Our senior leadership and elder board are excited about our vision for a KidStuf family experience. As we begin to talk about adapting space for this purpose, I was wondering if anyone out there might share some wisdom regarding stage design and construction. Where to start? What are some of the stage attributes that have proven to be most valuable for sketches, music, etc.? Any websites with pictures of stage options would sure be helpful. Budget advice? Much appreciated...
Designing a KidStuf stage
(6 posts) (6 voices)-
Posted 5 months ago #
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We and I know alot of others have used real fake buildings. I believe it's http://www.realfakebuildings.com. It will give you some good ideas. And they are great because you can have them build it for you. Or you can just have them design it and then they give you a detailed plan of how to build it. We went the latter route and they were great to work with.
Posted 5 months ago # -
We did ours all with our own volunteers with cues from RealFake's website. We spent about $2,000 on the set (did not include having to build out a stage platform or any of the lighting). I'd say you want a lot of space to move around comfortably. Also a couch is good to have since it is used in the script often. We don't have room for one, and we have to adapt to something not as good. At least 3 entrances from backstage is minimum in my mind, but the more the better, especially if you have some hidden entrances (which I don't have room for). A nice sized backstage passage area is extremely helpful. I personally like different levels to be incorporated - both for character and for blocking purposes. We had to build ours in a way that it can be taken down and rebuild each month, so that limited a lot of what I could do. I'll post some pics of our set soon.
Google's free SketchUp program is a great way to make a 3D model of the set before you build it.
That's my two cents which may or may not be worth full value...have fun designing and building.
Posted 5 months ago # -
You can see our regular set on the website below. A designer created it and painted the backdrop (plywood panels) and we added the furniture, pictures/frames, KidStuf Clubhouse sign and fake furniture (purple)
http://www.communitycc.net/kidstuf/mediastuf/
We also created another set, for use in the main auditorium (once a year) on our own. I'd have to get the pictures from our director but we basically framed 8x4 plywood panels and painted 3 orange, 2 purple, and had 2 that were pegboard and 2 that were "brick" - all from Lowes Hardware.
We spiced it up with pictures, props, and we used the doors from our regular set. I think we spent about $500 whereas the other one cost about $2500, not counting furniture and the stuff we added.
Does your set need to be portable? I would start with the physical stage (floor) dimensions. Then I would plan the walls, with entrances in mind. I agree with fomchurch, that you should shoot for 3 or more entrances if possible. We get by with 2 in our other set. I wish our stage was higher off the ground, but our ceiling is only 10'.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Hi here is a link to our KidzSTUF stage. Our stage is permanent. I have no idea how much it cost us to build ours. I'd like to say $5000. But I have no idea. http://tech.pittsburgheast.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=33&page=1
Our stage is long length wise and short depth wise. we also have two off stages. One with a tree house. Which is used often but not marjory. The other side has a VW Bus. Sadly, it is not used very often. One because a bus isn't called for often, second because it is so far away from the audience. Most things happen center stage (with our show anyways)A couch is really nice to have, but the cast tend to use it too often, or when the stage needs rearranged for another segment it is very hard to get off. Also our stage is on a platform. Not helpful when you have giant props moving on and off of the stage.
Back stage is great to have if I could change anything in ours it would be a deeper backstage. the cast tends to hang out back there when they are not on stage instead of the green room. Also we have speakers back stage to help the cast to hear when they are to come out. (very helpful)
Pop outs are nice to have. we use them a lot with the wrap up. We have a poster that opens, pictures, a refridge, windows. Anything that when the cast pops out the audience thinks "I would have never guessed" is what we aim for.Our stage continuously evolving to fit each show.
We too are getting ready to build a new stage and planning for it. We have a full size gymnasium that doesn't get enough use so we are planning on changing that. I'd like to see a 180 stage, a stage that engulfs the audience. so if you looked down from the ceiling it would be a U. We are going to use black rubber mat for the floor.Because when it gert's we it won't warp, light won't bounce off it, and it's safer to run on. Also I'd like to have lights, fog machines, sound monitors and video monitors tucked into the floor of the stage. We also plan on extending the living room to be the deepest stage and making it 2 stories tall. Another thing we were thinking of was having 2 LED TVs on the top of the set. Both count down how many hours church/parents spent with their child.
Posted 5 months ago # -
For those churches that can't either do an entire build-out because of budget or space limitations, it's not hard to create a portable set. You can get some guys together who can put "flats" together by framing out sheets of faux brick paneling, paneling that looks more like outdoor wood siding, or use 1/4" plywood that can be painted or wallpapered. Make another one that you can flip to the back side and use lath and foam insultation so it looks like the interior of an attic wall. Put a series of these together with hinges or use boat cleats to lash them together. Think about how to create platforms/levels and multiple secret entrances with moving set pieces (put wheels on the bottom of furniture...) The thing that makes a simple set like this go over the top is collecting a bunch of "stuff". Think about each character and what they'd bring and stash at the Clubhouse. The more detail you can add, the better it'll feel. Basement and attic collections, garage sales and Ebay can be your best friends! When you're ready for something more permanent, don't forget to check into local college theater depts. There might be a hungry college student studying set design who'd love a chance to show off for less money and design a set for you and/or add touches of paint and illusion. With decent plans, even small congregations have enough guys who can get together a couple weekends to build it out and have fun doing it!
Posted 4 months ago #
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