Vintage 16mm Film Camera

I have an old 16mm camera in my prop room. It's rather heavy, but it has a great look to it. Here is a picture of it. Notice the dollar bill to show you the size of the camera. There is also an 8mm home movie camera shown. (Click pics to enlarge).


This is the other side of the 16mm camera. It has a hand strap on the bottom and a cool film-winding crank on the side.


Dana Lowell
Designer - Sloan Theatre

Highly Stylized Throne Chair

Click photo to enlarge:
This is a scene from the world debut of the youth version of Starmites the Broadway musical called "Starmites Lite". I designed the set and lights here at Sloan Theatre. Look at Diva's throne room turntable upstage-right. You will see the cool science-fiction/fantasy style chair.

Here is the chair as it looked when I rented it from Triad Sceneshop. It was very dirty and very rusty. But you could tell someone put a lot of time into welding it together, possibly for a Shakespeare play. It came without a swivel base, so I built one out of one of my lighting booms.

I cleaned it up and spray painted it chrome color. When I returned the chair to Triad Sceneshop, I decided to include my boom base. However, if you use this chair, be sure you U-bolt the base to a platform like I did, or the chair might tip over.

Here, the manual turntable is revolving to reveal Diva and her Banchees in her throne room. You can see the throne behind her. (Click photo to enlarge it).

Please don't call me about this sci-fi/fantasy throne, it is stored in the Triad Sceneshop furniture storage room. Thanks, Dana

Giant pretzels

And they look delicious! Oversized pretzels with sequins on them to make them sparkly. They were originally used in "The Producers." I'll give them to you in exchange for a couple of tickets to see your show. (It's not like I have a need for huge fake pretzels.)

If you don;'t make too many cruel comments, I'll post the photo of them backstage. (I don't have an actualy action shot of them on stage - dang!)

"Rock" barbell

Exactly what it sounds like - 2 big fake rocks on a stick that we used as a barbell in "Once Upon a Mattress." If you want it, it's yours to keep! (No take backs. There's not enough room in our garage to keep this kind of thing.) And it's FREE! (But it would be really nice if you offered me 2 tickets to see your show. Just sayin...)

"Bamboo" Bench

I bought this interesting faux-bamboo bench at Garden Ridge because I thought it was perfect for Anna's bedroom in "The King and I", (Click photo below):
But then I painted the legs gold and used it in more of a Deco setting in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", (below):
***I donated this bench to Triad Stage Sceneshop.  You can rent it from them.

5 Bar Stools for GREASE or WEST SIDE STORY

We have five tall bar stools. They have chrome legs and colorful tops that spin. I used them in Doc's Soda Shop in "West Side Story" and in a middle school production of "Grease". I put these stools to use every day in my lighting booth and up in the followspot balconies. They could be borrowed by a local theatre but need to be returned!

They can be seen in the Burger Palace scene above and the house party scene below.

"Greased Lightning" Car for GREASE

For my middle school production of "Grease" a couple years ago, I rented a 3/4 scale styrofoam car shell from John Saari at Greensboro College. It worked really well for this age group. (Click photos to enlarge them).

I also borrowed an old golf cart from a parent. The foam body nests perfectly on top of the standard golf cart. Of course you have to remove the roof:

Here is the car at the night-time drive-in movie scene. The headlights really work, which is very cool in this scene. By the way, the hood and trunk areas are built strong enough to support the boy's weight as they climb on the car!

Here is a picture of the inside of the car. You can see how the foam hull nests perfectly onto the old golf cart. On the driver's door you can see the controls for the headlights.

Please do not contact me about this car, I got it from Greensboro College. It should still be in storage there. Contact them directly. Paste this link to John Saari's site: http://theatre.greensborocollege.edu/john.html

The Old Carriage! (A large, weight-bearing wagon)

This is a local community theatre "stock" prop that I have used several times over the years. It is a period wagon that was made of sturdy welded steel about 20 years ago. It originally was the "Surrey With a Fringe on Top" for a community production of "Oklahoma!" But over the years it has been converted to Tevye's cart for "Fiddler on the Roof", the pumpkin coach for "Cinderella", the "Wells Fargo Wagon" for "Music Man", and the runaway cart for "Les Miserables". So this old prop will surely live on to make many more appearances in our shows! To rent it, you can find the Triad Sceneshop link below. Click my photos to enlarge them:
Above, you can see the carriage as I converted it into the runaway cart for our 2008 production of "Les Miserables The School Edition". This is after the lights come up and Valjean lifts the front wheel to save the man. For this period look, I fabricated a fake driver's seat and a dozen burlap bags filled with lightweight styrofoam packing peanuts!

But the cart entered the stage in darkness. First, I had the crew quickly push it out onto the rotating electric turntable. Then the scene was lit with only strobe lights, so it gave the illusion that the cart was rolling. You can see the actor falling under the front wheel of the cart, which is actually standing still on the rapidly rotating turntable. The "rolling" effect was stunning to the audience.

Below is that same carriage in another one of our plays. This is my pumpkin coach for our 2003 middle school production of "Cinderella" the musical. I got some flexible PVC plumbing pipe and fashioned a fragmentary/suggestive pumpkin on top. (The castle drop is from KENMARK).
*The bare carriage frame can be rented locally at the Triad Sceneshop. See it at the bottom of their "props" file: http://picasaweb.google.com/TriadStageSceneShop

8 Shakespearean Periaktoi

I had my Stagecraft class dismantle these 8 periaktoi today so I could use the lighting booms for "Evita". But I plan to keep the 24 small flats if someone local needs them.


Expedient Design:
I had a tremendous amout to stock "hollywood style" flats that were 10 feet tall but only 2 feet wide. And when we did "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" a couple years ago, I knew I wanted some "old school" theatrical elements such as periaktoi. So it was a good fit to use my narrow flats for this purpose. I built 4 revolving units for each side of the stage so that they became "legs". I left space enough between them for the actors to enter and exit, yet from the audiences viewpoint, the painted images still formed up properly.

Then to make each revolving unit stand up without tipping over, I put my 10 foot tall lighting booms inside them! This made them spin like one of those countertop paper towel dispensers! Each unit had 3 swivel casters on the bottom and the 75 pound boom bases kept them from tipping over. They worked really, really well!

The first side of the set of periaktoi had a carved styrofoam effect to look like interior castle stone. See the photo below, (click to enlarge):


The second side was painted to look like the Scottish countryside, with rolling hills and old castles. See photos below:


The third side of the units was painted to look like a thick forest. (Sorry, I can't find a photo of that scene).

Anyway, the periaktoi were fun to build and I feel like this project helped teach the students about a theatrical trick that goes back to Greek times. I no longer have these items.

-Dana Lowell
Set & Lighting Designer
Sloan Theatre

Throne Chairs

A scene for our childrens' production of "Narnia the Musical".
Click to enlarge:

I have two stock "throne chairs". I have used them in a dozen shows over the years. They are made out of wood and painted silver. I think they were donated to us from the Mason's Lodge about 20 years ago. I installed small caster wheels on them for ease of movement on stage. I have loaned them out to friends at local theaters over the years. (Actually, I used to have 4 of these thrones...but I donated 2 of them to the Triad Sceneshop).

Period Sofa and End Table

Here is a photo of two of my stock pieces of furniture that you may borrow if you are a local school troupe. There is a nice antigue beige sofa with wooden trim, and a tall vintage table with scrolled legs. This is a scene from our upper school production of Chekhov's "A Cherry Orchard" a couple years ago. Click to enlarge:



*You can see a portion of a period arm chair stage right. I have two of these in storage as well.

**The vintage footstool is no longer here. I donated it to the Triad Sceneshop.

***By the way, I hope to give away the flying window units, one of which you see stage left. I have 4 of them about 8' wide by 10' tall. Two units have translucent film on the windows, as seen here - while lit with magenta gel.

"Fabian Poster" for GREASE

I had local mural artist, Dale Johnson, paint a fake poster of 1950's singer Fabian on a flat for a song in the bedroom scene of our middle school production of "Grease". I needed to strike that flat, so I cut the poster out of the muslin with a utility knife! But you can borrow this "poster" for your local production. Click on these photos to enlarge them.



*By the way, I have two pieces of furniture available, as seen in the photo at the top. I still have the pink dresser on the left and the little gold make-up table seen on the right.

