Special Event Design

Retro Game Show

Steven Hall from Journeychurch.tv in Norman, OK brings us this retro gameshow-style stage design. (Originally posted April 2014)

Twice annually, they host a themed event at Journey to help the women of their church connect, build community, worship, and learn. This event’s theme was a 1950’s sock hop and featured Nicole Crank as the speaker.

The lobby featured chandeliers of vinyl records, root beer floats bar, ice cream bars, random games that were invented in the 50’s, and a 50’s era Corvette out front.

In the room, their production team took care of replicating the 50’s feel onstage. They added some custom built scenic panels to their existing 4 bar set. It took them nine sheets of 4′ x 8′ x 1/2″ plywood for the set pieces. Four of the sheets were used to make the instrument shields. They cut 10 degree angles on 2’ side panels and a 3’ wide center panel. Once they were painted and cut, they used some 2×2 pieces as nailers in the corners. They cut the remaining plywood at varying angles. Steven chalked lines across the plywood and tried to get 2 pieces of scenic out of each sheet of plywood.

Their original plan was to cut strips of Coroplast to edge the front of their panels. To meet their timeline, though, they decided to use gaff tape as their black stripes. Steven measured a 4″ border on the panels, and put the tape on in a 4″ inset around each panel. A bit of cutting with a razor knife and they ended up with a pretty stellar looking piece from offstage.

They made a few kickstands out of 2x4s to hold up their large panels. To finish out the instrument shields, they had some thick vinyl letters cut that said GF.

The opening song of the event was a medley of 50’s songs. During the first song, they used black and white Imag, and visuals from the 50’s which made for an outstanding atmosphere.

Their budget was $500 for all the materials. The plywood they used was sanded and a bit more expensive so that it looked more finished once it was painted.

More details and pictures can be seen here.

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2 responses to “Retro Game Show”

  1. Randy says:

    What kind of lighter are you using as crowd warmers? They are in groups of four in vertical boxes behind your band in a couple of your picture

  2. Steven Hall says:

    Randy,

    Sorry for the crazy late reply. We used custom made blinders we call 4 bars. You can see the design here: https://churchstagedesignideas.com/traffic-light-blinders/

    ,Steven

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