Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: Throwing a drink on stage

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Throwing a drink on stage

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1857
Printed Date: 5/02/24 at 12:39pm
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Topic: Throwing a drink on stage

Posted By: k8tt
Subject: Throwing a drink on stage
Date Posted: 5/19/06 at 8:06am

A scene calls for throwing a fast-food cup of Coke. The actor will try to throw it off stage (narrow opening to get it through, though). No way am I going to let real liquid be spilled on the wall or carpeted stage if he misses! What can I put in the cup bottom to weight it and make it seem like Coke? Some sort of thick gel?

Replies:

Posted By: puck
Date Posted: 5/19/06 at 12:43pm

I don't know, this may be one of those things there's no way around.

I had similar qualms when designing Laughter on The 23rd Floor which requires writing on the wall with a indelible marker AND and punching 3 holes in the wall every night.

Anywho, food coloring may or may not stain less than soda, and tea, without doubt has staining qualities.

Perhaps you could put a fashionable rug in the target area of darker color quality than the other carpet. And maybe you could just know that you'll have to be espcially conscientious of that area. The Mr Clean cleaning bricks work well on wall stains, they remove Sharpie.
:)

At the end of the day, with tricks as such; sometimes the scenery needs more attention than previously thought.

Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 5/19/06 at 3:59pm

If using a plastic cup, paint the inside of the cup with the shade of soft drink you're faking. (If it's a half-full cup, be sure to make the top of the "liquid" as level as possible). Place a small block of wood inside and secure it with screws (and wide washers) through the bottom of the cup. This will give it the necessary heft to travel when thrown. No liquid = no spillage.

If it's a paper cup, then the inside most likely is coated with wax which will prevent paint from adhering. In this case, make a sleeve out of dark fabric (the color of the soft drink) and insert that inside instead. Endeavor to make the top of the "liquid" as level as possible. Again, secure a block inside with screws and wide washers.

Since the cups are meant to be disposable, you may want to rig up several to last you the length of your run. Repeatedly throwing a weighted paper or plastic cup will eventually result in breakage.

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"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone

Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 5/19/06 at 4:48pm

Just a thought one thing you could try K8TT! Buy a good brand baby?s nappy [dipper], which is super absorbent. Take out the inner polymer liner & put it in the container, then add coke when you need to & it will super absorb the liquid from 150 to 300 times it?s weight instantly!
If this is a hassle making the polymer fibre fit in the cup!
Buy some polymer crystals from a supplier & just put them in the bottom of the cup. What is good about using the crystals is you can dry them out on paper & use them again, also they are cheap!

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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}

Posted By: k8tt
Date Posted: 5/21/06 at 7:50pm

Good ideas! I don't want to use real liquid since five people actually get these cups of Coke (only one throws it). Making the cup dark with a sleeve/paint is a good idea. I like the 'nappie' idea for the thrown cup - thanks Gaafa.

This play is making me crazy - too much food and liquid on stage. Coffee, vodka, oj, Coke, M & Ms, potato chips... even pudding! I am envisioning myself cleaning up chip crumbs every night.

Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 5/22/06 at 12:56am

Having done a number of slap stick custard pie shows in my time. I sympathise with you K8TT!
Even using removable tension stage cloths, the shaving cream gets every where & can become a very slippery problem. The potato crisp crumbs are worse, we used to use them & corn flakes crunched up on the floor to add sliding for ballroom dancing!
Even if your treat the stage deck to make it anti skid, by adding high sugar content soda or soft drinks in the mop/wash boiling water. {Diet drinks with chemical sweeteners don?t work as well as the ones with sugar] Food bits act like stepping on lighting gel left laying around on the stage & cause an A over Turkey without thinking!
One thing you could consider is making up a resin box for each side of the stage in the wings. The performers step into them before making an entrance on stage, in the same fashion as used by ballet dancers.
These are just a piece of flat plywood with a small wooden trim around the edge to hold the powdered resin, big enough to place a foot in. If you have a painted black deck or use a dark coloured Tarquete dance mat, you will see where everyone has walked, great for ballet but it might not be your tea bag!
Let us know how it all turns out K8TT!

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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}

Posted By: casey05
Date Posted: 5/27/06 at 8:54am

Could you use paraffin ala candle making? Put a brown crayon into it to colour it, and then just pour it into the cup to mould it?

Posted By: Playwright
Date Posted: 5/28/06 at 1:58pm

Would it work for the drink to be almost empty,therefore it'd just be ice water that's thrown?