42 trap doors in the floor
Posted by Adam Immerwahr on August 22nd, 2007
So I just went upstairs to take a peek at the work they’ve been doing on the stage floor of the Matthews Theatre over the summer. Turns out that the stage still has its original floor. Over 75 years old. This is a floor that not only has to be strong enough to support the several tons of set in our annual production of A Christmas Carol, but also has to be flexible enough for dancers to perform on and not break themselves. Jeff, our managing director, just told me that they’ve once had an elephant on that floor (many many years ago). I’m not sure I believe him.
Anyway, they’re re-doing all of the trap doors in the floor. As you can see in the picture (taken from off-stage-right), the main section of the floor kinda looks like a grid. Each of the cells in that grid is a separate trap door (there are 42 of them) that leads down to our trap room. You need to have that many traps so that you can have one wherever you need it on the set (for instance, during A Christmas Carol, at least three traps are used - extra credit points for anyone who can post a comment identifying all three). The traps are all really old, and all the lighter wood in that picture is the new materials they’ve used to replace the original. Additionally, they’ve added a new loading door (you can see it in light wood at the back of the room). Once the work is done, this will all be covered up by more flooring. Cool, huh?
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre
5 Responses to “42 trap doors in the floor”
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Ooh, I know when the traps are used!
1) The entrance of the beggar children “Want” and “Ignorance.”
2) The entrance of the Ghost of Christmas Present/The Scrooge Slide.
3) The entrance of Old Joe.
Ah, A Christmas Carol: still my favorite McCarter production.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Nicely done, Mike. Very nice. 10 extra credit points for you.
I had totally forgotten about the entrance of Old Joe (he enters during the Christmas Future section). So actually, there’s at least one more moment in A Christmas Carol when yet ANOTHER trap door is used. 5 more extra credit points for whoever can identify that one!
And I’m not counting the second entrance of those beggar children (cause they actually enter twice, once right before the Marley door-knocker scene, and once at the end of the Ghost of Christmas Present).
(Hint: the trap door is stage left.)
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
What about when Scrooge’s tombstone apears?
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Bingo! You got it. Jessicak76 wins 5 extra credit points! They are redeemable for, um, extra credit (maybe this competition should have been thought out a little bit more before we started…).
So in all truth, there is yet ONE more trap used (thanks, Mindy), but the audience can’t see it. So I don’t think its fair to make it a part of the competition. So I’ll tell you about it.
During the haunted door-knocker scene, the puppeteers for the door knocker use a center-stage trap to get onstage. Also, at the beginning of Act II, when Scrooge is revealed flying, he actually enters (at the end of intermission) from that same center stage trap-door, and then his is flown up above the set, and then the trap door is closed so that when the house flies out, he appears (magically) from above. Did that make any sense, the way I wrote it?? I try.
August 26th, 2007 at 4:04 am
My God, that stage floor looks exactly the way it did back in 1970! And I do remember those trap doors. I remember having to pour out a vial of “sow’s blood” into one of those hatches during Russell Treyz’s production of MACBETH, which ran through spring of 1971. As I recall, a crew member was directly within the liquid’s range of fire during one of the many performances we did of that show, and he was none too happy about it! Needless to say, that particular piece of stage business was dropped.
As it turned out, no one from the audience could tell what I was doing anyway, since that Hecate scene had so much going on in it, what with projections and electronic music and something like 15 witches instead of the usual three.
I love coming back to McCarter whenever I get the chance. I just finished directing my latest film, THE WATERMELON, in Hollywood. Editing should be complete before Thanksgiving. Y’all check it out when it comes your way. I’m gonna try to catch Tartuffe if I can get back east.
Have a great season, in any case!