An artist and woodcarver, he had built props and volunteered at several New York City theaters, including the Apollo Theater, and studied architecture at New York Technical College.
Also nearby is the 300-employee Weta Workshop, which builds props, designs film-related merchandise and fills orders for privately commissioned "toys" for rich collectors — like a full-size working Panzer tank.
John Arendt, who builds props and sets, and Sarah Murphy, a graduate student in art education at New York University, both 23, had seen the show once already and brought along their friend Joseph Cahill, a 21-year-old who had just graduated from Alfred University.
They do everything in-house, they build their props in-house.
There's a big heist at the center of the film, but it's also filled with plenty of magic tricks, and Chu said the team worked with magicians to build the props and train the actors.
Have your uncle or cousin that's a carpenter build some props or sets.
"It's at this old armory and they do everything in house; they build their props in house, so I'm making a documentary about that.
Romaine corrals the musicians, scores the bits with clashes and fanfares, helps write the text and build the props, and even occasionally appears on stilts.
When one of them describes a character, it goes to the workshop, where the actors build a prop — a bus, or a cart, or a bomb.
