I’ve been a part of many productions that had unusual production requirements – assorted fake body parts, fake heads, fake headless actors (well… the actor wasn't fake but they got to keep their heads,) real seeded dandelions, animatronics, extensive numbers of Twinkies, water, gag guns, levitating plants, talking plants, moving pictures, moving books, magic tricks, and a whole host of other unusual requests – but the ASF production of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage is the first show I've ever been a part of that requires vomit.

The first thing that came to my mind was a behind the scenes clip from a movie. If you've ever seen the comedy Super Troopers, you may remember a scene post party filmed in a bathroom stall after one of the characters has over indulged. What the behind the scenes clip revealed was that the actor opted to really puke… Aside from a good shutter, I was pretty sure we weren't going ask an actor to do that - there aren’t any “edits” in live theatre after all.

I wanted to write this blog when we began the build process for the show, but I realized that that I would have to save this until after the show had closed… even if an audience member coming knows that an actor is going to lose her cookies, I didn’t need to spoil how we did it.

As the play won several awards including a Tony, the props folks had a lot of other prop departments’ research to draw from, rather than starting from zero. The first step in the process was a lot of research - on line, contacting other theatres, etc. From the things I saw, there were some ambitious and spectacular rigs out there that involved pressurized air and hoses, to simpler bag or other squeezable containers.

What the vomit consisted of was also varied – everything from upholstery foam to coffee creamer.

Four our production, we had some important variables to consider – the play was staged in ¾ round and whatever we used couldn’t readily stain the actors clothing, the furniture, or any of the props the fake barf stuff hit. Not to mention, it probably shouldn’t be so projectile that it could get on an audience member. (Nothing can take a production down like a sympathetic vomit moment.)

With these considerations, our prop master Charles Kilian and his assistant, Shanley Aumiller decided that simple was better. Rather than something elaborate, they opted to hide a “container” in a sofa pillow that the actor would hold and squeeze to, well, spew. From there, various containers were auditioned – everything from whoopee cushions to camel back bladders. What was selected after a lot of auditioning was a modern liner for the traditional Spanish water/wine skin – the boda bag. The liner is durable yet flexible, and the opening is ridged, guaranteeing that it would not collapse or close in on itself.

Next – what would go into the puke itself.

The script indicates that character with the upset stomach has recently eaten caflutti, a moist fruit laden cake – in this case consisting of apples and pears - and part of a can of Coke.

Another consideration was with the proximity to the audience, whatever went into the works, it needed to be odorless. A few tests proved that even non-dairy coffee creamer had a little more smell than thought wise. Next revision: upholstery foam with water in a blender. The texture – when reduced to fine pieces – was surprisingly cake like. Days of testing for ratio and consistency with various liquid, led to the discovery that foam with some color – at first tea then later paint – and plain water were the right combination.

Kind of makes you want some cake, doesn't it?

Bottoms up, cats and kittens.

Cheers until next time,

R