor’s need, and the director’s wishes.

In the prop shop, both “brains” of management and leadership need to be present. While these seem to be similar, they are flip sides of the same coin. All too often the word management is seen with a negative definition, as in controlling, reactive, or procedure oriented, while leadership is seen as more “touchy/feely,” with definitions like visionary and inspirational. But the necessity of being a good manager must fit hand in glove with being a creative ar...