Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: The King and I

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Gaafa
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Joined: 3/21/04
Location: Australia
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Posts: 1181

Posted: 10/12/07 at 12:50pm

I agree, what a little bottler Dana! Star

I always felt there must be a better use for those plastic cool drink bottles.
Beyond chucking them in the recycle wheelie bin.

Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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DramaMamaStill
Lead
Lead

Joined: 2/07/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 31

Posted: 10/13/07 at 6:14pm

I love the liter bottle rosettes too.... I foresee them in future shows here LOL

did you spray them from the inside?

Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious

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SherrieAnne
Star
Star

Joined: 8/08/06
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 72

Posted: 10/16/07 at 10:03pm

My favorite show ever! Out of curiosity (my production of it was umpty-ump years ago, & I was the lead, not a costumer!

), how are you working the trick hoopskirts for Act II Scene 1? I spend a great deal of my time mucking about in hoops, & while I can think of several ways to make my specially-made hoops do that, none of them will work with commercially-available hoopskirts with their flexible boning.

There's a little bit of diva in all of us. Some just have a larger helping than others.

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Mr. Lowell
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Joined: 1/30/07
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 269

Posted: 10/16/07 at 11:27pm

Thanks folks, for the compliments on the coke bottle scenery. But I have been doing what I call shabby-tech for years! Out of neccessity. When you are cursed with a low budget and a creative mind, everything you see in the course of the day is a potential prop. I could write a book on this stuff! (In fact, I found some more stuff in the garden shop at Home Depot just today that will appear as part of the King's dais tomorrow!)

To DramaMamaStill: yes, I usually try to paint the inside of the coke bottle bottoms for a better shine. Much like you paint the back side of a piece of glass to make a mirror. But on this show I am also the Lighting Designer! So I would rather not have the rosettes so shiny that they glare and upstage the actors. So, not only am I painting the bottles on the outside, but I am also dusting them with copper and black paint to give an "aged patina" effect. (And besides, some of the bottles are from Sprite soda, which are made of green plastic).

*We started construction of the coke bottle rosettes this weekend. You can see photos of this project under the October 21st entry called "Blitz Bottles" on my production blog: http://gdsking.blogspot.com/

- Dana

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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DramaMamaStill
Lead
Lead

Joined: 2/07/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 31

Posted: 10/17/07 at 11:34pm

Thanks for the information on the pop bottle rosettes. My hubby is the tech director for the Musical this year at the high school. I have been trying to stay out of it as much as possible, but I just found a fabulous pair of MC Hammer balloon pants at Goodwill with studs and everything that I dropped off at the theater tonight. I cannot keep my hands off the costumes I guess.

I too am known as the wizard of the pinched penny... It can be a curse to see potential in everything you run across. Every time I go into a resale place I wonder if I will ever see that costume or prop again or how could that be used?

Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious

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TonyDi
Celebrity

Joined: 9/13/06
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 325

Posted: 10/18/07 at 8:45am

I LOVE this coke bottle idea. I WISH I had known of it when I did my production of it. Awesome idea for future though. THANKS. Wonderful idea. And DramaMama - I had to laugh at your nickname of being wizard of the pinched penny and how you view everything as a potential use for stage. HAHA!! LMAO. THAT is why many of us never throw anything away - because it WILL eventually have uses. I'm that way with wood. If it's 6" long it will be useful for something at some point. Need to cull the shed though and get rid of some stuff. I've already decided to get rid of a lot of stuff. Maybe I can get rid of most of the junk down the road at the rented utility building I've rented for the last 10 years. I figured how much average I spent renting those buildings and realize I could have BUILT one about twice the size for the same amount of money I've spent renting. But of course, didn't think of that at the time and didn't know I'd be renting for 10 years either. Sheesh!!

TonyDi

"Almost famous"

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Mr. Lowell
Celebrity

Joined: 1/30/07
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 269

Posted: 10/22/07 at 9:19am

To SherrieAnne and others: About the hoop skirt project...

The chorus just rehearsed what I call "the royal flashing scene" last week. The girls bow for the King's entrance and their hoop skirts moon him! One of the few big laffs of the show.

The cheap, simple and expediant way to do this gag was to sew Hula Hoops into stock dresses. However, after some testing, the costume designer encountered two complications. One, the Hula Hoops were not big enough around, and two, putting the hoop into the dress itself looked bad. It made the dress look like the "Tweedle Dumb" costume in a Disney parade!

So the solution was to change hoop material and move the hoop to an inner slip skirt. The new material we found was some 8' lengths of 1/2" outside diameter PVC plumbing pipe at Home Depot. (It's thin water pipe used to run a little water to the ice maker in your fridge, etc...).

The PVC pipe is rigid yet bendable, and could easily be cut to the proper length for each different skirt. We joined the two ends by inserting nails inside the joint and taping it up. After the hems were sewn into the the skirts, then the pipes were inserted and joined.

