[SML] Prop body

[Jon Ares]

I could better give a list of things NOT to do when building a body,
but that's a whole other thing.... we keep a (comical) dead body in
our furniture room - originally built for a Michael Green Coarse Actor
show eons ago, but used several times since.... a plywood cutout
'body,' then clothing applied to that, and stuffed.  Careful attention
needs to be paid to the stuffing, to look human, but this method won't
work well for a body that needs to be picked up and presumably flopped
around like a real human.  (The head was also supposed to come off, so
that was a wig head, with a wig, but turned and facing upstage when it
was on the floor.). That body has been used many times, but it's
clearly a fake.

When I directed "LOOT" at my school many eons ago, I cast a young
woman who did lots of yoga and meditation... she was a great sport -
wonderfully limber, and willing/able to not only be "stuffed"
upside-down* with limbs akimbo into a large wardrobe, but also able to
lie perfectly still (and eyes open) in an open-casket situation, as
the audience came in and filed past her.  She also spent a lot of time
wrapped in bedding, and lying on a bed during the show.

*The wardrobe had a false back, so she could get in or out as needed.

All this is to say, if there's a way to safely cast a person to play
the body, the comic opportunities are great.

 - Jon

On Fri, Jan 7, 2022 at 8:11 AM Bill Potter via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>
> Howdy Listers,
>
> We have a student production coming up that requires a dead “body” to fall out of a closet when opened and then get moved around the stage a bit. (The scene is pretty slapsticky.)
>
> Anybody in reasonable range of Southern New Hampshire have something for borrow or rent? We’d also consider making something if anyone has any good advice on whipping up a body prop.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill in NH
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-- 
Jon Ares
www.arescreative.com