"GREASE" electric marquee sign

Click on photo to enlarge:


For our middle school production of "Grease" a couple years ago, I borrowed an electric sign to hang from the front of the theatre building. I got it from Pete Barr, the director/drama teacher at Rockingham High School in Reidsville, NC.

It is about six feet wide and made of plywood. I repainted it with weatherproof red paint and improved the lighting by replacing the old strings of Christmas twinkle lights with much larger marquee bulbs. You may want to offer him a rental fee for it, (I got it in trade for curtain fabric and such). And you really need to be a local theatre group that can pick the sign up in person...it would be very difficult to ship.

Mr. Barr's website is:
http://sites.google.com/a/rock.k12.nc.us/barr-s-theatre/

Rustic Jugs, Mugs, Bottles and Tin Cups

We have a variety of rustic-looking jugs, wine bottles, pewter (plastic) mugs, and weathered tin cups that a local theatre could borrow. We used two dozen tin cups for a song in Bugsy Malone, and then again for several shows since, such as Beauty and the Beast and Les Miserables. The jugs and bottles have a safety coating of cheese cloth an Sculpt-or-Coat. A few of the beer mugs are metal, but most are plastic ones that have been painted and weathered.

Here are some mugs in the Innkeeper Scene in Les Miserables School Edition. Click to enlarge photos:



Here you can see some more of the tin cups, mugs and rustic jugs in Les Mis:




In the Tavern Scene in a middle school production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, I gave some rustic tin cups and mugs to the chorus at the table:

Six Marble Columns

I am willing to rent or loan out my six "marble" columns to a local troupe. (You really need to be local because they are so large).

They are constructed of light-weight "sonotube" with square tops and bottoms, plus wheels. They are painted to look like dark marble. They could be used in many period plays, including Shakespeare and Greek tragedies.

Below you can see them in the throne room for a children's theatre production of "Narnia the Musical":


And below I used them again in portions of "The Complete Working of William Shakespeare, Abridged". (Click photo to enlarge).

Egg Shells for "Honk Jr."

The 5 prop eggs for the children's musical "Honk Jr." are no longer here.

"Beauty and the Beast" - Small Iron Table for the Rose Jar

Above, the Beast leans over the rose in the Beast's lair for "Disney's Beauty and the Beast". (Click the photo to enlarge it).

Below is a close-up of the table. (Notes: I borrowed the bell jar from a flower shop in town; and I illuminated the rose from below using 2 pin spots; and a crew person under the platform caused the rose petals to drop off one at a time using invisible fishing line).


There are two of these small tables. The table shown is the one I donated to the Triad Sceneshop, so you could rent it from them. But I also have another almost identical iron table here at my theatre, and if you are a local school, I am willing to loan it to you for your production.

Mr. Dana Lowell
Designer, Sloan Theatre
Greensboro Day School

Fence Unit with Gate

I used it on the turntable in "Les Miserables" for the love song with Cosette. But you could also use it in "Beauty and the Beast" for the entrance to the Beast's mansion or in any Moliere play.



*A brief clips of this fence can be scene at the 2:20 mark here:

It is dismantled, but most parts are still available from Greensboro Day School. There are 3 French Provincial style columns and 2 black gate pieces. (The remainder of the little wall cut-away elements have been destroyed...and the ivy is not attached any more).

Mr. Dana Lowell

Designer, Sloan Theatre

Greensboro Day School.

Marquee Lights and/or Chaser Lights

In the photo above you can see my MARQUEE LIGHTS used across the lip of the open pit in our 2003 production of "Hello, Dolly".


In the photo above you can see the same MARQUEE LIGHTS from "Hello, Dolly" around the perimeter of the open orchestra pit in this 2006 musical "Smile!". These are round white bulbs just like on the outdoor marquee of the Carolina Theatre downtown. These rope lights do not chase, but you can flash them on a non-dim circuit or you can dim them.

Also in the above photo, if you look closely, you can see my CHASER LIGHTS around the outer edges of that upstage false proscenium for "Smile!". These are strings of LED rope lights with variable speed chasing controls.

Note: a fee may be required to borrow these lighting effects.

Mr. Dana Lowell,
Designer, Sloan Theatre
Greensboro Day School