Harvey On A Small Stage
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4557
Printed Date: 5/02/24 at 6:47am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Harvey On A Small Stage
Posted By: brianwolters
Subject: Harvey On A Small Stage
Date Posted: 4/06/10 at 6:05pm
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Hi! We want to do Harvey next Spring and we have a really small stage. We can't split the two scenes on the sides of the stage due to our size (it would limit the room for each side)...so, what is a good idea for staging this show on a small stage?
We thought about just plain, black backgrounds with set pieces we bring off and on between the scenes. Any other ideas?
Thanks! Brian |
Replies:
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 4/06/10 at 9:44pm
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We did Harvey several years ago and are planning on doing it again this next season. We have a relatively small stage; approx 20' x 40'. Our designer did a great job using hidden revolves and sliding walls to give two very distict and different settings in same space. The audience loved watching the elaborate scene changes so much we actually turned the set change lights up so they could watch the action. It was the first time our stage crew got applause for scene changes. Don't let a small stage stop you. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 4/06/10 at 9:46pm
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Our set designer was MartyW on here. Email him and he may have some better design ideas for you. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 4/06/10 at 11:02pm
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I agree with Patrick there are a lot of ways to think outside a small space to effect a workable set. Checking out the pics on your website;- http://www.cabotcommunitytheatre.org/">  I see you have a suspeded ceiling above the single step platform stage, which can be utalised for minimal dead hanging pionts or you may have quite a large viod above it, dependant upon the type of roof structure? This may help in being able to hang a tormentor & teasers as in a proscenium arch. Thus extending your stage by adding an apron area & utalising Legs to add & cheat in your wing space. To achive this I'd pop out all the suspended panels, which would help your lighting & give headroom to utalise Periaktio [Medici] revolving flats & set pieces. I don't know the play 'Harvey' or seen the 'pooka' performed on stage, but as suggested I'm sure Marty & others would have set design ideas that can help. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: jmausser
Date Posted: 4/14/10 at 12:02pm
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I will try to describe how I did it in our production. It may be more complicated than you want to tackle. Picture two permanent angled walls (say 16' long) each with a door and whose upstage tips are 16' apart (just needs to match the size of the walls). Each of these walls has a door. Now picture two dboule-sided 16' walls each of which pivots (on wheels and hinged at the upstage fixed point). Each has an arch that matches the location of the door that it swings against. Now when you're in the Dowd home, one wall covers the back opening and the other is against the stationary wall. One door is to the dining room, the other is the front door, and the back arch is to the upstairs/hallway. When you are at the reception area of the hospital, the moveable walls switch. One door is Dr. Chumley's office, one door is Dr. Sanderson's office, and the arch leads to the front door and the rest of the hospital. I made plexiglass name plates to put on the doors at the sanitarium. This involves 24 4' flats. For smaller stages you could do all the walls at 12' which would only be 18 flats. It was a lot of work to build but it maximized our playing space in each scene. ------------- Director in Leavenworth |
Posted By: SamD
Date Posted: 4/15/10 at 4:49pm
| Wow. I wish I would've had some of you guys do the set when I directed it last year. We did things pretty simply. Everything on the stage was used twice. Chairs & tables were covered and utilized elsewhere, Lampshades changed, Curtains removed, taking pictures off the wall to reveal others behind it. Really common sense stuff. We stuck to pretty neutral walls. A 4ft section of the back wall was hinged with a faux bookshelf on one side, and a large cabinet for the sanitarium on the other. But what was really fun was making the change part of the show. We used the maid, who was at first, alarmed then angry then - since everyone was using her to hold all the pieces being removed - totally bogged down. When we changed back to the Dowd mansion, she was bossing everyone around (with motions, not words) so that everything was put back in place to her liking. It worked! |
Posted By: brianwolters
Date Posted: 4/15/10 at 4:58pm
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Wow...you guys rock! What great tips! I'll let you know what we come up with. I am going to make a separate post on some ideas for one more show... |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 4/19/10 at 1:32pm
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Love to show you ours but my record of it is a VHS we took of the scene change. I don't know how to put that on computer... ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |