In nearly all theatre productions, some sort of prop is used to enhance the visual for the audience. This can include a chair, a cup, a phone or anything that the actors will be interacting with on the stage. However, after each production, there are several props that, all of a sudden, have no purpose, so where do they go at the end of the show?
Unbeknownst to the majority of the Colorado Mesa Univesity student body, deep in the recesses of Houston Hall lies the remains of all props past. Underneath the floor is a cemetery for all the props that the theatre has used in past productions. The really morbid part is that from time to time, the same theatre production that laid them to rest come bag, disturb their slumber and rob their resting place.
“The nature of theatre is a little wasteful,” the theatre’s technical director Michael Legate said. “So to curb some of that, we store all of the props that could serve some use in later productions and will always check there before buying or making any other props.”
The morgue consists of several storage rooms underneath the floors of Houston Hall in a dimly lit corridor that screams of horror movie potential. In one room there lies numerous glasses, telephones, a tree and plenty of other props of different varieties.
Another has paintings, chairs and tables in a room that doesn’t even have a functioning light, causing even more fear of a hand reaching up and grabbing your leg. One room was filled with fake guns and weapons, more miscellaneous furniture and body parts. Yes, body parts. Mannequin heads, legs and arms can be seen poking out of a mass of props, contorted in obscene positions that seem to cry out in pain. If you ask Legate, he will claim that they are just mannequins.
Outside of the morgue, one can see the props that just couldn’t accept being in the basement. Several couches and chairs had managed to find themselves in storage spaces above the prop shop, within the shop itself and even on the sides of the audience.
These places are where the props first go, since they offer a much easier access to them than the morgue does. Big props that would take up too much room or props that have a very high chance to be used in the next production are stored in the Moss Performing Arts itself so as to make it a little easier to put on a show for the very busy production department.
“The location for the morgue is a little weird and people always get lost trying to find it,” Legate said. “It is very useful for us to be allowed this storage space.”
All real-life cemeteries and horror allusions aside, the prop morgue is quite useful and helpful for the theatre department. It offers a great recycling opportunity for the department so that they can both save money and save resources. Their rooms in the morgue are constantly fluctuating with the needs of the university and they truly appreciate any of the space that is given to them for it, as it makes production monumentally easier and more streamlined.
The props morgue is located in the old boys showers under Houston. It is not terribly inviting since it’s literally a storage space, but this article makes it out to seem like a hallowed spooky dungeon. It’s not. It’s an old room with no other use which the theatre department can thankfully utilize. -An Alum Who Knows Better