As a general rule of thumb-notify the police and fire department of any effects you do that may cause or incite panic.
When it comes to
fog effects-remember you can not deactivate
smoke detectors yourself. You must have a
fire marshal.
However, my
stage manager went through the training to be a fire fighter, and the marshal gave him the 'thumbs-up'. He has become indispensable, as he can 'okay' effects, disable
smoke alarms, and it costs me nothing extra.
When it comes to prop guns, I must give you the shame finger for allowing the actor access to the weapon, let alone the ammo.
To restate what has already been said-NEVER USE A STARTER PISTOL.
NEVER EVER EVER EVER use a real gun and blanks.
Several actors were killed, not by blanks, but because the weapon had fired real bullets, and they were not properly cleaned before the blanks were used.
Your
prop gun should be locked in a vented box, and three people should have keys-the
stage manager, the director/
producer, and the police chief. Never unlock the box and take out the gun until it is time for performance.
Typically, the
protocol for prop guns in my
theatre is this:
Leave the gun in a secure, locked, VENTED safe. Do not remove the gun until the five minute
call.
Store the blank in a separate safe. When you get the gun, get the blank.
Place the gun on the prop table, unloaded. Right before the seen, our
stage manager (also
fire marshal approved& trained) loads the gun, and keeps it on his
podium. The actor will
pick up the gun at the last possible moment.
You should never load the gun with more then what is needed. If the actor fires one shot, then only load one blank. If the actor fires one shot in this scene and then fires in the next, load one blank, and load the next after he fires. In other words, never have more blanks in the gun the necessary.
When it comes to pyro---
Our
theatre's
pyrotechnician purchases the needed things for the
effect. We set up each
effect in an area safely controlled by the fire department. We then demonstrate the
effect to the fire department, and the actor involved. After they deem it safe, we do it once more, with the actor acting out the scene as he would in the show.
We then give them notice of each time we use the
effect. (Each day, someone calls the department and lets them know when the
effect will happen that night.)
The only time we've gotten into trouble is when we used
fog and
pyro. The
effect was simple-low lying
fog in a forest, then a flash pot and
smoke pot went off. The flash pot creates a spark, and a small amount of fire. The
fog we used was not flammable, but some
fog is. Unknown to us, a
hand had put a glycerin based
haze fluid in the machine, instead of the proper fluid. The result was a fire. The
fog caught on fire, however we were lucky that the
fog burnt up quickly. The
effect was spectacular--the
fog seemed to spontaneously combust, creating a fire ball
effect. No one was hurt, but our
Marley had melted in places.
Use common sense, and notify, notify, notify everyone of the effects you are using, and you will generally be okay.