Flour, Salt and Water

I have decided to attempt to make some of the props for The Metamorphosis. Just a few really. I'm making fake plates of food. They are in the beginning stages of production.  I made dough and then made the shapes I wanted and then baked them.

Baking Dough Recipe
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups water

Add water slowly until the dough is moist but doesn't stick to your fingers. The more you work the dough, the softer it gets and seems to warm up in your hands making it easier to shape.

Place on baking sheet and put in the oven at 300 F until the dough gets brownish. It takes a while, about an hour for the pieces I made.

                                                                  

A Sheet, Scissors, Paper and a Lamp

I'm directing a play which opens January 14th, so I thought I would blog about it. It's an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis written by Charles Dizenzo.
We are in the early stages of the production process but things are happening and we are starting to get the pieces ready to eventually put them all together. Some of my ideas, I worry, are beyond my capabilities or resources, but I'm going to give it a go regardless.
One of those ideas is to incorporate some,let's just call it, shadow work into the opening of the play. I have no experience with this, but what it comes down to is that I like seeing cool visuals on stage and want to work that into the production. I would like to be able to captivate the audience at the get-go, and if my idea works out well, this may be able to do it. Over a month ago, I did a very small and impromptu experiment with shadow puppets and I really liked aspects of it. Basically, I wanted to see if I even liked the look and effect. I did. Now to try it on a larger scale, with people, and try to choreograph something that is effective.