How did a 20 foot tall rocket ever get into the Octagon Theatre? Well, it was no doubt an interesting process for A.S.F.’s production department. This year’s Southern Writers’ Project winner is the play “Rocket City”; and with a title like that, you have got to have a rocket or two. Le Hook’s scene shop actually built 2 large scale rockets, one for the stage and one as a lobby display.
As Purchasing Agent for most of the Production Department at A.S.F., I get to buy nearly everything you see on stage (actors, costumes and lighting sold separately). Rocket City, as with many shows produced, utilizes a lot of different materials like lumber, glue, fasteners and paint. But this article is about the common things we make. Quite often I purchase some not-so-obvious materials for the shops. Occasionally, I’ll have to ask “what are you going to do with that?”
One of the things I thought was cool about this show is that the scene shop used approximately 6,000 “rivets” for the two rockets. The rivets are actually ½” French Natural tacks bought locally from a favorite upholstery supplier; The Colonial Shoppe. Perhaps the carpenters hammering in those tacks did not think that “6,000” was so cool.
And while the lobby rocket was mostly made of one by and 1/8” plywood the onstage rocket utilized a different construction technique. Quite often when a design calls for columns as a scenic element then Sono Tube is used. Sono Tube is basically a heavy duty cardboard form used in “real world” construction for pouring concrete. When we use Sono Tube onstage, we of course don’t use concrete. The cardboard is first covered in muslin and then base painted; then, depending on what these columns are supposed to be, it is up to Dusty Stutsman Terrell and her painters to fool the audience’s eyes with their masterful painting skills.
With Rocket City, Le sought out the largest Sono Tube in production; a 12’ tube with a diameter of a whopping 60”! After trekking up from Mobile through some heavy and damaging rains this monster was cut in half and reconstructed to fit just inside the Octagon space. While the appearance suggests the full round of the lower part of the rocket, it is indeed only half.
Flanking the rocket are two very large mirrors. For reasons of cost, weight, and safety real glass mirrors are out of the question. We used a material made for the stage called Heat Shrink Mirror. It comes on a roll and looks a lot like Mylar. Once stretched over a frame, workers apply heat to shrink the material taut. After Dusty and her painters spent hours using hand held heat guns and only achieving minimal coverage, she was ready to step things up a notch. The solution was to rent a torpedo space heater. This still took a lot of time and patience but covered the large areas much more quickly. These large mirrors next to the half rocket form the appearance of a whole rocket. It’s “Very Cool” if you ask me. Oh yeah, add some fog underneath it and it becomes “Way Cool.”
Whether it’s King Kong or a rocket destined for outer space, nothing shows it off more than a good reveal! This, for Rocket City, is accomplished by two very tall retractable walls. Kind of neat, but what I find interesting is that the casters used at the bottoms of these walls are Kryptonics Rampage wheels. What are those? They are wheels for in-line skating. They provide a streamline profile with quiet action.
Sometimes the everyday items can present some of the bigger challenges. The Props department wanted me to order a porch glider for Rocket City. Not a problem with Spring being here, right? Wrong. The reason why I needed to order one to begin with was that the local stores were either late getting their gliders in or they where far too large for our needs. Prop Master Charles Kilian found a perfect little glider online, but as it turned out it was on back order. We wouldn’t get it until two weeks into the run. No good. So, Charles whipped one out in no time. Then after debuting in rehearsal the glider needed to be shortened and that was taken care of promptly. And after the shipment of glider hardware came in (that was my part) the porch piece “glided” quite smoothly. Ah, but there is one more catch. Director, David Ellenstien wanted the glider to have a squeak when it rocked, and then after “oiling”, not squeak. Well, after countless tries, Charles and his team came up with a solution. Although nails on a chalkboard were considered; metal on metal worked best. After “oiling”, the actor flips a leaver to deactivate the device.
After working in the Prop Shop for several years myself, I remember all too well how something simple can turn into a real challenge. And all the while I’m thinking if only the audience knew how much went into something so “simple”.
Having seen how so many shows are built, propped, rigged and painted, I still can be amazed by the magic of it all. For Rocket City, it was really something quite basic for me that did it. One day down in the scene shop I see a big tube with thousands of ½” tacks stuck in the side of it, and the next day after the painters have hit it I see a rocket! A 20 foot tall, great, big rocket sitting in the production house.
And when you go see Rocket City be sure to check out those rocket fins. Rick Rogers did an awesome job on those babies. There are a lot of highly talented artists working here at A.S.F. For a full list of credits please read your show program.
And for anyone still asking; yeah, I like my job.
Doug Aycock
ASF Purchasing Agent
Thank you, Doug, for your article. And if you want to write for the blog as well, just leave a note in the comments section with your name and email and we'll get you set up to contribute.
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