How would you do it ?

[Van]

The theatre at which I work is currently in production with Tracey Lett's " Superior Donuts". If you are not familiar with the show it poses an interesting technical challenge That I thought might make a great QoTD. When the show opens we are looking at the interior of a donut shop, the glass in the front door is broken and there is profanity spray painted across the the upstage wall, in red spray paint ! During the curse of the play, the young 'Kid' cleans up the store and as part of the cleaning he has to paint over the graffiti, Not just once but twice, 'cause the first coat doesn't completely cover the red. How do you pull off the trick of having to paint over graffiti, in full view of the audience as part of the action of the show, not just once but twice ? How do you do it so that it can be done once a night for 7 shows a week, 6 week run, twice on Sundays ?

Put your artistic thinking caps on and tell me what you'd do.

 

[epimetheus]

Standard QotD rules apply?

 

[LXPlot]

Hmmm....tricky question. Personally, I would put chalk or something similar in the buckey and brush and then paint it over. After the run, you take down the wall (actually, the part that gets painted is an attachment to the wall, not the literal wall) and simply wipe it down with a damp cloth.

Of course, I'm sure somebody has a better idea. Interested to hear this.

 

[Van]

Standard QotD rules apply?

Yeah, might as well.

 

[nd925a]

have the profanity cut out of a wall and put a red piece behind the cut that can be "transitioned" to a pink piece then a white piece as he paints by a stage hand

 

[mstaylor]

To keep the question going in the right direction, I am assuming you are seeing the paint go on, making the paint disappear, correct?

 

[chausman]

I think I would just have the piece that he is painting over not be that actual wall, be something else that can easily be removed and then just have the fake wall be spray-painted and then he paints over it. If you can't paint the 'second' coat, then during a blackout, take off the wet one and put on a dry one. After the show, remove the piece, put up a new one. And so you don't go through 144 pieces of wood or what ever you make your fake wall out of, you can just have say six. Three for one show, three for the next and then paint over them all (lots of painting is going on...) with what ever they are supposed to look like.

 

[rochem]

I'd do something similar to what chausman said, but with a transparent covering. Have the wall in the back, then lay a clear layer of some material, something like saran wrap except much larger. Paint the first layer onto this, then paint the second layer right over it. If the first layer won't be dry enough when you need to put on the second layer, have another layer of the translucent material rigged to drop in during a blackout or something, then apply the second layer to this second translucent material. You'd go through one or two sheets of translucent material each show, but resetting for the next show would be very simple.

EDIT: If you could get a more durable translucent material, you could even have a total of 3 or 4 pieces of the material, then wash them after each show and alternate them in. I don't even know what material you would need for this, however.

 

[SteveB]

Put some dishwasher liquid in a Tempra (water based "childrens" non-toxic finger paint) mixed to the same color as the wall color, which in this application was a Rosco Off-Broadway Latex that was sealed with Clear Flat sealer added to age and seal. The Tempra/Dishwasher mix was used to paint over the graffiti and allowed the "repair" to come off easier. Maybe 1/2 cup dishwasher to gallon of base paint (or less).

The graffiti was Krylon rattle can.

This from my wife who was charge scenic for this at Hudson Scenic, for the Broadway version. She did comment that over time, the red graffiti Krylon, would flake off and need to be re-applied. She was also not clear as to why they didn't simply just re-graffiti the wall each night, but recalls that the wall piece rotated with the other side not having graffiti, possibly Act II, she wasn't clear.

The "why not graffit"i every night might have been a union jurisdictional issue (Local 1 props, Local 829 Scenics doing the paint and not in the theater for the run), she's not sure.

 

[Van]

Well, SteveB's answer is probably the closest to what we wound up doing.
I liked a lot of the other ideas but here's what we did and why.
The walls were all finish with standard scenic paint detail, mottled, spattered, sealed. Then the Graffitti was spray on standard Krylon just like Steve said. After the krylon had a chance to set < 24 hrs> we sealed the area of the graffitti with a semi gloss Polyurethane. 3 coats actually. In the course of the action the graffitti is painted over with tempra paint, only we didn't cut it with dishsoap as that thinned it too much for us. We did fiond a mix that allowed us to paint it once, with enough 'Bleed - through" that a line, later in the play, which references still being able to see the grafitti is properly motivated. At the end of the night they spray the tempra with water, let it sit then wipe it right off.

This took several attempts and experiments to get it right. We originally had the same issue of the paint flaking off, not good. One of the reasons we didn't simply re-paint it everynight is the fact that the walls are scenic painted, they are not just a flat color they are toned and spattered. Trying to respatter every day would result in the entire wall turning black before the end of the run.
The issues with removing the piece and simply replacing it is the fact that there simply aren't any blackouts, or transistions during the entire act and the action of the kid painting the wall must take place in full view of the audience.
I've got another challenge for you all that I'll post in QoTD next week.

Keep your thinking caps on, we have to fix the broken glass in the front door of the shop with no blackouts....

 

[chausman]

Does the glass in the door have writing or paint on it? Could broken "glass" just be swept up and actors pretend that there is glass? It is theater after all. ?

How about if the glass was in its own separate frame that could be removed and then, when it was time, someone took off the "broken" pane. Then someone else could put in a "fixed" window with that part of the stage dark and actors on the other side of the stage trying to draw the audiences attention.

Now I feel a little self-conscious. The only one to answer...