How can I make a pumpkin head fly across the stage?

Question

I'm a theatre director and I'm looking for ideas on how to make the Headless Horseman's head (a plastic pumpkin) fly across the stage without careening wildly into my actors or the audience. The distance to travel is about fourty feet and I'm considering some sort of rig using monofilament (fishing line to the rest of us). If you have an idea, let me know! I've tried the basic pendulum idea, and it really doesn't look too hot to me.

Answer 1

Monofilament is okay ... but it stretches. I'd stick with tie line (also called "trick line").

You might try this:
A pulley (block) stage left about 20 high just behind the wing.
Ditto for stage right.

The line goes from the stage-hand up to the pulley then down and onstage to the pumpkin. From the pumpkin it then goes to the other side to that pulley and down to the other stage-hand.

They work together to make it float and travel left to right. -- on a much larger scale I've flown ballerinas this way and wicked witches too, lol. Though I had drums for a mechanical advantage...

I like the traveler track idea someone answered up above.

Tie a "speader bar" between the little hangers so the distance is wider and uniform. Then tie your lines from the ends of the spreader bar and so the lines will narrow down to the pumpkin. You can travel side to side and up and down.

The lines should look like a big V with the pumpkin being at the bottom point of the V.

The spreader bar can be anything. I'd probably use a 1x3 and drill some holes. Maybe five feet long, depending on your space.

Actually magicians use both of these methods because the audience normally looks straight up for the line.

Break a leg!

Answer 2

What you opt for is a curtain traveler (i.e the sliders that maximum curtains are on - yet you in basic terms choose one slider). Rig the traveler into the grid and run the ideal volume of fishing line (i.e 30' from head top to grid + forty' of return and forth + 10' slack). you could the two have the pinnacle preset linked to the line with sufficient slack to permit flow on point, or discover a thank you to attach the pinnacle to a awesome cord for the duration of the scene. on the choose for the end result, have your group pull the line from offstage. the pinnacle will circulate with the traveler, and zoom! you have your result. of path, determine you weight the pumpkin properly. a mild plastic pumpkin will careen wildly on point. A 2 to 5 pound weight could supply it the ideal flow.

Answer 3

Use a black background, have a man wearing all black, carrying a black fishing rod, hang that pumpkin head and just walk across.

If you're unhappy with a black background tho, you have to proceed with cautions. Combined with the amount of lights, light background will make strings obvious, unless you use some strings that are so thin it won't support the weight of the pumpkin.

Answer 4

Hook the pumpkin to a traveler track and use that mechanism to fly it.