Prop Effects Guidebook - Lights, Motion, Sound, and Magic

The Prop Effects Guidebook Second Edition explores how to make props for the stage that move, light up, make sounds, or interact with their environment. Whether it's a sword that glows, a vase that breaks, or a book that bursts into flames (safely), this guide shows how to bring imagination to life.

List of contents

1. Designing, Prototyping, Testing 2. Electricity 3. Lights 4. Motion 5. Trick Mechanisms 6. Pneumatics 7. Liquid Delivery 8. Breakaways 9. Smoke and Fire 10. Sound 11. Control (Remote, Micro, Practical)

About the author

Eric Hart is the Director of Animatronics at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a member of the Society of Props Managers (S*P*M). He has built props and effects for Broadway, regional theatre, opera, film, theme parks and retail. He is the author of Prop Building for Beginners (Routledge 2021) and The Prop Building Guidebook Third Edition (Routledge 2024) and has also written for Stage Directions magazine, Scrollsaw magazine, Theatre Design & Technology, and American Craft.

Product details

• Authors: Eric (Professional Prop Builder Hart, Hart Eric
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 15.09.2025
• EAN: 9781032714820
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3271482-0
• No. of pages: 216
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / Stagecraft & Scenography, Theatre Studies, Performing arts: costume / props