Depends on the effect you want. I just did a car for an original comedy script and it worked really well. Our car was front-view only, as if the actors were driving toward the audience. I built a frame out of PVC pipe and spray-painted it black, to make it disappear against out black backdrop. The frame was a big rectangle with a cross pipe at the chest level of the actors who would be standing behind it, pretending to drive. We painted a picture of the front of the car onto canvas, with a bit of overhang at the top of the canvas, so that the canvas could drape over the cross pipe. The painting was of the front of a VW and the top of the painting ended at the bottom of the windshield, so the actors appeared to be looking through the windshield and the actor on stage left was driving with a mimed steering wheel. I simply attached a couple of heavy clamps onto the overhang of the canvas, so the canvas was held in place by the weight of the clamps. However, this was maybe a four-page scene, and it was visually pretty funny, even though the painting was beautifully realistic (thanks to a senior art student). I used the same PVC and canvas contraption for a lakeboat rental shack in another scene, with a different painted canvas, obviously. The advantage of PVC is that it's easy to cut, and it's light. It's much better than wood for a setup like this. You have to buy a few T-pieces, end-caps, and stuff like that. Plus, you have to buy PVC glue and a can of black spray paint. Not counting the canvas and the paint for the artist's work on that, I think I paid about $40. And I borrowed a PVC pipe cutter from a shop teacher.
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Robert St. John
Theater Teacher
Le Jardin Academy
Kailua HI
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-16-2018 22:45
From: Carissa McNair
Subject: Making a car for stage
Hi everyone,
I'm directing a show that mostly takes place in a car. Any ideas on the best ways to construct a car for stage that looks good and is also easy to transport?