Columnists > Debra Frick > ArticlesJuly 03, 2007

By Debra Frick

Do you have a child that is longing for the bright lights of Hollywood? Do you have a budding playwright in the family too? Well, here is a way to build her or him their own stage so you can enjoy the fruits of their labors. Any child would love to have this in their backyard to put on performances for you and your friends. But be warned, this may make your house the most popular on the block. This can be made any size that you want as long as you have that many same sized pallets. I have given instructions for a square that can hold a couple or three children acting or three children seated playing instruments.

Materials

For this project you will need to scrounge up:

• 4 pallets that are the same size
• 4 pieces of 2 inch PVC pipe, 8ft long
• 4 mounting clamps or cleats
• 4 end caps for the pvc pipes
• 4 long carriage bolts to bolt the pallets together
• Screws to mount the pipes to your base
• 1 piece of 3 quarter inch PVC pipe to hang your curtains on.
• Stain to stain the floor of your stage or paint to paint it
• An old pair of pocket curtains for the stage

Tools:

• Electric Drill with a hole cutting bit
• Socket and rachet to fit your carriage bolts.
• Electric saber saw or circular saw for trimming wood
• Sander

Instructions

First we will start with where to find pallets. You usually can find pallets at your local grocery or hardware store and they would be glad for you take them off their hands. But you must ask first. Try and get full pallets another words with boards all the way across the face or you will be cutting wood to make them solid. Most pallets are made of junk wood and do not have a smooth surface so you will want to take a sander to them to make them smooth. If the wood runs over the edge of the pallet you will want to cut this off flush with the edge of the boards underneath. Now take the first two pallets and using your electric drill; drill a hole in each aligning the holes so that you can bolt them together. Bolt the first together and then add the third and fourth pallets the same way. Now you should have a pretty sturdy platform.

Paint or stain the wood. For fun you could also decoupage or paint designs on your floor. Let dry at least 24 hours and then polyurethane the floor. Next you will be adding your side supports made out of the PVC pipe. You will glue the end caps on and then on the front two you will be drilling out a hole too run your three quarter inch pipe through for your stage curtains. Measure down equal lengths on your pipes and with your hole saw attachment (bit) drill holes on each side of the pipe. Now mount this with your mounting brackets or cleats to the sides of you pallet. Once you have got the front two PVC pipes mounted. Push your three quarter inch PVC pipe through both pipes. For the back two pipes just glue on the end caps and mount them to the pallets.

To use your stage, you will need to get some curtains that are the pocket style and run them across your three quarter inch pipe. You will want to buy some tie backs for the curtains so that your kids can tie back their curtains for their performance. The pipes in the back are put there so that your young artist can take brown painting paper that can be bought at any hardware and tape the scenery across the back of the stage. Children will enter at either side of the stage. To decorate your stage even more, silk flowers or flags could be attached to the side posts of your stage above the curtains. PVC can also be painted with spray paint. Put this in an area for your garden so that you will have room to put chairs out front so that you have room for an audience.

In researching this I found two different sites that have pre-made scripts that for free that your kids can download you just need to email the authors and let them know that you are using there scripts for a backyard performance. These are:

• http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/drama.htm
• http://www.freedrama.com

As for costumes, hit yard sales and thrift stores to find the right costumes for your play. These can be kept in a large plastic tub. Hope this gives your kids some fun this summer!

About The Author: Debra Frick is a mother of 5 and a grandmother to 7 grandsons. She is a published author and poetress. Born in California, she now lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and many pets. Her hobbies include crocheting, reading, arts and crafts and bargain hunting.

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