GIVING PROPS

By Shanna Hogan
Photo by Ross Martin

Mary Rooney regularly creates pancakes and pies out of Styrofoam and paint. On occasion, she has crafted oversized coins from cardboard and construction paper. And once, she even had to design imitation quail using old pheasant pelts, pillows and hot glue.

As the props supervisor at the Arizona Broadway Theatre, one of the Valley’s premier dinner-theater destinations, designing unusual items for musicals is all part of Rooney’s “odd job.”

When the curtain goes up each night, her work helps bring the show to life. Over her five
seasons at the theatre, she has created a laundry list of unusual items.

“Every show requires different, unique props so it’s always a challenge,” Rooney says. “It’s fun. It’s a really fun job.”

For Cats, she designed oversized phone books for the performers to stand on. For Jekyll & Hyde she crafted bubbling beakers using colored liquid and dry ice. On occasion, her job has even entailed babysitting.
“For Gypsy, we actually needed a live lamb on stage and for whatever

reason that was considered a prop,” Rooney says. “I called a petting zoo and it just so happened to be lambing season in Arizona. ‘Little Luna Lamb’ came out to our house and stayed with us for about eight weeks, and we took it to the theater every night. By the end of those eight weeks, the lamb was a sheep!”