Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  Thoroughly Modern Millie--elevator??

    Posted 01-22-2016 10:27

    Morning everyone!

    We're in the middle of rehearsals for Millie, and I'm stumped about the elevator scene. I definitely want to include the elevator bit, but am struggling with how to make it believable. For those not familiar, the elevator requires tapping to move, and Millie and Dorothy have a short bit in it. I want to give the idea of the elevator in motion without getting expensive. Any suggestions will be most appreciated!

    ------------------------------
    Steve Wallgren
    Troupe Director
    Surprise AZ
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Thoroughly Modern Millie--elevator??

    Posted 01-23-2016 11:58

    Hi! We built a small room with a sliding crisscross door and used lighting to create the moving effect paired with techs behind it shaking the structure  a bit. If you isolate the light to only inside the elevator and no where else it works great. We just flashed the lights to a higher intensity to indicate the elevator passing floors. I choreographed the tap dancing to have "jumps" of sorts in it to show the elevator struggling to work and sometimes stopping. You just need your actors to sell it!

    Our elevator was our only permanent set piece on stage. We moved everything else on stage around it. We had a cover for it in scenes it wasn't needed.

    Hope this helps!

    ------------------------------
    Victoria Kesling Councill
    Chapter Director - VA EdTA/ Virginia Thespians
    Theatre Director- Fine & Performing Arts Department NKHS
    Artistic Director - NKHS Trojan Theatre
    Artistic Director - Kent England Exchange Production
    Virginia Commonwealth University BFA Theatre Education, BFA Art Education '08
    University of Houston - MA in Theatre Candidate '16

    "Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art." - Konstantin Stanislavski

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Thoroughly Modern Millie--elevator??

    Posted 01-24-2016 14:19

    Have done the show twice.  LOVE IT!!! Never had an elevator or did any major construction and my audience bought it and loved it.  Try this:

    Blackout your stage but have Millie and Dorothy in a spot or special.  Along with the PowerPoint slides (or whatever system you're using) for the Chinese translation, use a simple illustration of an old-fashioned elevator with arrow and the floor numbers in a half-moon formation.  We planned the elevator "jamming" and the slides showed the arrow "stuck" between floors.  The actors sold it and the audience clearly understood what was going on.

    No hassle with construction.  No additional set to work around.  Only needed to add another dozen slides to our PowerPoint which took all of 10 minutes to set up.  My computer/projection operators loved the fact that they got to "rehearse" with the actors.  And it provided a simple, elegant (AND FREE!!!) solution.

    Break a leg!  Even my very rural population wound up loving this show (it's why we've done it twice in 6 years).

    ------------------------------
    Josh Ruben
    Fine Arts Head, Northwest Whitfield
    Chattanooga TN

    Original Message