Let’s take a moment to give a warm, web-based round of applause to everything and everyone prop-related at Manhattan Theatre Club. FROM UP HERE is a particularlyprop-heavy show and Manhattan Theatre Club has risen to the challenge.

 

A prop, as many of you may know, can be anything that an actor picks up, holds, or uses at any point in the play. Furniture can be considered a prop but major set pieces are not props. Smaller items, like coffee grinders and Rubix cubes, are props. Madam Playwright Liz Flahive has often hung her head in rehearsal and playfully apologized for the masses of props upon props written into this play.

 

No need to apologize, Liz! We love our props. And the amazing thing about MTC is pretty much all you need to do is speak the name of an item and it appears magically in rehearsal in front of you. This phenomena isn’t true everywhere, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s a major testament to the hard-working and dedicated staff.

 

The other people who get “props for our props” (yes, I went for that joke) are David H. Lurie and his fabulous stage management team and Scott Laule and his fabulous props team. When you come and see the show, try and figure out where every peanut butter sandwich, every pencil, and every loose piece of paper ends up. I promise you that you will lose track- most likely because you’ll be distracted by the PLAY going on in front of you- and when you do, take a moment and acknowledge the work of the people who do manage to stay on top of every one of these tiny but essential items for each performance.

 

Sometimes, my friends, when you’re a working on a show (especially a WORLD PREMIERE) things change and some props that start out in the play don’t make it into the performances. And sometimes those props are food. And the rest of us in rehearsal get to eat them.

 

Check out this photo of Liz enjoying the eliminated oranges; they were delicious!