Need a full-size taxidermy moose head? What about 14 pianos or a plastic loaf of challah bread? Cleveland Play House’s prop department at its production center in Glenville has so many thousands of random bits and bobs everywhere you look that props master Andrew Ferrell has lost count. We take a step behind the curtain at what goes into making your favorite plays go off without a hitch. Or, if it’s called for, with one.
Inventory check Keeping the warehouse straight is as monumental as the shelves of props. The couches go together, as do the wheelchairs, the chandeliers, the books, the old-timey radios and the umbrellas. There’s even a section specifically for plastic food, and an entire room for dishes, cutlery and stage weapons. “If we don’t have it here, you don’t need it,” says director of production Joe Martin.
What Moose?: There is a section — albeit creepy — specifically for taxidermy animals, including a very large moose head that dates from the 1930s. It was acquired for a production of Room Service. In the show, the actor had to lug it around the stage. “But it’s so heavy, this actor could not carry it around,” says Martin. “We wound up having to make a fake moose head. But we got real moose antlers.”
Flea Market Flip: Ferrell has a fine-tuned sense for a piece that might make it into a future show, and regularly works the flea market and Craigslist circuit and picks cast-off furniture off street curbs in his truck. “I’m always throwing stuff in the back of my truck,” says Ferrell.
The Big Sort: In 2011, as the Cleveland Play House was moving to Playhouse Square, all the props had to be transferred from the basement of the former Euclid Avenue building to Glenville — two or three truckloads at a time — over three months. There were six truckloads of just chairs. Everything from furniture to plastic chickens was put into giant piles until shelves were brought in. “It’s taken us three or four years to get to this point,” says Martin.
More Info: clevelandplayhouse.com
