Historically these were items that were the property of the theatre, as opposed to costumes, say, that were owned by the actors themselves. Traditionally props are a sub-set of scenery, but today specialists are usually assigned to deal with them. The scene designer specifies the look of important props that are a part of the scenery, and a property person buys, rents, or builds them. In some instances, when the props are unusually numerous, important, or complicated, someone may be hired as a property designer to work with the scenery designer. Props are categorized in the following way to assist in organizing them.
Set props are major items of furniture such as tables, chairs, sofas, and appliances.
Trim or dress props are smaller decorative items that are usually attached to the set such as curtains, pictures, books on shelves, and other knicknacks. Hand props are those that are handled by actors such as magazines, eating utensils, cigarettes, and money. Some hand props like food, cigarettes, or candles that are used up in the process are called consumables . Costume props are items that are considered a part of a characters outfit but are not clothing such as eyeglasses, parasols, wallets, watches, and weapons that are worn. Property crews often have to hide consumables between performances because starving actors will sometimes clean out the prop candy dish or take home their pack of personal prop cigarettes.