Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: "Greased Lightining" car ideas

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njg1
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Topic: "Greased Lightining" car ideas
Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:50pm

Hello out there-

I'm sure that someone has done "Grease" and has had to deal with the car issue- Is there a place where such a vehicle can be rented on the west coast (bay area)? Or do you just have to "reinvent the wheel" (pun definitely intended) every time you do the show? I don't want a 2 dimensional mock-up- I'd like to use something that actually works....All ideas welcome- We need it by March 10!

Barbara

barbaras1950@yahoo.com

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Topper
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Posted: 2/11/07 at 9:03pm

A professional dinner-theater in our area did a big-budget revival of "Grease" and the car was problematical for them as well. A full-size T-bird would never fit on stage or in the wings so they cannibalized an electric golf-cart and built a smaller "Greased Lightning" fibreglas body atop the chassis. The car could actually be driven, but since it was powered silently by electric batteries, the sound of a revving engine was added with loudspeakers. It's proportions were definitely compressed (Kinecki looked HUGE driving it) and it got both laughter and applause on its entrance.

If you don't have that kind of skill, money or time (and very few theaters do) you might try to convince a local vo-tech school that it would be a fun project for their automotive body shop. Some larger-pocket patrons with country club connections might be able to find a suitable golf cart to experiment with.

Good luck.

"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone

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TimW
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Posted: 2/11/07 at 10:02pm

The local Kiwanis organization produced 'Grease' last year. Someone found a car at a junk yard. It was stripped out for weight and reinforced where needed. I didn't get a chance to see the show (another show I was doing conflicted with it), but this might give another idea.

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Linda S
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Posted: 2/12/07 at 8:15am

We did the same. . .stripped out a car. Cut into pieces. Took it up a flight of stairs and reassembled it on stage. It then got wired for lights and a horn. It worked great, but it was a lot of work.

Linda

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Gaafa
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Posted: 2/12/07 at 9:56am

The first set I designed for ‘Grease’. I had a revolve set in a false stage, with Kinecki’s car on one side of a double sided profiled flat & the other side the ‘Grease lightning’ car. It was mounted on a truck with fixed castors. For the Grease Lightning scene, the truck was pushed on to the edge of the revolve. The revolve rotated & a spigot was drooped into a hole in the revolve, upstage of the trucks leading edge. As the revolve moved around the truck followed until it centralised it’s self in the middle of the revolve. When the cue line of "Grease Lightning" was given, the revolve turned the truck around & revealed the ‘Grease Lightning car on the other side. Helped by suitable lighting & a pyro ‘maroon’ flash pot, it worked like magic.
However the next time I did the set, the prevailing powers, decided to be more realistic & use a real iridescent green hot rod. It was masked with painted canvas & bits of tatt as Kinicki’s car & rolled on with the masking removed as Grease Lightning, it was pathetic!
The punters only applauded at the end of the number.
the yoyo’s missed the point completely, of the mise en scene being presented in cartoon colours, for the sake of being realistic - the Wally’s!
Also it created more problems than they could wave a stick at, but that’s all another story.
Stay with representation & even as it was presented originally apparently. They used rostra to give the illusion of an improvised car & the other set pieces.

Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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JohnnyOneNote
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Posted: 3/05/07 at 12:04pm

We used the golf cart with sound fx. but we had two SHELLS made from chicken wire and paper mache that fit over the cart. ya cheap, but had an excellent artist who painted the thing great!

It looked pretty darn cool actually. :)

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Steenberg
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Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:34am

We have a real Buick, motor and other heavy stuff went out the roof went of, then we build in at el-motor ,theater weel , dry ice, everything 24 volt.

when its on the place on stage it will be raisede with hydralic and starts to turn around, the car was new paintet but when it drives on stage the one side was ogly, we used wita-rap a film that we put over the red painted car only on the ordiens side the film was painted ogly, it was done befor evry show ,when the car turn around the film was taking off. Hope you understand it.

Steenberg

Denmark

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njg1
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Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:45pm

Wow! I love all of these ingenious solutions!!! We finally found a car (a metropolitan) that had been gutted and used at Ohlone College for "Grease"- You know, in the actual musical, the script doesn't call for the car to come back all "jazzed" up- The car was great! Ittotally surprised the audience...the greasers pushed the car on stage from stage left, on an angle...it also worked really well for the drive in movie scene! You are all the best! Designers and techies rule!

