Tips For Educational Theatre -
Holiday Edition

"It's Nutcracker time. Last year we set up walls and there wasn't enough room for the chorus to dance. What should we do?"

Painted Drops

A painted drop is the simplest solution for the house interior when dance space is at a premium. Muslin drops should be stretched on the floor or a frame and then painted. Limelight can sew a seamed muslin drop for you pretty quickly, or 120" muslin is available if you want to make a frame yourself. [more about painting a backdrop]

Don't be led astray by the notion that it is cheaper to go to the local home improvement or discount store for paint. House paints are designed to be used as they are out of the can and that is way too thick for painting scenery. You rarely find the range of colors needed for scenery in the house paint section.

Scenic paints are the most economical choice because they are designed to be thinned with water and still have enough pigment and binder to actually stick to the muslin. The Rosco Flamex products are designed to work with Rosco scenic paints and the color line was developed so it is easy to mix the range of artists colors used when painting scenery. Nonflame retardant treated muslin is easier to paint. You can mix the Rosco P-50 into the scene paint for an effective flame retardant treated piece of scenery. This does require adequate time to actually draw and paint the drop. It must remain stretched in place the entire time it is being painted.

Lighting Solutions for Scenic Elements

If this is too much, enlist your lighting designer's assistance. The interior can be created using architectural gobos. The patterns can shine on the floor to create a sense of architecture (check a section drawing or sit in the house to make sure the floor is visible to most of the audience - if it is not you will have to shine on the cyclorama).

Suggested Patterns:

Rosco 77976

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Rosco 79020

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Rosco 77139

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French Door 2 - Rosco 77976
Georgian Doors - Rosco 79020
Venetian Windows - 77139

Keystoned

Not Keystoned

Apollo 6083

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Apollo 6084

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Apollo 6061

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Apollo also has some lovely interior patterns including staircases (6083 and 6084) as well as a fireplace (6061) that you could shine on the cyclorama to create the feel of an interior. This would create a more stylized kind of look for the production. Do be sure that any architectural images are put in fixtures that hit the stage without keystoning or that the dancers will not have to dance through the images and create shadows.

Enhancing the Dances

For the dance of nations you may want to consider some of the patterns offered by Apollo that help to set a place, for example the Asia or Africa series. Feel free to call us for additional suggestions: 1-800-243-4950.

Remember, color changes through lighting can also help create transitions for the dances. Vibrant, more staccato music and dance can benefit from washes of brighter, warmer colors. Time the transition of the lighting to match the changes in the music. More romantic, fluid dance pieces like some of Clara's dances might be more appropriately lit in cooler colors. [more about color and light]

Dealing With Time Limits When A Tree Grows Onstage

Our dance studio is presenting a modest and somewhat abridged version of the NUTCRACKER in a rented theater. The rehearsal and tech time onstage is limited because of labor charges. How can we make the tree grow? The focus is really on showcasing the children in the ballet. By the way, I am really short on mice and soldiers if you have any thoughts about that.

I cannot help you multiply your mice or soldiers. Do remember that no matter how small or large the cast, you do not want the dancers to share makeup. Consider the Ben Nye Personal Kits - it is cheaper than treating pink eye!

Purchases of 12 or more kits receive an additional discount. Character and animal kits are also available.

A Lighting Solution

The tree can be handled in several different ways. One of the most stress free ways is to use gobo images again. Rosco offers both a single complete Christmas tree image and a composite of several patterns in different fixtures with different colors. (While the composite is beautiful, it would be hard to do multiple images from multiple fixtures onto a single point.)

Rosco Universal Pattern Holder

Focus two identical patterns on one spot in units with different focal lengths (so the pool of light from one is larger than the other. I might increase the wattage in the unit with the larger pool of light to balance the intensity of the two units.) If you use a Rosco Universal pattern holder and a steel tree and a glass prismatic gobo it looks fabulous. Our favorites are:

Use the Universal Iris slot holders when using Prismatics with the two patterns.

Christmas Complete - Rosco 77227
Spring Greens - Rosco 3803
Kaleidoscope - Rosco 3801

A company with a larger budget might consider using the Source 4 Revolution so the patterns can be rotated from one static image to another. That eliminates the problem of lining up units from different angles. The other option is to use a sidearm and hang one unit directly below the other.

If newer fixtures like Source 4 ellipsoidals are available the tree is even easier. Using the Image Pro projector you can create a full color image of the Christmas tree that is as photorealistic or cartoonish as you wish. The I-pros are available from the Limelight rental stock and custom or library images are approximately $35. Once again, use two different fixtures of different focal lengths to get two different size images. Voila - a tree grows onstage! If you or the theatre you have rented do not have Source 4 elliposidals you may want to consider buying a new or used unit from LPI, or calling our rental shop for pricing.

Another tree solution for the more mechanically inclined comes from my colleague lighting designer Jim Allen whose designs include work with the Minnesota Ballet. He created a tree of interconnected hoops that got progressively smaller. To make the tree grow, a line was attached to a batten that was then flown out. The amount of greenery and lights or tinsel attached to the hoops determines whether you create a modern (or perhaps postmodern) or classic looking tree. I have made a fabric sheet that fits around the hoops so the tree has a solid cone look.

Pat Murphy, the resident designer at Lite Trix in western NY, designs and techs about a half dozen Nutcrackers every year. He said that he makes a flat muslin tree and it hangs at the low trim. The muslin tree has clear and color Christmas lights sewn into it. The clear are always on. He lets the excess fabric puddle around the bottom of the tree until it is ready to fly out to high trim. He hides the excess with a ground row of Christmas presents or actual wrapped boxes. When the magic happens to make the tree grow, he turns on the colored lights and make them all chase a little faster.

How The Big Companies Do It

When the performance space is a proscenium theatre with a trapped stage floor, you can hide the bottom of the tree underneath the stage. During the magic sequence the tree rises through the floor revealing the lower half.

Equipment and products specified here are available at Limelight Productions.

Disclaimer - Solutions offered here are offered as artistic concepts. We can not warrant that these solutions can be safely implemented in all facilities and circumstances. Ultimately, personnel onsite must be responsible for assuring that the solution and execution is appropriate and safe for the facility and persons involved.

For more information, call us today at 1-800-243-4950