How to Make a Fabric Play Stage
- 1). Decide which sides of the box will be the front, back, top, bottom and sides of your theater and mark them. The sides need to be fairly stable, so it is better if they are not sides with flaps. Tape any sides that do have flaps.
- 2). Cut off the top of the cardboard box. Then cut a large rectangle out of the front and back of the box, with the rectangle in each side the same size. Make the rectangles as large as possible, but leave several inches of cardboard at the bottom of the box and an inch to either side.
- 3). Push the box top that you cut off into the top of the theater and slide it down to make a floor for the stage. You may need to trim the edges to make this easier. Stop when the box top is even with the bottom of the rectangular holes that you cut in the front and back. This makes a floor that is slightly elevated above the bottom of the box. Tape or glue the box top, now a floor, into place.
- 4). Cut four pieces of fabric. Each piece must be about two-thirds the width of the rectangular holes in the front and back of the box and about 2 inches longer. Hem the edges of each piece, preventing raveling. Some fabrics, such as felt or fleece, don't require hemming because they don't ravel.
- 5). Fold over the top of each fabric rectangle, making a small loop. Sew in place. This allows you to hang the pieces like a curtain. Push a bamboo skewer through this loop on two curtains. Repeat with a second skewer and the other two curtains.
- 6). Push the end of a bamboo skewer into either wall of the stage, with one just behind the front of the stage and one just in front of the back. This makes holes in the cardboard that suspend the skewer over the stage and hangs the curtains. The curtain in the front can be drawn across the skewer to open and close them between acts. The back curtain gives you easy access to the stage, which is useful for changing props or scenery or for putting on a play with puppets.
- 7). Decorate the stage. You can use brown construction paper or contact paper to make the theater seem to be made from wood, or use colored construction paper or paint to add embellishments and decorations, like an old theater. You may want cord or ribbon pieces for tying back the curtains.
Source...