Hello prop people,

Stage firearms safety is an important responsibility for every prop
department. If a show has firing weapons in it, of any kind, it is our
responsibility to make sure that they are safe in every way, insuring
that no one involved is in any danger. Firearms safety is a big
priority for me, so I have decided to devote space in the next few
issues of Prop News to this subject.

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In this issue:
1. New Discussion Board forum
2. Hedda Gabler Firearms, Part 1

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>New Discussion Board forum

I'd like to announce the addition of a new forum on the
PropPeople.com discussion board, the Stage Weapons forum. This
area of the board is devoted to discussion of all things related to
using weapons on stage. Stage weapons can include prop guns,
bladed weapons, and other items like bull whips and clubs. If you
have any questions about weapons safety, you can ask them here.
As long as it is related to weapons on stage, it's open for discussion!
Here's the link for the discussion board:

http://pub2.ezboard.com/bproppeoplediscussionboard.html

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>Hedda Gabler Firearms, Part 1

This week we are opening our production of Hedda Gabler at Long
Wharf, with Martha Plimpton playing our Hedda. In addition to my
responsibilities as props carpenter, I played the role of Weapons
Master for the show. To give people a better idea of what handling
stage firearms is like in a regional theatre, the next few weeks will
see a series of articles about my process in providing weapons
and instruction for this production.

For those unfamiliar with the play, Hedda provides a tricky challenge.
There are two separate gun shots; one in which Hedda fires her gun
across the stage at another actor, and the final shot, where she puts
a gun to her temple and blows her head off. There are several ways
to perform these shots, which of course depend upon the artistic
vision of the director. It was my job as Weapons Master to make
sure that the director's blocking didn't put any actors in danger.

My first task was to decide, with the director, scene designer, and
props manager, what guns should be used. The guns in the show
are a set of dueling pistols that were owned by Hedda's father. If
the production were done true to period (around 1890, I believe),
then you would probably choose percussion cap pistols from the
mid 1800's. For our production, which had no distinct time period or
setting, historical accuracy wasn't absolutely necessary. The
director gave me the following description for what he wanted:
heavy, masculine looking guns, with a black or gunmetal blue finish.
The guns also needed to be loaded on stage. With these criteria,
we decided upon a pair of Colt Peacemakers.

To find the guns, I first went to Centre Firearms in New York City.
Centre is a big rental house that carries non-firing replicas, blank
firing replicas, and real weapons that have been converted to fire
only blanks. They had a pair of converted peacemaker's that would
have worked, but because of liability and shipping issues, we
decided not to go with them.

Because they were real guns (though converted) I couldn't just
drive to New York and pick them up. In order to rent guns in NYC,
you must have a New York driver's license. And even if I had one,
it is illegal to take them across the state line into Connecticut. It's
legal to have them in CT, but not legal to carry them across the
border. We could have them shipped, but not directly to the theatre.
We would have had to ship them to a licensed gun shop. In order to
pick them up, I would need to have a CT pistol permit, fill out
paperwork for each weapon, and pay a fee (about $35 each). This is
all because at one point in their lives, the weapons were capable of
firing real ammunition. Because of all of this paperwork, and the
liability of the weapons, we decided to go another route.

The moral of the story: know your local gun laws and follow them
to the letter! Before you attempt to use any kind of firearms on
stage, make sure you have all of the information available regarding
the laws that apply to your situation. You must check federal, state,
and city laws and ordinances. If you do something that is in
violation of these laws, you can find yourself in a lot of trouble.

Next week: The guns we chose, and how I tested them for safety

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Till next week!

Sean McArdle
Owner/Webmaster
http://PropPeople.com
propboy@proppeople.com

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Prop News : The PropPeople.com Newsletter Vol. 1, Issue 8 4/16/2000
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