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Mr. Lowell
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Posted: 3/28/07 at 1:56pm

Congrats on successful show!

In case someone else is doing Grease, here are a couple other solutions:

In 2004 Greensboro College did Grease, and the design professor John Saari, (who by the way is the inventor of Sculpt-or-Coat glue), built a large fake car out of styrofoam. They carved it to look like a real hotrod and sealed it with cheesecloth & Sculpt-or-Coat. This lightweight car body was then fitted over the top of an old electric golf cart!

His prop was simple, lightweight, durable, easy to store backstage, very easy to drive and manuever around the set, and visually entertaining. It was made to fit over ANY golf cart, so he rented it out. I saw it used again at a local high school, so I know he still has it in storage.

Here is his contact info:

http://theatre.gborocollege.edu/john.html

***

In 1980 I was on set crew for a production of Grease at UNC-Greensboro. Greg Bell, the faculty shop foreman, built a very cool car! He welding a basic pipe frame with old seats, a real steering wheel, and 4 working tires off a VW bug. The coolest thing about the project for us as students was getting to experiment with spray foam! Greg used liquid expanding spray foam, and shot the entire car frame with it. Lot's of it! After it hardened we sculpted it down to a smooth, contoured surface. Then we painted it red with a lighting bolt on the side. (I can't recall if we sealed the foam with something before painting).

The car worked very well for the production. It was lightweight enough to be picked up and moved in order to fit in the tight wingspace of Aycock Theatre. The car was kept for years and hung from the grid of Taylor Theatre in case schools wanted to borrow it. (It was eventually trashed).

But it was a fun and creative prop. -Dana

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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techiegod
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Posted: 3/15/08 at 3:36pm

I HAVE A CAR!!! ITS MADE OF WOOD AND IS PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE GREASED LIGHTNING. ITS BEAUTIFUL. ONLY PROBLEM IS ITS ON THE NORTHEAST (Long Island). email for pictures. mcl.seanmc@gmail.com the car is FOR SALE. it has working lights and wheels spin, but is on casters. price is flexible. please contact about purchasing.

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Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup

Author	Message
njg1 Walk-On Joined: 2/11/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: "Greased Lightining" car ideas Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:50pm
	Hello out there- I'm sure that someone has done "Grease" and has had to deal with the car issue- Is there a place where such a vehicle can be rented on the west coast (bay area)? Or do you just have to "reinvent the wheel" (pun definitely intended) every time you do the show? I don't want a 2 dimensional mock-up- I'd like to use something that actually works....All ideas welcome- We need it by March 10! Barbara barbaras1950@yahoo.com

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Topper Celebrity Joined: 1/27/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 543	Posted: 2/11/07 at 9:03pm
	A professional dinner-theater in our area did a big-budget revival of "Grease" and the car was problematical for them as well. A full-size T-bird would never fit on stage or in the wings so they cannibalized an electric golf-cart and built a smaller "Greased Lightning" fibreglas body atop the chassis. The car could actually be driven, but since it was powered silently by electric batteries, the sound of a revving engine was added with loudspeakers. It's proportions were definitely compressed (Kinecki looked HUGE driving it) and it got both laughter and applause on its entrance. If you don't have that kind of skill, money or time (and very few theaters do) you might try to convince a local vo-tech school that it would be a fun project for their automotive body shop. Some larger-pocket patrons with country club connections might be able to find a suitable golf cart to experiment with. Good luck.
	"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone
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TimW Star Joined: 8/10/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 83	Posted: 2/11/07 at 10:02pm
	The local Kiwanis organization produced 'Grease' last year. Someone found a car at a junk yard. It was stripped out for weight and reinforced where needed. I didn't get a chance to see the show (another show I was doing conflicted with it), but this might give another idea.
	IP Logged

Linda S Celebrity Joined: 4/16/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 312	Posted: 2/12/07 at 8:15am
	We did the same. . .stripped out a car. Cut into pieces. Took it up a flight of stairs and reassembled it on stage. It then got wired for lights and a horn. It worked great, but it was a lot of work. Linda
	IP Logged

