Does anyone have any ideas on how I can make a pretend tree for a stage prop??

Question

It is for a production my daughter is in, the director needs "trees" that can be carried on stage by kids(9 years old) that are playing the munchkins and that they can hide behind once they have carried them on stage.

Answer 1

Is it the Wizard of Oz?! We did that play when I was 12 and it was super fun. We had these X-shaped wooden bottoms with a light weight brown pole (tree trunk) going up the middle. Then two pieces of cardboard backed coverings were attached on each side of the pole. We had round green trees, (they were apple trees) on one side and you just turned them around and they were swirly lollypops! Hope this helps.

How on earth do you get a thumbs down for a helpful suggestion from a successful experience? Who did that?

Answer 2

Hmmmm... 9 year olds... Try using Teflon glides on the bottom of the "tree-trunk" if the stage is smooth enough, OR use casters.

I've done the Wizard of Oz a half dozen times now... once we used the cardboard carpet rolls, but they aren't "WIDE" enough and then end up top-heavy.

I'd suggest either door-skin (1/8th inch plywood) or double-thick corrugated paper... very light-weight... with a t-brace and a fly-weight or sandbag to keep them upright. Add simple handles for the kids to move them.

The KEY will be light weight and a WIDE and stable base.

Good luck.... and "ding dong the witch is dead... which old witch ? the WICKED witch !!"

Answer 3

One way is to make them out of chicken wire and then cover them with paper mache. The bottom of the tree (so that they don't teeter over) can be made by plywood or small wooden flats. After the paper mache dries, you can paint them whatever color you want. Leaves can be made from green party streamers. Just make a long chain by braiding three streamers together, and hang them down frm the branches. Make a lot of these, and you have leaves! :)

This can result in lightweight, but cool-looking trees. Our school made more complicated ones with the same idea for our production of A Midsummer Night's Dream

Answer 4

We made some very realistic trees for a show by using a base (either a carpet roll or a wood frame) covered with chiken wire then covered in burlap fabric (wrinkled up to look like bark) then painted. In order for small children to carry them, you could try a foam board or cardboard base covered with burlap (spray glued on) and covered with burlap and painted.

Answer 5

Plays are all about imagination. You can use plain sticks as long as there is something to plant them in. Like a base. As long as the characters perform as if they are trees, so will the audience.