If the room in which the performances are to be given is furnished with
folding doors there will be no need of a proscenium, but if not, any
enterprising lad can, by means of a few boards, rig up one to suit, and
drape it with colored muslin, to be bought for a few cents per yard at
any drygoods store. This done, a sheet may be tacked securely across
the top, with a heavy pole at the bottom to facilitate its falling.
Four rows of brass rings may next be sewed at intervals of a foot
apart, from the top of the curtain to the pole at the bottom. Strings
must then be fastened upon this pole, brought up through the lines of
rings, and attached to a larger piece of twine running horizontally
across the top, and passing through a screw-eye in the proscenium,
leaving a long end to dangle down, handy for the person who is to
attend to the rising and falling of the curtain. By simply pulling this
piece of twine, the drapery will be found to ascend in graceful folds,
and at the signal for descent, will drop easily by the weight of the
pole. In the following diagram _a_ is the upper cord, _b_ the rings
through which the others pass, _c_ the dangling end, _e_ the pole at
the bottom.
[Illustration]
“Wings,” or side pieces, may be constructed by stretching muslin over
an ordinary frame of common wood, and braced by a stout stick to the
floor, thus completely obscuring the performers after they have made
their exits.
“Flats,” or scenes at the back, upon frames, to draw off and on, will
be found too difficult to use in drawing-rooms, as they necessitate the
use of grooves above for them to slide in; therefore, I would suggest
the use of “drops”--that is, scenes working after the manner of the
curtain, and when drawn up, concealed behind the “borders,” or straight
rows of muslin, tacked horizontally across the top, and forming the
ceiling of the scene, when completed.
In order that there shall be as little cost as possible in furnishing
the scenery, let one lad, who has a taste for drawing, stretch the
“drop” upon a bare floor (drawn tightly and tacked to the boards), and
then, take a wood, a garden, or a parlor, and with a piece of charcoal,
copy the trees, etc., upon the muslin, and then paint them in to the
best of his ability. The same plan should be followed with the “wings.”
Care should be taken, however, not to remove the paintings from the
floor until they are _quite dry_, and then stretch them over the frames
and fasten securely.
One set of “wings” should be braced firmly to the floor, and when a
change of scene is required, the “drop” may be drawn up and the other
“wings” slid in and rested against the braced ones. Lamps may be placed
on each side of the proscenium, and if footlights are desired, a board
may be put across before the curtain, with several lamps placed so as
to shine directly upon the stage, while the board prevents them from
glaring upon the audience.
The effect can be heightened by a board with a row of candles in tin
plates to catch the wax, behind each “border,” so that they may shine
down upon the actors; but this is both troublesome and dangerous, as
the ceiling is liable to be smutted, and a breath of air may blow the
dangling “borders” into the flame and produce a disastrous effect.
This done, the stage may be set as the play requires.
Should the action require a storm, peas may be shaken upon the head of
a drum to imitate the rain, a sheet of zinc will furnish thunder, and
the effect of lightning may be produced with no danger by filling an
ordinary putty blower with licopodium and blowing it into the flame of
a candle. (An article for doing this, and called the “flash-box,” is
used on the regular stage.)
Colored fires may be produced by following these directions: