"Egg Shells" for HONK! needed
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Forum Discription: For how-to's and where-can-I-find
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3540
Printed Date: 4/25/24 at 7:46pm
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Topic: "Egg Shells" for HONK! needed
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Subject: "Egg Shells" for HONK! needed
Date Posted: 10/15/08 at 3:30pm
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Has anyone done the musical HONK! recently? It would be a terrific time saver if I could rent or purchase your giant "Egg Shell" props for the hatching scene. (Needed May, 2009 in North Carolina).
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 |
Replies:
Posted By: Linda S
Date Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:09pm
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Hi Dana,
I have been researching "Honk". It is on my short list. This theater used umbrellas. http://www.augie.edu/dept/coth/theatre/shows/Honk/honkindex.html - http://www.augie.edu/dept/coth/theatre/shows/Honk/honkindex.html
Good luck on your egg hunt.
Linda
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Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 10/15/08 at 4:15pm
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My son's little theater did "Honk" and for the eggs simply used pastel-colored bedsheets. The ducklings sat cross-legged with their backs to the audience, stretching each sheet around themselves. I'm sure the director helped position them properly to get the proper shape. I thought it conveyed the image beautifully without breaking the bank. ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 10/15/08 at 7:22pm
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Done it twice... We did ours with chicken wire and plaster of paris. I was fortunate to do it at the second location (a high school) immediatly following our CT show... Unfortunatly, they didnt survive the kids.. ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 10/17/08 at 12:04am
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Hey, I found a good link to lots of previous productions of HONK! But I'm still hunting for a place that might still have the eggshells.
http://www.lilyrose.org/stilesdrewe/eggbox.html - http://www.lilyrose.org/stilesdrewe/eggbox.html I'll keep looking until the start of the new year, and then I'll just build my own. I have a brother that builds sailboats, so it might be fun to construct giant eggs out of fiberglass, like a boat hull! Then the shells would be sturdy enough to have hinged doors or lids that crack open. That would be very cool. Plus I would like to try a sight gag where just the two feet pop out of a shell and the egg runs around the stage blindly until hitting a wall and cracking open! Besides, if I build them myself, I could pass them on to others of you out there who are doing this show. We'll see... -Dana ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 10/17/08 at 7:59am
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Sounds like a neat plan for a show thats going to be big for a while.. ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: Mike Swy
Date Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:38pm
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I used $2.00 worth of Large balloons from Walmart, $10.00 worth of cheap "terry cloth" from Hobby Lobby, $10.00 worth of plaster of paris from Hobby Lobby and made my own solution of cast material (like for a broken arm) by dipping pieces of the terry cloth into the solution of watered down plaster of paris and putting it over the inflated large ballons. VERY strong and already looked (WITHOUT painting it) like egg shell. "Cheap" terry cloth, when dipped in the solution, acted like a large version of the gauze they charge $10.00 for - for a very small roll. One layer thick was strong and still relatively light weight. Attached these to the tops of old marching band hats (helmets with the "fur" stripped off - left the chin straps on and attached it with small twisted wire). The ugly duckling's shell was much larger by inflating that balloon bigger. With the actors squatted down in the "nest" it looked like a nest of eggs. Our "shells" went clear down to the actors shoulders and the "broken edges" of the shells (cut zig-zag) were cut so their faces showed when they held their heads up straight. Cut the edges of the "shells" with a Drimmel tool. In fact - we did "Honk!" as a summer "theatre camp" and had the cast help make the shells as part of the "Set and Props" class. I put some water in the balloons before inflating them (to keep them in place) and set them on top of buckets to apply the dipped terry cloth. They were dry the next day. Worked great. |
Posted By: Merkman4
Date Posted: 2/11/09 at 1:38pm
| By what date in May. I'm starting on ours now but I need to check the production date. Ours will be 3 to 4 ft high. I'm molding them out of styrofoam and them spraying them with a hard coat material |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 2/11/09 at 3:08pm
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We are doing HONK on May 15, 16, 17, 2009 with 5th and 6th grade actors. I would like our egg shells to be hollow so they can crack out of them. Will yours be hollowed out? ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 4/07/09 at 4:53pm
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Last call for help. If I can't find "egg shells" to rent or buy before April, 20th, then I'll start constructing some myself out of Scupt-or-Coat.
