Rumors images
A few of the details from this fine set. At left you can see how narrow the handrail is. Of course it won't meet any construction code, but for present purposes it will do. It took almost no time to build . . . after all the calculating was done. The vertical slats are 1x2; the upper rail is 1x4; the lower rail (footrail) is 1x3. The newels, where the rail changes direction by 20 degrees, are definitely tricky. They'll stand up as long as everybody believes in them.
Anne, the director's grandmother who did the color picking and some of the painting, selected this Hershey bar brown for the railing. The furniture in the room will be dark leather just like you would see in your lawyer's office. (Director Hope works for a lawyer who's sympathetic to this project, so it will be just like lawyer furniture.) The ultra-dark brown should work well with the medium brown leather.
While the door trim was going up and the last few hours' worth of paint was going down, Kelly stood in a corner and painted the tree you see at right. It represents the Long Island woods outside the big window, and it's the only "scenic art" in the set. You'll see headlights playing on the tree as new guests arrive at Charlie and Myra's party.
From the very beginning we've had some custom furniture planned for the room. It just wasn't possible to get to it until the fourth weekend of building. ("Remember to breathe," Cat told me again and again.) A coffee table and a small dry bar were to be the finishing touches. I mined the scene shed and found enough plywood scrap to make all but the legs for both. The last two photos on this page show the bar (right) and the miniature coffee table (left).
I like this little bar. It isn't sturdy, heaven knows, and it doesn't contain fine joinery, but I think you'll find it hard to tell that it doesn't. Sort of minimal, except for the little rims on the shelf and top. We painted the bar and table to match the handrail (this photo was taken with just one coat on the pieces).
Carpentered furniture works on stage nearly as well as joiner-built stuff. Nearly. No one who evaluates this table as furniture will pass it. What we always aim for in stage furniture is that no one actually will evaluate it that way. It's like a money prop that's really a sack of washers; audience members who are in tune with the show will allow characters to buy goodies with washers, and they'll similarly allow any flat surface to function as a table provided somebody onstage sets a drink on it. (You can't give away all the secrets, though; it would not do any good to disclose that the treats paid for in washers are really made of bread and food coloring.)
| Previous image | Image index | Next image |
| Approved Ben Teague web site |
 |
Images