Theatrical Design Projects

[EustaceM]

Does anyone know of any design projects for lighting, sound, costume/make-up, props and scenic? Projects that are about design and constructing those designs.

(I'm trying to push my technical theatre teacher in creating/teaching a theatrical design/production course, so I'm trying to gather project ideas that could cover all departments; scenic,lighting,sound,costume/make-up,props.)

 

[josh88]

makeup is a little tough because somebody has to buy all those materials so it usually works better as a stand alone class, that said...

lighting: pick a subject, hit different angles with 1 light or 2, replicate a sunrise, do "horror" lighting, etc to learn highlight and shadow.
-Pick a scene from a script and do a paper design for it, and if possible then mount the design for real. IE pick the ghost on the wall scene from Hamlet and go through the script thinking about specials you would need and different effects and then draft a plot for it.

scenic: pick a show, design a set, do front elevations, paint elevations, build a model of your set.

painting: teach basic brick, wood and marble techniques. A lot of books cover the basics of at least doing wood and brick for the stage.

Props: pick a prop from a play/musical/tv show/movie etc and make it. paper props in photoshop, or other replicas of items from movies I saw someone make the harry potter snitch before, things like that.

costumes: again may be a little difficult unless you have someone who already knows how to make clothes to teach you. I had a costume construction course once and made a rehearsal skirt. Other than that, samples are easy, learning different ways to attach buttons, hem clothes, attach zippers or snaps. On the paperwork side you could design a show again and do renderings of the costumes you'd want.

Sound: all the basics, hooking up mic/amp/board/speaker etc, all the steps to making it go and in the right order, teaching how to do a sound check, different types of mics.

on this type of course the sky is really the limit, take what you've got access to and figure out how it can be used.
there was a scenery/props and painting class that I took ages ago that combined building your own box, each student had to make a 6"x6" box (or whatever dimensions) cutting and assembling it themselves. then they made a prop, and had to do the brick wood and marble painting on a 2'x4' hard flat. that's a nice jumping off point. or any combination of three. if you don't have access to lots of extra paint, do sound in there or lights, mix and match till you are content

 

[seanandkate]

Loads to cover there. You might want to have your teacher choose some areas of concentration (albeit at the expense of others), but leaning on his/her areas of expertise. A single course will have a hard time being all things to all people.

All of Josh's ideas would work well. In addition, I have used Practical Projects for Teaching Lighting Design from USITT before with good success. For scene painting you can try Scene Painting Projects for Theatre.

 

[IntimeTD]

I definitely agree with everything stated, it's hard to fit so many things in one course. In particular I think you might find it useful to differentiate between design and execution in each of these areas. designing a set and building it, or a plot and hanging it, are all really different tasks that require different focuses.

in my stagecraft classes we did a mix. one of the assignments I found really useful was being given a very hard scenario by a hypothetical director that we had to design a set around. For instance having someone walk the plank on stage, making the MacBeth witches disappear in an theater-in-the-round, etc. I found having a slightly unreasonable assignment (which directors give all the time) really helpful in forcing me to think outside the box.

and as a carpenter by specialization, I always feel too few people know how to do proper scenic construction, so I'd say learning how to properly construct and install flats would be a plus.

 

[museav]

Just to add another layer, there is design of the rigging, staging, lighting and sound systems and then design of the application of these system for a performance. I know that At one point USITT actually differentiated the two areas for sound. Which are you addressing with "theatrical design" or would you potentially be trying to address both aspects?

FWIW, I wish this differentiation were stressed a bit more as I have encountered many who were very good at one or the other but thought themselves qualified in both because they had never really been exposed to the other side of design.

 

[gafftaper]

(I'm trying to push my technical theatre teacher in creating/teaching a theatrical design/production course, so I'm trying to gather project ideas that could cover all departments; scenic,lighting,sound,costume/make-up,props.)

Lots of good ideas here, but there's one big problem... it's the pushing your technical theater teacher to create a course. Much like a Spanish teacher teaching Calculous, we can only effectively teach what we know. If your teacher really knows these things it shouldn't be that hard to create a course. If your teacher doesn't know these things then its going to be a really frustrating experience for him/her. Personally I have taught a lot of tech classes but I always avoid costumes and makeup as much as possible because I just don't know them well enough to effectively teach them.

The best thing you can do is get your teacher here on CB and joinging the discussion. There are lots of us who would be glad to help.

 

[Tex]

Makeup: Blood, guts and gore. Design a wound and execute it. You just need latex, blood, a bruise wheel, some base and brushes. I use maybe $50 in materials for all of my classes.
Costumes: Design a costume and build with trash bags, masking tape and recycled materials. Again, the cost is negligible and the fashion show is always fun.

 

[museav]

If your teacher really knows these things it shouldn't be that hard to create a course. If your teacher doesn't know these things then its going to be a really frustrating experience for him/her.

+1. And not only frustrating for the instructor but also potentially of limited or even negative value for the students.