The Stage Management Association has just launched the first in a series of three Paper Props CDs, published by members Jacqui George and John Blunden, two stage managers with decades of experience in stage management and propping between them.

Paper Props are some of the most time-consuming props  to produce – and it is always stage management who end up putting them together. They’re small and fiddly, but, as every item on stage, contribute to the overall authenticity of a production and can be perceived as particularly jarring by the audience if great care isn’t taken over them.

This first CD includes around 150 Period Photographs, from Edwardian times to the 1960s, collated in folders such as Families, Weddings, Military Portraits, Female Portraits, Leisure, etc. and dated for ease of use. The second one will feature period documents, such as driving licences, birth certificates, etc..

Stage Management will still have to take care over the paper used and often have to employ breaking-down or ageing techniques but this CD means that you have a range of suitable images at your fingertips which can be edited and printed easily from any computer.

Paper Props CD 1 can be obtained from the SMA via it's website http://www.stagemanagementassociation.co.uk/ or by ringing 020-7403 7999.