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 |
Posted By: MercyTech
Date Posted: 4/07/09 at 7:09pm
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I am not familiar with the play, Dana. What size do the eggs needs to be, and how many? I have one half/egg prop that we used to make the elephant bird pop out at the end of Seussical, but it is only large enough for a puppet. -Tim |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 4/08/09 at 9:17am
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They have to be large enough for kids to break out of them. Here is a link to some good photos of outstanding egg props. (I already asked these folks about their egg shells, and they are gone).
http://www.lilyrose.org/petit/petit.html - http://www.lilyrose.org/petit/petit.html
Thanks anyway, Dana ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: Merkman4
Date Posted: 5/04/09 at 9:26pm
| Did you find the eggs you are looking for or did you make some. We just finished our show and have 5 four ft tall eggs that that actors broke out of |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 5/05/09 at 9:53am
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Argh...! Two days too late. We just bought all the supplies to build some eggs ourselves. Oh well... Thanks anyway, Dana
(Attention others: I will post a step by step photo report about how I built ours when I get a chance).
------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: mommymafia
Date Posted: 4/12/10 at 2:33pm
| I am with a group in south georgia~struggling to make these eggs (mommies) and would love to use your eggs for our May 21 and May 22 production of HONK! |
Posted By: mommymafia
Date Posted: 4/12/10 at 2:44pm
| too cute~wonder how they made that nest |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 4/14/10 at 1:29pm
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The eggs I built for my production are already out on loan for a production in the first week of June. Sorry.
------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: jneveaux
Date Posted: 5/10/10 at 8:08am
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Would appreciate seeing how you built them and any process shots. thanks.
------------- Jack N. 4 Community Theatre Minnesota |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 5/29/10 at 11:33pm
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OK, here is how I designed my production of HONK! First of all, keep in mind that this was a low budget school play with a 5th and 6th grade cast and crew, so I had to keep it a rather "bare stage" design. You may have much more time or money, so you might want to go a totally different route. The "egg shells" are critical to HONK, (much like the car in GREASE or the big plant in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS). As you may have read above, at first I had hoped to simply rent some good ones, but none were available. Then I wanted to build some high-tech fiberglass eggs at my brother's http://www.lowell.to/boats - boat shop , but I wasted too much time looking for rentals to get into that. So about a week before Tech Rehearsal, a parent volunteer and I rigged together some eggs with "old school" theatrical techniques. These eggs were not nearly as fancy as I had originally dreamed, but they were the expedient thing to do in a pinch. (And besides, this was a just little "kiddie show", right?)  OK, above is my snapshot of the finished product. The musical called for five eggs...four for ducklings and a large one for "Ugly" the swan.  As you can see, the egg shells needed to be large enough to hide the kids, yet lightweight enough for the kids to easily open during a scene. (By the way, I don't think an adult cast could fit into my eggs).  The fifth egg was purposely larger, and painted to look different than the others. Here the boy playing "Ugly" pops out of his shell. (Of course you will notice the ultra-minimalistic costuming style used in this production). Like I said, we used a super-simple and low-tech way of constructing the eggs. The cost for all five eggs was under $100.00 total.  First we bought two large rolls of 3/4" diameter PVC lawn irrigation tubing and cut it into lengths. As you can see in this top-view photo, these lengths are quickly and cheaply connected into egg shapes using 1" drywall screws.  At the intersections, the lengths of PVC tubing were joined with the plastic couplers intended for such plumbing. What you see here are the two horizontal rings that will help create the "crack" between the upper shell and the lower shell.  Here, my parent volunteer cuts out the household window screen material that we used to cover the eggs. This formed the curved egg shape over the skeleton of tubing and this screen will later be the foundation for attaching the fabric skin of the eggs.  As you can plainly see on the right-hand egg, the top and bottom of the eggs were separated by a 5" tall ring of flexible 1/16" thick "Masonite" fiberboard panelling. This section is needed to create the zig-zag cracks between the broken egg shells. The next step in the process is also illustrated in the photo above. Notice that the left-hand egg has the window screen already stapled on, plus the middle ring has a fresh coating of "Great Stuff" spray foam insulation applied to it. This foam will give the zig-zag "cracks" the necessary thickness needed for each top shell to rest securely on its bottom shell.  