Gaafa Celebrity Joined: 3/21/04 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 1181	Posted: 2/12/07 at 9:56am
	The first set I designed for ‘Grease’. I had a revolve set in a false stage, with Kinecki’s car on one side of a double sided profiled flat & the other side the ‘Grease lightning’ car. It was mounted on a truck with fixed castors. For the Grease Lightning scene, the truck was pushed on to the edge of the revolve. The revolve rotated & a spigot was drooped into a hole in the revolve, upstage of the trucks leading edge. As the revolve moved around the truck followed until it centralised it’s self in the middle of the revolve. When the cue line of "Grease Lightning" was given, the revolve turned the truck around & revealed the ‘Grease Lightning car on the other side. Helped by suitable lighting & a pyro ‘maroon’ flash pot, it worked like magic. However the next time I did the set, the prevailing powers, decided to be more realistic & use a real iridescent green hot rod. It was masked with painted canvas & bits of tatt as Kinicki’s car & rolled on with the masking removed as Grease Lightning, it was pathetic! The punters only applauded at the end of the number. the yoyo’s missed the point completely, of the mise en scene being presented in cartoon colours, for the sake of being realistic - the Wally’s! Also it created more problems than they could wave a stick at, but that’s all another story. Stay with representation & even as it was presented originally apparently. They used rostra to give the illusion of an improvised car & the other set pieces.
	Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house}
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JohnnyOneNote Walk-On Joined: 2/18/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 7	Posted: 3/05/07 at 12:04pm
	We used the golf cart with sound fx. but we had two SHELLS made from chicken wire and paper mache that fit over the cart. ya cheap, but had an excellent artist who painted the thing great! It looked pretty darn cool actually. :)
	IP Logged

Steenberg Walk-On Joined: 1/19/07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:34am
	We have a real Buick, motor and other heavy stuff went out the roof went of, then we build in at el-motor ,theater weel , dry ice, everything 24 volt. when its on the place on stage it will be raisede with hydralic and starts to turn around, the car was new paintet but when it drives on stage the one side was ogly, we used wita-rap a film that we put over the red painted car only on the ordiens side the film was painted ogly, it was done befor evry show ,when the car turn around the film was taking off. Hope you understand it. Steenberg Denmark
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njg1 Walk-On Joined: 2/11/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/25/07 at 4:45pm
	Wow! I love all of these ingenious solutions!!! We finally found a car (a metropolitan) that had been gutted and used at Ohlone College for "Grease"- You know, in the actual musical, the script doesn't call for the car to come back all "jazzed" up- The car was great! Ittotally surprised the audience...the greasers pushed the car on stage from stage left, on an angle...it also worked really well for the drive in movie scene! You are all the best! Designers and techies rule!
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 3/28/07 at 1:56pm
	Congrats on successful show! In case someone else is doing Grease, here are a couple other solutions: In 2004 Greensboro College did Grease, and the design professor John Saari, (who by the way is the inventor of Sculpt-or-Coat glue), built a large fake car out of styrofoam. They carved it to look like a real hotrod and sealed it with cheesecloth & Sculpt-or-Coat. This lightweight car body was then fitted over the top of an old electric golf cart! His prop was simple, lightweight, durable, easy to store backstage, very easy to drive and manuever around the set, and visually entertaining. It was made to fit over ANY golf cart, so he rented it out. I saw it used again at a local high school, so I know he still has it in storage. Here is his contact info: http://theatre.gborocollege.edu/john.html *** In 1980 I was on set crew for a production of Grease at UNC-Greensboro. Greg Bell, the faculty shop foreman, built a very cool car! He welding a basic pipe frame with old seats, a real steering wheel, and 4 working tires off a VW bug. The coolest thing about the project for us as students was getting to experiment with spray foam! Greg used liquid expanding spray foam, and shot the entire car frame with it. Lot's of it! After it hardened we sculpted it down to a smooth, contoured surface. Then we painted it red with a lighting bolt on the side. (I can't recall if we sealed the foam with something before painting). The car worked very well for the production. It was lightweight enough to be picked up and moved in order to fit in the tight wingspace of Aycock Theatre. The car was kept for years and hung from the grid of Taylor Theatre in case schools wanted to borrow it. (It was eventually trashed). But it was a fun and creative prop. -Dana
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
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techiegod Walk-On Joined: 3/15/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/15/08 at 3:36pm
	I HAVE A CAR!!! ITS MADE OF WOOD AND IS PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE GREASED LIGHTNING. ITS BEAUTIFUL. ONLY PROBLEM IS ITS ON THE NORTHEAST (Long Island). email for pictures. mcl.seanmc@gmail.com the car is FOR SALE. it has working lights and wheels spin, but is on casters. price is flexible. please contact about purchasing.
	IP Logged