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  • 1.  Set for Much Ado

    Posted 02-14-2018 06:57

    Good Morning!  My students are getting ready to build the set for Much Ado About Nothing.  We're setting it in the 1920s as a way to emphasize the themes of women's empowerment.  It will be an outdoor garden, with a garden wall, a "porch" for the main house, and a gazebo. 

     

    We'd like to a have a couple of rather tall trees.  I've got some ideas for the skeletons of the trees, but few for giving them realistic bark and mass.  Anyone have any ideas?



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  • 2.  RE: Set for Much Ado

    Posted 02-14-2018 09:40
    If you are capable making the tops to the trees, you can get the cardboard tubes for concrete at a place like Home Depot (and they're cheap) for your base skeleton. Paper mache it with brown paper (I steal mine from either art or stugo's big rolls) and then dry brush your highlights on once it's dry.  You can also add in hollows with a shadow color using an artist brush.

    We did it last year for Peter Pan and Wendy and it looked great under the lighting on stage and was super easy to shift because it was so light.

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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Set for Much Ado

    Posted 02-14-2018 14:12
    Depends on the width of your trees. Carpet tubes work great for narrower trunks. We've also done a simple frame of wood and chicken wire covered with papier mache.

    For bark, I suggest getting some large pieces of crepe/tissue paper, rolling/crinkling it vertically, and applying it to the trees. If I remember right, we painted the trees with a diluted glue solution, applied the tissue, and brushed just a little more glue on (especially at the edges) to adhere it. Once the glue dries, spray paint will give it extra color, texture, and stiffness.

    Good luck!

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    Josh Kauffman
    Teacher
    Winfield AL
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Set for Much Ado

    Posted 02-15-2018 08:36
    The cardboard tubes Shira is talking about are sonotubes.  We have the 10' tall ones in varying diameters.  The great thing is that they are self-supporting, and the different sizes can nest inside each other for storage.  We draped lightweight fabric from one to the other for our fall production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

    We have a local concrete company that delivers the 10' length ones to our school for program credit.

    I love the idea of the crepe paper!  Because the sonotubes have a waxy coating, we prime them before we paint.


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    C. J. Breland
    Asheville High School
    Asheville NC
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    Original Message


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