Cranks, Hand Gears, and… Cotton Stalks?

Scenic Designer Wes Calkin and Special Effects Designer Ryan T. Patterson describe the mechanism that makes cotton stalks grow onstage in Br’er Cotton.

“It’s all coordinated by voice and activated by stagehands. The cotton comes up in three parts, and each part is a flat piece of plywood that goes back to a crank backstage. As you crank it, the plywood lifts and pushes all the stalks up. So you have the ability to bring them up as fast as you want, to whatever height you want.”

-Wes Calkin, Br’er Cotton Scenic Designer

“When you’re just pushing a button, you can feel disconnected with what happens. Moving a hand crank allows you to be more intimately involved with the effect. Ever since I was little, looking at old theatre diagrams and how they used to make all the old stage machinery – it was all hand cranks, hand gears, big wood gears that mesh together, counter weight systems – I’ve always wanted to make a system like that from the ground up. It was a dream to be able to make one for Br’er Cotton.”