The costume ladies found a bunch of old stock slips from other shows in our storage area. By putting the hoop into the slips instead, it allowed the outer dresses to fall naturally and look better. During the costume parade yesterday, the girls tested the new hoop skirts/slips. They worked pretty well, but in my opinion, the outer dresses will have to be pinned or sewn to the rim of the slips so that the dresses won't bunch up on the girl's backs when they kneel and flip.

You can see the photo of the girls with the hoop skirts on my production blog. Go to an October 21st entry called "Blitz Hoops" : http://gdsking.blogspot.com/

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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Mr. Lowell
Celebrity

Joined: 1/30/07
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 269

Posted: 11/16/07 at 1:48pm

A success! The King and I was an outstanding production. We sold out all four performances and luckily there were no major "Murphy's Law" incidents!

The "coke bottle rosettes" and the "homemade hoop skirts" that were discussed above all work well too!

To see photos of the show, you are welcome to view the entire 3 month process from start to finish on my Production Blog at:

http://gdsking.blogspot.com/

Just 3 months until "Seussical"!!! -Dana

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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Linda E
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 11/14/07
Location: Albania
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 11/28/07 at 5:24pm

Your show looks great.
I live in Maui and we are doing the King & I to open April 08. I am wondering how you made the crowns for the dance. The idea with the hoop skirts was helpful. Mahalo Linda

Linda in Maui

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Mr. Lowell
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Joined: 1/30/07
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 269

Posted: 12/26/07 at 3:39pm

Hi Linda E., thanks!

The Thai headdresses used in the royal dance in Act I, Scene 2 and in the Uncle Tom's Cabin Ballet in Act II were "home made".

Here are some pictures.

Act I:

http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingHeaddresses.jpg

Act II:

http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingBalletEliza.jpg

They were simple to make. We made a form mold using a styrofoam wig head with a styrofoam tree cone from a hobby shop on top. This was covered in plaster strips, (like a cast on a broken arm). Then some gold paint on the outside and foam rubber liners on the inside. Volunteers hot-glued tons of jems and beads on them, plus an unbreakable Christmas ornament at the top. A good craft project for parents of the cast on our "Parent Blitz Day".

http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingHeaddressFab.jpg

These hats are VERY show-specific, and odds are, I won't be doing King and I for another ten years. No doubt by then they will get crushed in the prop room!

So Ruthie, the director, and I would just as soon see them put to good use. Although, with all the productions going on here, we just don't have time to get into the "rental business"...as you can imagine. So I would prefer to sell them to you...and you could then re-sell them to the next theatre troup who needs them.

Maybe a $20.00 donation to our Thespian Club for all three. Then add postage to Hawaii.

Please e-mail me if you are interested in them.

Thanks, Dana

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup

Topic: The King and I( Topic Closed)
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Author	Message
Gaafa Celebrity Joined: 3/21/04 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 1181	Posted: 10/12/07 at 12:50pm
	I agree, what a little bottler Dana! I always felt there must be a better use for those plastic cool drink bottles. Beyond chucking them in the recycle wheelie bin.
	Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house}
	IP Logged

DramaMamaStill Lead Joined: 2/07/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 31	Posted: 10/13/07 at 6:14pm
	I love the liter bottle rosettes too.... I foresee them in future shows here LOL did you spray them from the inside?
	Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious
	IP Logged

SherrieAnne Star Joined: 8/08/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 72	Posted: 10/16/07 at 10:03pm
	My favorite show ever! Out of curiosity (my production of it was umpty-ump years ago, & I was the lead, not a costumer!), how are you working the trick hoopskirts for Act II Scene 1? I spend a great deal of my time mucking about in hoops, & while I can think of several ways to make my specially-made hoops do that, none of them will work with commercially-available hoopskirts with their flexible boning.
	There's a little bit of diva in all of us. Some just have a larger helping than others.
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 10/16/07 at 11:27pm
	Thanks folks, for the compliments on the coke bottle scenery. But I have been doing what I call shabby-tech for years! Out of neccessity. When you are cursed with a low budget and a creative mind, everything you see in the course of the day is a potential prop. I could write a book on this stuff! (In fact, I found some more stuff in the garden shop at Home Depot just today that will appear as part of the King's dais tomorrow!) To DramaMamaStill: yes, I usually try to paint the inside of the coke bottle bottoms for a better shine. Much like you paint the back side of a piece of glass to make a mirror. But on this show I am also the Lighting Designer! So I would rather not have the rosettes so shiny that they glare and upstage the actors. So, not only am I painting the bottles on the outside, but I am also dusting them with copper and black paint to give an "aged patina" effect. (And besides, some of the bottles are from Sprite soda, which are made of green plastic). We started construction of the coke bottle rosettes this weekend. You can see photos of this project under the October 21st entry called "Blitz Bottles" on my production blog: http://gdsking.blogspot.com/ - Dana*
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
	IP Logged

