REHEARSAL CONDITIONS: That summer smell

[lsears]

I'm rehearsing a decent sized show right now - 16 actors, 8 dancers, 21 musicians.  The show is great, the people are lovely, the rehearsal hall smells funky.  You walk through the door and know that people are WORKING!

We're in a church hall that isn't air conditioned or vented in any way and working 9am-9pm.  We have fans going to cool the room and move air around, but can't find a way just to vent and freshen the space.  We're in Boston and temps are climbing to 90ish this weekend so opening our few tiny windows just brings in stale hot air from a back alley.

Fortunately everyone has good personal hygiene, no strong perfumes, no sweaty gyms bags/clothes other than the clothes the cast wears as they rehearse, no overly strong food smells.  Any ideas?  We're in the space for one more week.

[Maggie K]

Something a number of wardrobe folks I know will do is spray the air with vodka water.  Also, I don't know if it will help with smells, but frequently when I've rehearsed in a basement we've left a dehumidifier running over night.  It really helps with the damp, muggy feeling.

[forner]

I'm rehearsing a decent sized show right now - 16 actors, 8 dancers, 21 musicians.  The show is great, the people are lovely, the rehearsal hall smells funky.

 Add some eucalyptus oil to water in a plant mister. The former can sometimes be find in a drugstore.  Spray before rehearsal begins. Check for any unplanned puddles on floor

[MatthewShiner]

I am wondering if it can be "aired out" at night . . . air freshened, mopped, and the let fans run a couple of hours to give it an airing out.

[On_Headset]

I'm wondering if you could make a field trip and do a rehearsal (or half a day? I suggest the latter half, when the heat would be worst) in a public park or something. Highly unusual and the company may just hate the idea, but if you've got a group who'd be into it (and in that kind of heat, a lot of people would be into it!), well.

You'd lose a significant amount of productivity (no props, no sets, no marks, etc.), but the stress level would fall through the floor, and there's something to be said for that.

[PSMKay]

Treat a paper towel with lemon juice and binder clip it to a fan.

[DeeCap]

When I was out in Lenox, we used sponge air fresheners. You put them in a corner and they are supposed to get rid of odor and get rid of some of the dampness.

It sorta worked. We kept 60 kids in a small room so there was only so much you can do.

Quick google search and I found this

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=16266302&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CLn_iof-x7cCFfRQOgodSkcATw

[KMC]

How about renting a spot cooler (portable AC unit)?  It'll cool the place down and suck a great deal of the moisture (and hopefully the odor with it) out of the air.  A one week rental would probably run you a few hundred dollars.  If your budget doesn't allow for that, you may find a rental company willing to provide a unit at no cost for future promotional consideration in programs etc... 

[lsears]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Fortunately the heat broke today so it was a bit better.  Things that also helped were changing the mopping to the evening rather than the morning and the lemon juice paper towel in front of the fans.

Even with the air feeling positively heavy with water the company is very hesitant to run dehumidifiers overnight.  We have two harpsichords and a number of string instruments that prefer it moist to dry - I doubt we could ever get enough water out of the air to injure the instruments, but they'd rather not risk it.

Two more days in the rehearsal hall then into the theater, we're all ready for it.

[PSMKay]

Yay! The lemon juice worked! I use a similar setup in funky apartments sometimes. It's cheap and a lot more effective/pleasant than air freshener. Lemons are pungent little things.