Announcement

“Bigger Than Hula Hoops!”: A Visit to the Prop Shop

An Interview with Prop Shop Manager Rachel Bennick (they / them)

Describe a day in the life of the Prop Shop.

The best thing about props is that you are always doing something different! Depending on the show and what phase of the build we’re in our days can be pulled in very many directions. So this one sort of hard to answer without first quickly explaining the structure of the Prop Shop.

In my role as Prop Shop Manager I act as the prop leader, shopper, set dresser and occasional prop design! So, first I figure out a general list of what the show needs (though this changes throughout the process as new things come up in rehearsal!), then I gather as much information as I can about what each item wants to look like and how it needs to function (if it’s fake, if it needs to work, if it needs to be danced on, if it needs to be super light, etc). Then depending on the item, either the scenic designer has provided a drafting of what they would like built, or I find reference imagery and run it by the design team and my crew will build off of that and make a rough measurement. On top of that, I do the prop shopping — so I get the supplies my crew needs to build items, and also source and buy everything that’s not custom builds. For example, I’ll buy a table for my crew to cut in half and make it narrower by a foot, or the Paint Shop will paint it to look like it’s been out in the rain for 40 years.

The amazing and wonderful assistant prop leader/ shop foreman/ Head Prop Artisan Chloe tends to be more focused on things that are right now, so she is the one who monitors the daily tasks and make sure everyone has something to do. She lets me know if there are any materials we need for a project, checks in with rehearsal, and takes care of our prop stock. She generally makes everything run smoothly and wonderfully.

Then our awesome and talented prop carpenter Joslyn tends to take on the bigger built props and trick items, generally makes all things wood and metal, and is responsible for all of our custom furniture.

Then we have a team of stupendous over hires who come and work with us from time to time, bringing in a variety of different skillsets.

Audrey II: How are the plants operated, and what sort of caretaking is needed to ensure that all four puppets work properly?  

There are four puppets. The first one is like a sock puppet with the puppeteer hidden. The second one is operated by Seymour as he wears a pretty cool fake arm to disguise him operating it. The third one is a head that fits over the puppeteer’s head and arms and is operated like Mama Shark. The 4th one is a big plant head with a counterweight behind it on a pivot, with the puppeteer sitting in a seat inside of it. There are handles connected to the head’s structure so he can make it look left or right, and there is a system of pulleys throughout so that the plant can open and close its mouth. It is a very physical endeavor, giant shoutout to our fabulous puppeteer John David Scott and his understudy Vincent Milay.

What other props make an appearance in Little Shop of Horrors?

A fabulous antique dentist chair along with a custom fabricated vintage dental cart tray. Orin really has a cool set up and all it cost him was an arm and a leg!

Also unsurprisingly so many flowers. I know it’s a florist shop so you would expect a lot of flowers but we’ve been making floral arrangements for days (in between shattering pots, a custom fabricated “refrigerated” flower case, a curtain of vines, fake meat chunks connected together with fishing line, a molded and cast fake hand, a cash register from 1941, half a sandwich, and more prop-y stuff like that).

What’s coming up in the season that you’re excited to share?

We are super excited for some of the first looks that we have had at Sense and Sensibility. It’s looking like the Prop Shop and Paint Shop are going to get to be having a BLAST! It is so pretty so far and we haven’t even started building it yet. And personally I am ecstatic to get to be a part of bringing HOW TO BREAK to the stage, I can genuinely say that that script is one the only ones to make me cry in I can’t even remember how long.

Photos courtesy of Rachel Bennick and Madeleine Stephens.