DramaMamaStill Lead Joined: 2/07/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 31	Posted: 10/17/07 at 11:34pm
	Thanks for the information on the pop bottle rosettes. My hubby is the tech director for the Musical this year at the high school. I have been trying to stay out of it as much as possible, but I just found a fabulous pair of MC Hammer balloon pants at Goodwill with studs and everything that I dropped off at the theater tonight. I cannot keep my hands off the costumes I guess. I too am known as the wizard of the pinched penny... It can be a curse to see potential in everything you run across. Every time I go into a resale place I wonder if I will ever see that costume or prop again or how could that be used?
	Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious
	IP Logged

TonyDi Celebrity Joined: 9/13/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 325	Posted: 10/18/07 at 8:45am
	I LOVE this coke bottle idea. I WISH I had known of it when I did my production of it. Awesome idea for future though. THANKS. Wonderful idea. And DramaMama - I had to laugh at your nickname of being wizard of the pinched penny and how you view everything as a potential use for stage. HAHA!! LMAO. THAT is why many of us never throw anything away - because it WILL eventually have uses. I'm that way with wood. If it's 6" long it will be useful for something at some point. Need to cull the shed though and get rid of some stuff. I've already decided to get rid of a lot of stuff. Maybe I can get rid of most of the junk down the road at the rented utility building I've rented for the last 10 years. I figured how much average I spent renting those buildings and realize I could have BUILT one about twice the size for the same amount of money I've spent renting. But of course, didn't think of that at the time and didn't know I'd be renting for 10 years either. Sheesh!! TonyDi
	"Almost famous"
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 10/22/07 at 9:19am
	To SherrieAnne and others: About the hoop skirt project... The chorus just rehearsed what I call "the royal flashing scene" last week. The girls bow for the King's entrance and their hoop skirts moon him! One of the few big laffs of the show. The cheap, simple and expediant way to do this gag was to sew Hula Hoops into stock dresses. However, after some testing, the costume designer encountered two complications. One, the Hula Hoops were not big enough around, and two, putting the hoop into the dress itself looked bad. It made the dress look like the "Tweedle Dumb" costume in a Disney parade! So the solution was to change hoop material and move the hoop to an inner slip skirt. The new material we found was some 8' lengths of 1/2" outside diameter PVC plumbing pipe at Home Depot. (It's thin water pipe used to run a little water to the ice maker in your fridge, etc...). The PVC pipe is rigid yet bendable, and could easily be cut to the proper length for each different skirt. We joined the two ends by inserting nails inside the joint and taping it up. After the hems were sewn into the the skirts, then the pipes were inserted and joined. The costume ladies found a bunch of old stock slips from other shows in our storage area. By putting the hoop into the slips instead, it allowed the outer dresses to fall naturally and look better. During the costume parade yesterday, the girls tested the new hoop skirts/slips. They worked pretty well, but in my opinion, the outer dresses will have to be pinned or sewn to the rim of the slips so that the dresses won't bunch up on the girl's backs when they kneel and flip. You can see the photo of the girls with the hoop skirts on my production blog. Go to an October 21st entry called "Blitz Hoops" : http://gdsking.blogspot.com/
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 11/16/07 at 1:48pm
	A success! The King and I was an outstanding production. We sold out all four performances and luckily there were no major "Murphy's Law" incidents! The "coke bottle rosettes" and the "homemade hoop skirts" that were discussed above all work well too! To see photos of the show, you are welcome to view the entire 3 month process from start to finish on my Production Blog at: http://gdsking.blogspot.com/ Just 3 months until "Seussical"!!! -Dana
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
	IP Logged

Linda E Walk-On Joined: 11/14/07 Location: Albania Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 11/28/07 at 5:24pm
	Your show looks great. I live in Maui and we are doing the King & I to open April 08. I am wondering how you made the crowns for the dance. The idea with the hoop skirts was helpful. Mahalo Linda
	Linda in Maui
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 12/26/07 at 3:39pm
	Hi Linda E., thanks! The Thai headdresses used in the royal dance in Act I, Scene 2 and in the Uncle Tom's Cabin Ballet in Act II were "home made". Here are some pictures. Act I: http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingHeaddresses.jpg Act II: http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingBalletEliza.jpg They were simple to make. We made a form mold using a styrofoam wig head with a styrofoam tree cone from a hobby shop on top. This was covered in plaster strips, (like a cast on a broken arm). Then some gold paint on the outside and foam rubber liners on the inside. Volunteers hot-glued tons of jems and beads on them, plus an unbreakable Christmas ornament at the top. A good craft project for parents of the cast on our "Parent Blitz Day". http://www.lowell.to/DesignKing/KingHeaddressFab.jpg These hats are VERY show-specific, and odds are, I won't be doing King and I for another ten years. No doubt by then they will get crushed in the prop room! So Ruthie, the director, and I would just as soon see them put to good use. Although, with all the productions going on here, we just don't have time to get into the "rental business"...as you can imagine. So I would prefer to sell them to you...and you could then re-sell them to the next theatre troup who needs them. Maybe a $20.00 donation to our Thespian Club for all three. Then add postage to Hawaii. Please e-mail me if you are interested in them. Thanks, Dana
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
	IP Logged