magic chair in Cinderella

[lwankel]

We're doing Cinderella this fall, and I am tasked with having a chair move about 12 feet by remote control. Does anyone have any ideas that have worked for them in the past. I have thoght of working a servo motor into the guts of the chair somehow, but can't thing how to make this happen quietly and by remote control. I work in a community theater situation with a small budget.

Any ideas?

[NickJones]

Fishing wire is nearly invisible, but it can be a tripping hazard, I have seen shows where couches have to move very fast during blackouts, and one of the staging guys hid behind it during the scene, moved it quickly in the blackout and then ducked back behind it, if it was possible to cover beteen the legs this could be a solution. A servo could be stuck on the back of the chair, but you would need motors, and using motors can be noisy. Human power and wheels is probably your best bet, is there a catwalk above your stage, could someone be up there with a fishing rod, connected to the chair be making it move?
Just a few suggestions. Remember, safety first. Although I would very much like to see Cinderella trip over and faceplant, I don't think the 8 year old girls coming to see the show would.
Nick

[gafftaper]

Build a platform 6" high to cover the whole stage. Cut a slot in the platform. Run a rope/cable under the stage below the slot. Figure out a way to attach the chair to the rope/cable (perhaps a metal shaft attached to one of the legs). Pull rope backstage, chair moves. You can use pulleys to redirect the path of the rope to allow the chair to travel in other directions than just straight.

If you had a big budget there are all kinds of tricks the big theaters use to motorize and automate these track devices. They can be very elaborate moving things in a variety of directions. They can also be very powerful repositioning huge set pieces on stage. Once you understand the basic concept there are Many different ways you can apply it. Safety is critical, especially if you motorize it. In a production a year or so back a local actor had his leg badly injured when he was run over by an automated piece of stage retracting on a similar sort of track device. There's something nice about the simplicity of a couple of guys back stage pulling a rope by hand. They can feel resistance and know they better stop pulling where the machine just keeps pulling harder.

[headcrab]

Make the horses move it.

[thatactorguy]

I built the set for a theatre that did the show a few years back, and we did the ol' fishing line trick. The chair feet had those felt sliders on them, and after the chair moved, the actress did a bit of "sleight of feet". That is, she stepped on the fishing line, which was looped around one of the chair legs, leaned the chair back slightly (as if to adjust the chair a bit before sitting) so the line came off the chair leg. The fishing line was then pulled offstage. Worked every time!

[FatherMurphy]

A variation on the track idea is instead of building up the entire stage 6", simply screw down a couple layers of plywood, with the appropriate slot already cut or left open, and mount a couple bolts on the chair legs to stick down into the slot. Fishline, tieline, or cable could run in the track, and not present a trip hazard to the cast (no spike heels, though). Main challenge with this method is cutting thin ramps to feather the plywood back down to stage level, unless you can do the full stage.

We did this for a 'Best Christmas Pageant Ever' a few years back, for the hospital bed. The bed had fake legs hanging in traction, the actress's real legs were free under the bed to power herself on and off stage, and the bolts-in-slots guided her on and off stage.