The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Music by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Book by Peter Parnell
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Directed by Casey Paradies
Properties Designed by Katherine Telkamp
01
Tavern Mugs
This particular production's design is meant to be fairly period-accurate in terms of looks. I wanted the tavern mugs to give the look of the stereotypical wooden tavern mugs often seen in medieval events, renfaire props, cosplay, etc. I took some plastic mugs already in our storage that, at some point in their life, were poorly painted in a shade of silver. I based them brown, added some textured foam strips, detailed, and painted. I sealed them with a layer of Sculptcoat as (hopefully) added protection from use.
02
Tavern Pitcher
Because of the aim to be mostly period-accurate, the request for a clay pitcher was a bit tricky to pin down. We didn't have the option to clay fire our own, nor were there any in storage. Between myself and several of my cohorts, we in turn took a plastic bowl and plastic restaurant water pitcher and combined them. We then used thermoplastic to form the shape around them, sealing it for painting with a layer of modified papier mache (sculpt-coat and thin paper). I then applied a few layers of regular acrylic paint and a layer of mod-podge to give it a faux-glaze. The first two pictures are the references used.
03
Lyre
For both the 'Feast of Fools' and the 'Tavern Song' sections of the music, instruments were needed on stage. In doing some research, the director, choreographer, and I came up a drum, a violin, a shawm (reed instrument), and a lyre or lute. The rest of the instruments we either had or were simple to make, but the lyre was the exeption. I ended up taking some thick, sturdy cardboard and cutting out a shape reminiscent of this lyre. After lining the edges to mask the corrugation and painting it with a wood grain, I added some thumb tacks and old guitar strings to complete the instrument. Though it didn't play, it looked great on stage.
04
Wooden Beams
For the finale fight, Quasimodo throws down debris from the bell tower to fight the soldiers in the square. To make it both easy to throw and safe to land, I carved the beams out of either single or multiple layers of hard styrofoam. I then soldered out the grain of the wood to give it depth, painted the lights and darks, and sealed it with sculpt coat. With the single-layer beams, I then weighted down the ends with some unfortunate-looking packages of beads as otherwise they floated to the ground very non-threateningly. With the larger beam, I had to join two sections together with a simple internal structure and EVA foam on the exterior. Because it was asymmetrical, I carved off pieces of the end to make it appear that it had broken off a larger beam.