Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: Cornish game hens for The Nerd

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Cornish game hens for The Nerd

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=4564
Printed Date: 5/14/25 at 12:35am
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Topic: Cornish game hens for The Nerd

Posted By: LMT Players
Subject: Cornish game hens for The Nerd
Date Posted: 4/13/10 at 4:23pm

The script calls for Cornish game hens, which nobody actually eats. We don't want to have to bake new ones for each weekend. Has anyone tried spraying them with polyurethane to preserve them for the run of the show? Maybe shellac? Any suggestion would certainly be appreciated...I suggested refrigeration and consumption at the close of each weekend, and baking up a new batch for the next weekend, but it seems I'm the only one with a taste for the critters. We looked into purchasing plastic food-props, but the costs we found were prohibitive.

I only recently discovered this board and am so thankful that I did...I can spend hours gleaning from previous posts...I hope in future that we can offer solutions to other folks' problems!

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The whole world acts out a farce, because everyone is afraid to say "I don't know."
-Paraphrased from Isaac Bashevis Singer

Replies:

Posted By: gelcat
Date Posted: 4/14/10 at 9:39am

Anyone good at sculpture or carving in your extended group? Basically they're little chickens - If we weren't opening La Mancha next Friday I would take a crack at making these up- lay up a general shape in great stuff foam, then carve it down to the correct size and shape. Painting this normally requires a layer of tissue/cheesecloth/muslin to encapsulate the foam, then painting to a golden brown.

How close are these to audience? How accurate do they need to be? Another odd thought - What about baking bread standins?

Marsha

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www.actorsguildonline.org
Actors Guild of Parkersburg
Parkersburg, WV

Posted By: LMT Players
Date Posted: 4/18/10 at 12:48pm

Marsha, thank you for your suggestion. We're actively looking into it. The birdies have to look fairly real, because we're doing the show in an intimate 60 seat venue, so I'm also trying polyurethane on a couple hens I baked yesterday. First lesson: do not bake till perfectly done then remove from the oven - one of the moist, juicy drumsticks of one bird literally fell off at first handling. I confess I couldn't resist taking a bite or two, it looked and smelled so good! I kept the other bird in a slow 200 degree oven for two extra hours so it would dry out a bit more - it held up better. The outer skins did not wrinkle up as badly as I feared they might, and the polyurethane coats (3 good coats) are not tacky this morning. So far, so good. I'll post the final results of the experiment later.

I hope La Mancha is going well for you - such a teriffic show!

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The whole world acts out a farce, because everyone is afraid to say "I don't know."
-Paraphrased from Isaac Bashevis Singer

Posted By: gelcat
Date Posted: 4/19/10 at 2:54pm

FREEZE BETWEEN SHOWS!!!!!!

If you are coating the real thing, get it done, then freeze until show time. Take them out long enought for 'frost' to disperse, but freeze them. Do not trust the refrigerator to keep decay from happening.

La Mancha is down to a lot of painting, some soft goods, and electrical set dressing pieces, and lighting tightening up. Tech went scarily well yesterday.

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www.actorsguildonline.org
Actors Guild of Parkersburg
Parkersburg, WV