Show Time

Show is open, and I'm running FOH for the duration.  So I've got a bit over a full month of a steady 30+ hour-a-week job.  For a fair but still small contract fee (why we hate long shows, long intermissions, and added matinees...because we don't get paid more for working longer.)

Which means I really have to concentrate on outside paying work in those gaps between performances.

But first priority is finishing off the Morrow Project boxes.  I just picked up some fiberglass.  And I now know where to buy Oomoo in this area (although I want to try a brushable molding compound soon.)  And it turns out the local Orchard Supply Hardware stocks three of the magic chemicals I've been reading about lately on the props blogs or in posts at the RPF:  Bondo Gold, Bondo Spot Putty, and Rustoleum Filler-Primer.

(Speaking of paint, I'm still angry that someone reached in through my kitchen window and quietly stole all of my spray paint, including the fun and useful Krylon "Hammered Finish.")






Of course I have an urge towards a couple of other props.

We've been joking that the Abbey set of our current show really needs a reliquary.  This being Halloween and a good time to pick up bones cheap, I would love to dash off a gold-painted super-elaborate glass-front case showing some decayed splinter of old bone on red velvet.  I'm not the set designer and the show is already open, of course; it would go backstage where the cast could get a kick out of it.

I keep getting tempted by the tiny dial gauges in the bins at OSH.  I actually happen to have a couple of goggles around that a friend purchased to "make something Steampunk from."  But me being me, I wouldn't be satisfied just buying fifty bucks worth of small brass plumbing fittings (that stuff is actually kinda expensive) and spray-painting the rest to match.  Instead, this would be a great excuse to get one of my AVRs set up to PWM a miniature servo motor.  Plus of course have some nice LEDs.

On the same show, as it happens, there is a gazebo.  And the Stage Manager plays D&D.  So I'm looking for a toy arrow I can surreptitiously glue to the back, where it won't be seen by the audience.  Extra points if it has "+2" written on a band around the shaft.  And maybe a luggage tag reading "Property of Eric."

The last strange thought is about all the video game costumes and props I've been looking at.  And I feel left out because I've never owned an Xbox, or a computer capable of running "Half Life" or "Halo" or whatever.  Or, at least, not any version less than ten years old!

So I started to wonder if there were any signature props/costumes possible from older games.  I'd particularly love if I could find something relating to the shareware games I so enjoy, but somehow "Escape Velocity" and "Lugaru" don't seem to lend themselves to that!

And at that moment the completely obscure idea popped into my head of an "Asteroids" costume.  Using EL wire, you'd attach replicas of the vector-graphic game art to various parts of your body..asteroids on your hands, a ship on your head, etc.  For extra points, sequence the EL wire so you can do the Alien appearing or an asteroid breaking up.  Could rotate the ship too.  And if you really want to annoy the people around you, add a sound chip.