The Properties Director Handbook ─ Managing a Prop Shop for Theatre

You may be familiar with how to hang lights, build scenery, or run a high school/college/community theatre, but few are familiar with the nitty-gritty details of being a properties director or prop master. There has been an utter lack of information on this topic in the market, until now. Sandy Strawn brings together her incredible 30 years of prop making and managing in this concise guide to managing a prop shop and show built. She skillfully explains planning, pre-production, production, and post-production procedures, budgeting, collaborations with other stagehands, and planning a prop shop from the layout of the spaces to the health and safety protocols for shop planning and workplace management. With this how-to book, you'll be able to keep your prop shop in tip-top shape.

Sandra Strawn is the Head of Technical Production in the Properties Design and Production Department at UW-Milwaukee. Her specialty is properties design and production from a general props class in management and crafts to advanced skills classes in furniture/ soft goods production and casting/molding. Prior to being recruited to start the training program at UWM, she worked as a professional properties master in regional theatre for over a decade. She has been a member of the Society of Properties Managers/Artisans for over twenty years. Ms. Strawn was a consultant on the properties chapter of the Michael Gillette book, "Theatrical Design and Production?.