Scooby Doo Assistance?

[Guest]

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[packersfan]

Indeed to all of this.

You would be amazed at what we got done today!

I can imagine. If you put them in groups and keep them busy, they work very well.

 

[Guest]

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[packersfan]

No kids today, just parents.

One more day on the set we'll pull in kids to paint.

Exactly what I was talking about. Our girls are 9-11, so the parents do the bulk of the work. The scouts do like to paint, though.

 

[Guest]

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[rgraham666]

Another shadow idea.

Set up a light so there's an independently moving shadow a la Gary Oldman's Dracula.

When a person does one thing and their shadow does another is seriously creepy.

 

[gauchecritic]

A mirror scene, the opposite of Dracula. Look in the mirror and there's someone stood behind you that isn't there.

If striking and reforming the set during blackout, leave the curtains open and light the stage with ultraviolet, have the scene shifters dressed in luminous skeleton costumes. (just painted onto otherwise black clothing)

If the play has a front door set, have this built on rostra to one side of the proscenium, make someone work really, really hard and recreate Rodin's 'Gates of Hell' for a front door.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hoellentor.jpg

Always have an Igor to open the door. Especially if there is no Igor in the play.

Alternatively, have a flying scrim of the The Gates of Hell (cheaper because you can just paint canvas), have this in front of the stage curtains before the opening. Write Igor a short monologue, Even just "Welcome to the House of Whoever. The master will be with you momentarily, do come in." Igor opens the door then the scrim flies out as the curtains open and the stage gets lit.

Have the graveyard set built to one side and have a stage hand standing on it in a monk's robe whenever it's not lit.

 

[Edward Teach]

Have a red laser or small white spot occasionally dance around the set. Or a laser zero in on someone, maybe an audience member or two.

Have some creepy sound come from the back of the auditorium, behind the audience.

 

[Guest]

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[jomar]

A jump piece

A human statue in the shadows. When someone gets close a red spotlight hits it at the same time the statue throws its arms up and shrieks at them. The first time will be the jump scene for the audience. If the actor forgets and goes near it again it's a "I hate it when that happens" kind of reaction.

 

[Guest]

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[Guest]

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[Guest]

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[voluptuary_manque]

This kind of pushing the envelope is great fun, even though it sometimes gets the "grandpa" hair on the back of my neck standing up. For years we've held an Egyptian parade with actual dancing girls leading the way. Of course, they're covered from ankle to wrist in leotard and tights but a line of gold fringe around the hips and full out-on-the-town makeup takes my girls just about a centimeter over the 'way too sexy' line. However, it's only for one day. Otherwise, makeup is forbidden and everyone from the Superintendent to the mayor to the parents every year absolutely loves it. As we all know, once you've done something for a couple of years, it becomes Tradition. Then there's no stopping it, ever.

 

[Guest]

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[voluptuary_manque]

And most important of all . . . you get to have fun in the name of education!

 

[Guest]

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[Safe_Bet]

It is educational, but I prefer to think of it more as memorable for the kids. And a chance to show off their talents in ways that are not strictly with paper/pencil/book/tests.

I think that is so important.

I remember our High School plays back in the Midwest and how much they pulled the entire school together.

The "artsy" peeps acted and sang, the "trogs" came out of the wood and metal shops and built amazing props and scenery and the "gay / gothies" helps decorate, write and direct.

In the end it wasn't a "cheerleader" (me) working with a "freak" (who later became my best friend) It was the first experience where I have seen so many diverse groups get along and achive tolerance and understanding of each other.

It also taught me that "what you were" doesn't limit what "you can become" and that it is OK to be different. To me that is as much education as math or science.

 

[Guest]

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[Weird Harold]

Oooh, yes. We discussed something like this already, like for the first time the set swings around from fireplace to dungeon stone (or bookcase - we haven't decided) we do it in between scenes. We won't call attention to it.

It should be possible to make the fireplace change to two different alternates if you put it in a corner (IIRC, stage set corners aren't square, they're something like 100-120 degrees?) Even on a flat wall, you can offset the pivot to allow three faces to the set.

For sheer creepiness, use as many fake spiderwebs as you can get the cast to accept. Spiderwebs and dust are the textbook example of "creepy." Brushing a cloud of dust off of every chair used or surface touched could quickly escalate into slapstick, but some visible dust clouds will add to the mood.

Creaking floorboards are a feature of every old neglected building I've ever been in. Likewise, squeaky shoes have had a bit part in most horror movies.

An egyptian sarcophogas, coffin, credenza or sea-chest with a mummy's hand caught in the lid might be the kind of subtle background you're looking for. Something that can be added or removed randomly between scenes.

Secret panels in the walls that pop open with any number of creepy things in them can be built into the set.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I think that is so important.

I remember our High School plays back in the Midwest and how much they pulled the entire school together.

The "artsy" peeps acted and sang, the "trogs" came out of the wood and metal shops and built amazing props and scenery and the "gay / gothies" helps decorate, write and direct.

In the end it wasn't a "cheerleader" (me) working with a "freak" (who later became my best friend) It was the first experience where I have seen so many diverse groups get along and achive tolerance and understanding of each other.

It also taught me that "what you were" doesn't limit what "you can become" and that it is OK to be different. To me that is as much education as math or science.

Absolutely! Years after they're gone, kids come back from their grad studies and plaintively ask, "Do you still do the (fill in the blank here)? That was the best time I ever had in school!" The answer is always, "You bet we do!" The most powerful thing you can give students is not skills, socializing or anything else. It's the attitude you bring to the subject matter that has the longest lasting effect. I've turned out more than my fair share of historians, anthropologists and engineers and I'm proud to say so.

 

[gauchecritic]

Dramatic underlighting is also very useful..

Sub-woofers for creepy bass-line music. I mean really really sub-woofers the kind that you feel rather than hear.

If it's scooby-Do then you might be as well using well known dramatic music throughout. Rri-Rri-Rri-Rhi for sudden exposure threat (Psycho) or Hmmmmm-hm, hmmmmm-hm for creeping menace. (Jaws) etc

Eta don't forget to include the word 'zoiks' at some point.

 

[Guest]

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