At The Core
Today we load our production of By the Dawn’s Early Light into Theatre Row! In honor of this momentous occasion — in which we will be painting platforms, focusing lights, and building set pieces from 9 AM to 11:30 PM — we thought we’d bring you a little taste of the technical theater process. Here, our producer Allison writes about creating the perfect, in-all-likelihood-unused prop. People outside theater sometimes ask me what a producer does. My answer varies, depending upon the day, but often it means being a problem solver. Much of “Midnight Mass” takes place in a church, and when the set designer Adam and director Walter and I sat down to talk about the design scheme for the show, there was never any question that candles would have to be involved somehow. But if you know anything about fire code laws here in New York City (and probably elsewhere), you know that lit flames in theaters is strictly prohibited without going through a series of nightmarish hoops. Not unlike these. (SIDE NOTE: If you want me to talk at you in a solid 45 minute rant, you should buy me a drink and ask me about flame retardant curtains.) But Adam, Walter, and our associate producer Barbara kept saying, “Oh don’t worry, we’ll get electric candles!” Yeah, electric candles! … What? You mean like the ones in the windows at Christmas time? Or on the menorah? What do you mean, electric candles? I had no idea what they were talking about, but had a lot of contracts to process and money to raise, so I put it on the back burner. (Those are also not allowed in NYC theaters.) But then one day, I was in a 99 cent store (yes, producers shop in these to find props for their productions), and lo and behold, there were these strange little lavender candles, made out of real wax and with a little plastic wick at its core. There was a button on the bottom of each candle that made the little plastic wick light up. And flicker. And it looked really, really cool. ELECTRIC CANDLES! WHO KNEW? (Everyone but me.) But it didn’t look very realistic because, well, the wax wasn’t melting. And so, as you can see in the photograph, I spent a solid half hour at rehearsal shaving down the candles to make them look like the wax had melted. You can see the shavings in my cup (and all over the table… sorry, MTC!), as well as a before-candle, an “unlit” candle that had been shaved down, and the final “lit” candle after it had been shaved. The best part is, I don’t even think that we’re going to use these candles. The color doesn’t really go with the design scheme, and we have much nicer red candles that we can use. Luckily, in a moment wherein I thought I broke one of the purple candles, I discovered that the base containing the plastic wick and button can come out of the wax. Thus, we’ll take that piece out of the purple candles and wedge them into the red ones. As I was saying: producing is problem-solving.

Today we load our production of By the Dawn’s Early Light into Theatre Row! In honor of this momentous occasion — in which we will be painting platforms, focusing lights, and building set pieces from 9 AM to 11:30 PM — we thought we’d bring you a little taste of the technical theater process. Here, our producer Allison writes about creating the perfect, in-all-likelihood-unused prop.

People outside theater sometimes ask me what a producer does. My answer varies, depending upon the day, but often it means being a problem solver.

Much of “Midnight Mass” takes place in a church, and when the set designer Adam and director Walter and I sat down to talk about the design scheme for the show, there was never any question that candles would have to be involved somehow. But if you know anything about fire code laws here in New York City (and probably elsewhere), you know that lit flames in theaters is strictly prohibited without going through a series of nightmarish hoops. Not unlike these.

My nightmare in a theater.

(SIDE NOTE: If you want me to talk at you in a solid 45 minute rant, you should buy me a drink and ask me about flame retardant curtains.)

But Adam, Walter, and our associate producer Barbara kept saying, “Oh don’t worry, we’ll get electric candles!” Yeah, electric candles! … What? You mean like the ones in the windows at Christmas time? Or on the menorah? What do you mean, electric candles? I had no idea what they were talking about, but had a lot of contracts to process and money to raise, so I put it on the back burner. (Those are also not allowed in NYC theaters.)

But then one day, I was in a 99 cent store (yes, producers shop in these to find props for their productions), and lo and behold, there were these strange little lavender candles, made out of real wax and with a little plastic wick at its core. There was a button on the bottom of each candle that made the little plastic wick light up. And flicker. And it looked really, really cool. ELECTRIC CANDLES! WHO KNEW? (Everyone but me.)

But it didn’t look very realistic because, well, the wax wasn’t melting.

And so, as you can see in the photograph, I spent a solid half hour at rehearsal shaving down the candles to make them look like the wax had melted. You can see the shavings in my cup (and all over the table… sorry, MTC!), as well as a before-candle, an “unlit” candle that had been shaved down, and the final “lit” candle after it had been shaved.

The best part is, I don’t even think that we’re going to use these candles. The color doesn’t really go with the design scheme, and we have much nicer red candles that we can use. Luckily, in a moment wherein I thought I broke one of the purple candles, I discovered that the base containing the plastic wick and button can come out of the wax. Thus, we’ll take that piece out of the purple candles and wedge them into the red ones.

As I was saying: producing is problem-solving.

8 August 2011 ·

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Apple Core Theater Company produces emotional, entertaining plays by American writers. Valuing the immediacy and intimacy of theater, we strive to present plays that cut down to the core and go straight to the heart. Believing that theater should be accessible to all people, we are committed to providing affordable theater to New York City.

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