The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-12-25
AMATEUR THEATRICALS.
How They Can Be Conducted without
Furnishing an Audience.

| party. The first requisite ls suitable
| hall. As the main object is to make
money. the luxury of public hall can
scarcely be indulged in unless it is Sc
cured in the way Of donation. In the
failure to secure a small hall, church
basement, lecture-room, or chapel, the
next best thing will be a billiard or
dancing hall. If possible secure the
auditorium of the greatest length, as
the stage will be better for being deep
| rather than wide. This is to keep the
! actors in the background; otherwise
| every woman on the stage will get the
idea that she is the favorite, and the
! foot-lights will be surrounded all the
| time.
| In whatever room the affair is con-
Quoted remove all furniture and arrange
! camp-chairS or benches in tiers. To
avoid confusion see that these seats are
/ secured in some way. Look we'll to
! the ventilation of the room. The stage
built, not forgetting that most neces-
sary adjunct, the prompter's crown,
the next thing to do is to erect a frame
extending from the ceiling to the foot
lights on which to hang the drop-cur-
tain. The part of the frame visible to
!
with paper or cheap print. Place a
row of pulleys on the under side of the
! cTossbeam and on the outer edge tack
| the drop-curtain, for which almost any
thing will do, as cretonne, canvas, ter
ry, canton flannel, or plaid wooden
| cloth. A dado may be made of some
| contrasting color, and as finish trim
the bottom with thick fringe. This
can be prepared at small cost by GRO
! cheting it of worsteds, twisting yarn,
or knotting bits of colored cloth that
! have been cut in narrow stri ps ten
inches long. Now buy a couple of
| dozen of brass rings some inch and
| quarter in diameter and sew chem on
! the curtain fourteen inches apart. Put
| double row down the edges of the
! curtain and one row down each seam
| and down the centre of each breadth.
making sure when they are attached
that they are in rows parallel to the
! pulleys on the cross-pieees. Run strong
cord over the pulleys and thread it
! through all the rings but the row on
the edge of the curtain. This outer
row is intended to keep the curtain
from running away from the rings and
! should have short cord passed
! through them and fastened at the top
| and bottom of the curtain.
Ordinarily background of some
neutral color will be required with such
| furniture as an interior would need
| This will suffice for charades, panto-
mime. and literary and musical pro-
| grams, but play or operetta will need
| mounting, and that cannot be done
without scenery. Occasionally it is
| possible to buy or rent scenes, but with
the aid of an artist or house decorator
and pot of paint scenes can be turn
ed out by the dozen. At the costum-
| er's may be purchased cOlored models
for the work at from IS to 80 cents
| each. which will give the artist ideas
| sufficient for the work.
And now for the play, the success of
which will depend on the length and
| number of characters represented. The
great trouble with women is their un-
| impeachable honor. They want to be
| just, and in the endeavor to give the
| people the worth of their money they
select long comedy which is put in
| the hands of a score of murderers. who
| exhaust the patience and interest of the
| lookers-on long before it is half through
with. The most successful plays are
! brief and contain not more than three
| acts and ten characters. At any OF the
| stationery stores little comedies and
parlor dramas are sold. Shakspearean
! PLAYS in abbreviated forms are offered,
and, although largely in demand, it is
not certain that amateurs do not make
a great mistake in such selections.
There are plenty of fairy plays which
| if well prepared will be favorably re-
ceived. and the number especially
adap nd for the use of academies and
boarding-school girls is unlimited. In
deed it is in this class that the most
selected. The parts being learned
numerous rehearsals should be had,
and during this preparatory work it
would be advisable to take a few les
sons in stage etiquet. If an instructor
cannot be got, take the time to 90 to the
theatre and see how public actors and
actresses walk across the stage, sit
| down, take attitudes, manage draper
| les, and, above all, note what DISPOSE
ton they make of their hands. Such
| department may seem very simple and
easily done, but it is a colossal miscon-
ception. for to do these simple easy
things in simple easy manner is the
very acme of dramatic art. If any
| thing like a reasonable degree of sue
cess is expected it will be imperative
that the affair be put under the man
agement of some one familiar with the
profession.
Stage dressing should be done for eff
! feet, and no color should be made up
until it has been well tested with artifi-
cial lights. Behind the footlights 80
cent sateen will make better looking
court dress than a g satin; gorgeous
cretonne is as effective as brocade; 50
worth of Rhine stones will make bet
ter showing tlfan $500 worth of soli-
taires, nor can any one discriminate be-
tween a 15-cent Honiton lace flounce
and q Portuguese point worth dollar
a square inch. Special study should be
given to drapery. In the manner of
making up as much good sense as art
will be necessary. The main thing to
have in mind is the effect of distance
and gaslight. The face will need al
most eXtravagant treatment in order to
give prominence to the features. Care
should be taken in the choice of cos
HieLlcS. dS lueIc IL uulte euouSu ludt IL
pernicious on the green-room dressing
case to ruin the complexion if not seri-
ously injure the health. The simplest
and least hCTtful cosmetics, and at the
same time most effective, are pure
glycerine, rouge and powder made OF
rice flour or cone chalk. 1t will be
necessary to sacrifice personal attrac-
tiveness to correctness very often, and
if the character attempted to an old
woman dimples will have to give place
to wrinkles and pink cheeks to crow s.
feet and hollow eyes. The hands will
require much attention; the rush OF
blood to the fingers when the arm
hangs will have to be made less notice
able by the free use of powder. If sue
cess attend the novice it will be we'll to
know an encore when it comes.
Twenty-Five thousand eight hundred
and TWENTY-FIVE patents were granted