MMM...Brains

As promised, here is the second installment on my prop work for Plays & Players' production of A NEW BRAIN by William Finn.  Last week I discussed the food I created for the show.  This week, it's all about a brain.  Gordon's Brain specifically.

Director Daniel Student explained his vision to me at our first meeting and I was both inspired and challenged at the same time.  Basically, we needed a head that would house a brain that would have pieces of paper inside of it which represented all of Gordon's songs waiting to be written. After some brainstorming (haha), I presented him with a design and the pictures can tell the rest of the story.  It was a lot of fun to make and I'm happy to say Gordon's Brain remains one of my favorite props to date.

 Gordon's head was made from a styrofoam wig

  form that I split in half and shelled out to hold Gordon's Brain.  

Above, the raw brain before cooking and then after it had hardened and was painted with a red base coat. 

 

The holes in the picture to the left housed the rolled up pieces of sheet music that Gordon handed out to the other characters as seen in the photo at the bottom.   





  It came onstage as part of a full body replica of Gordon being wheeled in on a gurney so I tried to make the head form look as much like Brendan Norton as possible.

Magnets were added to avoid the head opening accidentally and a twine hinge was placed on the back of the head to keep it as one unit once it was opened. 

Here we see The Doctor (Joe Sabotino) explaining to The Mother (Susan Johnson) how a shunt was going to be used to drain fluid from Gordon's brain. 

Gordon pulls the songs literally from his brain.