Then I covered all the eggs with torn scraps of theatrical muslin fabric using Sculpt-or-Coat theatrical glue. This is the same process as doing a "paper mache" project. I got the kids on the Tech Crew to help me with this part, and they really enjoyed getting all messy. NO PICS: I don't have photos of the next steps, but after the muslin dried, we used a reciprocating saw to cut out the zig-zag teeth in along the cracks. That was a fun and creative part of the project. I sealed the exposed styrofoam along the zig-zag cracks with a good coating of Sculpt-or-Coat. Then we painted the eggs inside and out with several coats of donated latex paint, (which doubled as a flame retardant).  Here the crew shows how the shell tops rest on the bottoms, (much like how the lid of a jack-o-lantern sits on the top of a pumpkin). Since the zig-zag "cracks" on each shell are unique, I had to mark a reference point on the inside of each top and each bottom using spray paint. I also sprayed a number inside the two sections of each shell so the crew would not get the parts mixed up. The bottoms of my eggs were wide-open so the actors were always standing firmly on the stage floor. They had an opportunity to climb inside and put their lid on just before the scene began.  I was not concerned about making the bottoms of the eggs "rounded" like real eggs, because the eggs needed to sit flat on the stage floor. Besides, as you can see in the photo above, the flat bottoms of the shells were hidden from view behind a ground-row "chicken pen" anyway. Our eggs were simple and cheap. More details about the other props to come... It was a fun and easy show for all. -Dana ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: David McCall
Date Posted: 5/30/10 at 10:31am
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My goal in life is to be half as creative as you are. I was looking at your "King and I" sets. Absolutely gorgeous. We are doing it next year. ------------- David M |
Posted By: Helena
Date Posted: 7/20/10 at 10:58am
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We jus finsihed presenting "HONK!" Our egggs weren't nearly as elaborate as the one shown previously. They were simply styrofoam cutouts with the tops coming off. Each one had a brace behind it. Simple and inexpesive, but they worked fine for us! ------------- "..that's farce, that's theater, that's life" |
Posted By: FFootlighters
Date Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:56pm
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We did "Honk, Jr." last summer for a two-week children's musical theatre camp. We just made the "nest", and used kid umbrellas for the egg tops. All the ducks had yellow and Ugly had a light blue one. The kids raised and lowered them in the song, quite easily, and they just folded them up and threw them in the nest at the end. ------------- Fairfield Footlighters Fairfield, OH http://www.fairfield-footlighters.org |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 8/20/10 at 10:20am
Thank you David. That made my day!
Yes, I am fortunate to have a career where I can be creative. Even when I have the budget to buy or rent professional scenery, I prefer to concoct creative things out of "found items" or random trash. I hord stockpiles of old carpet tubes, shipping foam and paint can lids. When I walk up and down every aisle of the hardware store, I try to imagine alternate uses for various roofing or plumbing materials. Most of the stuff I used to build the "barricade" for Les Miserables was junk that people put out to the street as trash.
And as you mentioned, King and I was fun because I got to do things like make "gold rosettes" out of Coke bottles. In fact, you can see this illustrated in my new blog dedicated to quirky scenic ideas: http://shabbytech.blogspot.com/ - http://shabbytech.blogspot.com/
And if anyone wants to see my start-to-finish blog on our production of King and I, you can click here: http://gdsking.blogspot.com/ - http://gdsking.blogspot.com/
-Dana http://www.lowell.to/dana/pics/Yearbook2.jpg - ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 8/20/10 at 3:03pm
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Well folks, as the new school year starts and I get geared up to do "Evita", I have come to the conclusion that I no longer have room in this theatre to store the five Honk eggs pictured above. So if you are doing "Honk!" with kids this year, please let me know. Maybe we can work out a deal on them.
http://propshare.blogspot.com/ - http://propshare.blogspot.com/
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 |
Posted By: mkaym63@comcast
Date Posted: 9/02/10 at 12:08am
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Hi Dana,
I am directing a production of Honk this December and am interested in your eggs. What kind of deal can you give me - we are a very low budget small church theatre.
Thanks,
Mary Miller ------------- Mary Miller |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 11/18/10 at 9:17am
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Mary, I need to hear from you again. I have since received several other requests for the eggs. Reply soon. 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 |
Posted By: mkaym63@comcast
Date Posted: 11/18/10 at 11:51am
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Hi Dana,
Sorry I didn't get back to you about this - my producer was supposed to handle this because I was out ill. Anyway, we couldn't find anyone to drive down to get them so feel free to share them with others. Again, I apologize for our delay in letting you know.
Blessings,
Mary ------------- Mary Miller |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 12/01/10 at 11:49am
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UPDATE: Yesterday I sold my 5 egg shells from HONK to a community theatre in Wilmington, NC. So no more inquiries please. Thanks. ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |