The Props And I

Back in 1987, the director of the high school play The King and I approached my brother and I with a proposition:  I will give you a lot of money to build props.  He didn't say those words, but we knew we worked cheap.  So he was assuming his list of prop requests would take a long time and cost a lot of dough.  It didn't.

I recall things on that list like "A small elephant toy...a small locomotive toy...two golden Buddhas...two Foo Dog statues... masks for a dance..."

The director knew that my brother and I went all-out making mache props for an annual Halloween display, so he figured this would be a great partnership.  It was the first time we applied our Halloween prop skills to non-Halloween props.  And it was the first time that symmetry would be required in building identical props.  We had never done that before, and it's putrid, actually.  Turns out he used both Foo Dogs, but only one Buddha (that still hurts til this day).

Anyways, here are some photos of the props.  I think it's hilarious to ponder other parents taking photos of their children performing in the play, and my mother was out in the audience taking photos of the props we built.