Great Props for Community Theater - Why You Need Them, and How to Get Them

Community theater. It's one of the great staples of small towns and amateur performers alike. If you're involved in this pastime, you know how rewarding it can be for audience and artists alike, but you're also, doubtless, well aware of the many challenges involved in bringing together a high-quality production using amateurs and a limited budget.

One of the most often neglected aspects of community theater is the props table. Perhaps, as someone who's worked professionally as a props designer, I'm biased, but I still make the case. Properties are often forgotten about until the last minute, scarcely planned at all, and/or collected haphazardly by whoever on the cast and crew thinks they might have something which will "do."

But productions that are this careless about props sacrifice far more than they know in terms of the quality of their play. I can't count how many plays I've been to, some which are even professional or semi pro! - where the choice to work with props that will "do" has seriously detracted from my enjoyment of the play.

Why?

The answer is simple: bad props destroy the illusion. They take you out of the time and place where the play is set and remind you that you're sitting in a theater in the 21^st century looking at best attempts some other 21^st century people have made to convince you that you're somewhere else.

Most often, the mistakes I see are problems with anachronisms - in other words, objects, styles, colors, etc., that don't fit with the time and place they're supposed to be a part of. Paper that's obviously pulled from someone's inkjet printer being held by someone in 17^th century garb, pillow cases of a color that would have made the Victorians meant to be using them scream in distaste, prop guns that appear to be semi-automatic in the hands of heroes of the Old West. That sort of thing.

It may seem harmless enough, but what kind of light does it cast on the other design elements of the play? If your costume designer has worked their fingers to the bone and spent hours researching how to make beautiful and historically accurate costumes, if your set designer and builders have put in equal amounts of time, care, effort, and talent into their work, isn't it an insult to use properties which poke holes in the environment they've worked so hard to create?

The second common mistake I see are specialty items - props which can't be bought and must be built - which are shoddily and poorly put together. This largely happens when directors fail to realize that props building is an art which requires every bit as much skill and care as costumes and sets, and thus, feels it will be sufficient to get some volunteers to just throw something together. But pieces like this have the same effect as anachronistic pieces - the fantasy is destroyed.

To find good props builders, look to your community's visual artists and crafters. Depending on the project, look to jewelry makers, sculptors, taxidermists, painters, metalsmithers, glass blowers, and many others and see if you can scrounge up a budget to commission work from one of these (if they are entrepreneurs, you may be able to offer them free ad space in your program). Ideally, what you are looking for is someone who can design their own 3-d craft projects in a number of different mediums.

The third common mistake I see is quite simply not caring whether the props will impress or not. People have a tendency to forget that props design is, in fact, an artistic venture. Even if what you have looks decent and will fit with the production, it isn't enough. You need props that are eye-catching and eye-popping, props which will inspire your actors and audience to not only believe they illusion they are presented with, but to be interested in it.

So how is this accomplished on a budget? Simple: the sorts of items that make the best theater props in the world are often some of the cheapest to acquire - you simply need to know where to look. Thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales, dollar stores, and eBay are, in my experience, the best ever places to buy unique, classic, and visually engaging objects.

Ultimately, great props work comes from getting excited about interesting items. Turn on your eyes to the classic looking objects in your favorite plays and movies, and start asking yourself, "how could I find one of those?" It's an effort you will never regret.