AUDREY MAUE
PROPS MANAGER & ARTISAN
Miniature House
Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting
Contemporary American Theater Festival
Position Held: Props Artisan
Director: Oliver Butler
Scenic Designer: Britton W. Mauk
Prop Shop Supervisor: Chase Molden
Production Photos: Seth Freeman
The production of Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting at the Contemporary American Theater Festival required a miniature model of the house where the play is set. The idea was the main character is a filmmaker who is creating a film on their childhood. In one scene of the production, the miniature model was filmed with a camera onstage, and the video was projected for the audience to see. To create it, I used the house design provided by the scenic designer, Britton W. Mauk, and laser cut or 3D printed all of the elements.
Photo Credit: Seth Freeman
The miniature filmed onstage.
The set for Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting, which the miniature is roughly based on.
Progress Photos:
Interior Mechanism
The miniature also needed a mechanism where cowboy legs and witch legs popped out from underneath the house, as though they were being crushed by the house. To do this, we constructed a linkage system with a lever connected to the legs. When the actor pushed the lever onstage, the legs were pushed out from under the house.
Lever system.
Legs pushed out from under the house.