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Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / SAFETY: Guns and promenade staging
« on: Mar 12, 2012, 12:44 pm »
I'm working on a show that will be in an intimate setting with promenade style staging. At the end of the show a character will be killed and our director wants it to be dramatic, loud and bloody. We are currently debating the use of a blank gun.
The director who is also the artistic director wants a blank gun and views it as an infringement of his vision not using one. He's using the "we have to do risky theater or why bother" argument. He's nixed the idea of a sound effect instead of a prop gun when I brought it up in a production meeting and again when the production manager brought it up in an e-mail discussing gun policy. He doesn't think it will be dramatic enough and that the show will really suffer for it since it's the climax of the show. We're talking about having a blank gun fired backstage away from audience members, cast and crew.
I'm really concerned about having a prop blank gun fired in a show where there is not assigned seating and we might have an audience member mistakenly wander into an area that they shouldn't. Has anyone else dealt with stage firearms in a small setting where audience movement will be unpredictable? For that matter, has anyone else dealt with a safety concern being ignored by the director and artistic director? How did you deal with that?
The director who is also the artistic director wants a blank gun and views it as an infringement of his vision not using one. He's using the "we have to do risky theater or why bother" argument. He's nixed the idea of a sound effect instead of a prop gun when I brought it up in a production meeting and again when the production manager brought it up in an e-mail discussing gun policy. He doesn't think it will be dramatic enough and that the show will really suffer for it since it's the climax of the show. We're talking about having a blank gun fired backstage away from audience members, cast and crew.
I'm really concerned about having a prop blank gun fired in a show where there is not assigned seating and we might have an audience member mistakenly wander into an area that they shouldn't. Has anyone else dealt with stage firearms in a small setting where audience movement will be unpredictable? For that matter, has anyone else dealt with a safety concern being ignored by the director and artistic director? How did you deal with that?