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How to become an actor

Chapter 11: HOW TO MAKE A PROPERTY-PLOT.
By Aaron A. Warford
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About This Book

A practical manual provides clear, economical instructions for mounting private theatrical productions, covering staging and scenery construction, lighting and sound effects, costume and facial make-up techniques, actor expression and falls, and the duties of stage personnel such as stage manager, prompter, and property man. It explains how to rig a proscenium, create drops and wings, simulate storms and colored fires, plan scene and property plots, and dress and make up characters for age, facial features, or stock roles. The appendix supplies short sketches and one-act pieces suitable for amateur performance, with practical tips for casting, calling, and running home theatricals.

HOW TO MAKE A PROPERTY-PLOT.

Making out a property plot is much the same as making a scene plot. The number of each act and scene is placed upon it, as well as the aids props, and the relative positions of larger ones, as follows:

“BLACK SLAYER.”
PROPS.
SCENE.ACT FIRST.
1.Purse for Ronaldo. Flagon and cups in set house R. Bank L. covered with buffalo skin.
2.Knife for Lady Eva.
3.Written will for Leah, blank one, to burn, for Rupert. Red fire.
CURTAIN.

The end of each act is marked by the word “curtain,” but nothing at the end of the scene.

The property man fashions everything, from a toothpick to an elephant. If the heavy villain is to throw himself carelessly upon a couch of skins, it is the property man’s duty to see that it is there. Again, should the guards of my lord, the duke, close around him, and protect him from the onslaught of the ruffians who are attacking him, the property man fashions the spears they use, and to him should they be returned at the end of the play.