Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1983 - 15

materials in his workshop, without
jrawings, until he gets what he wants.
Tenacity and time are the key elements.
(Most of his creative work is done between midnight and 4 a.m. when the
phone is silent.) Another crucial element is an ability to bring bits and pieces
)1' previous work to bear on the current
project. 'VI hen there are failures, Hug~ins says, you must look at the mess and
;ay, "What weird thing happened here
:hat I might be able to use somewhere
~lse?" This attitude, that "nothing is a
failure, it's a success in another area,"
Huggins attributes to Jim Bakkom's
"garbage to grandeur" techniques.
The success of Huggins' fog systems
lnd cobweb machine attracted the atention of some "names" in the comnercial theatre and a whole new line of
lctivity opened up. John Conklin, de;igning at the Hartford Stage Company,
)orrowed Huggins' prototype fogger
md word got out that Huggins could do
·og. This led to a job doing the fog sysem for Theatre ow's production of
'3rigadooll, which opened at the Sanger
n ew Orleans and eventually made its
,\'ay (via D.C. and Wolf Trap) to ew
fork. The fog system utilized Theatre
\!agic's fog machines, fog juice, and
'stuffer boxes." These boxes contain
)lowers that establish a current of out,ide air. The fog is added to the pre~xisting flow pattern and both are drawn
nto the first chamber in the stuffer
)ox. Here the air and fog are thoroughy mixed, using a system of air baffles.
fhis mixt ure is pulled through the
)lower into the second chamber where
t proceeds to whatever duct system is
Ised to carry the fog to the point of deivery. This point can be some distance
[way, depending on several factors, but
here is a practical limit to the length of
luct\\'ork the fog will tra\'el before di ipating, By adjusting the fog-to-air
atio, the temperature, and the humidiy Huggin could control the den it yoI'
he fog, how and \\'here it layered, and
lo\\'long it lasted, The sy tem for Brig'dooll incorporated several fog mahines that were remotely controlled by
master unit that Huggins de igned and
(uilt.
The success of this project led to
'an m'alanche" of sho\\'s that needed
og, most recently the Broad\\'ay pro,uction of Fire/ox, This, of course, reulted in expansion of the business and
,I' Huggins' reputation, Huggins did
og effects for "more shows than I can

keep track of," and Theatre Magic was
selling foggers as fast as they could build
them. They provided a dozen foggers
for Bran Ferren's highly acclaimed "fog
curtains" in the Broadway production
of Frankenstein. (Huggins is currently
working on a system to create "fog
zones" for use in a west coast pizza
chain.)
The one drawback to all this was
that Richard Huggins was becoming
known as "the fog man," and being
pigeon-holed in one line of activity was
not what he had in mind. Therefore, by
way of branching out, he did some projects involving pyrotechnics. He designed and built an entire set, at OSU,
that was engulfed in flames every night
and did not "give the fire marshall a
hean attack." The system used a series
of conduit pieces that were drilled out
every few inches and that ran along the
structural members of the scenery. Propane gas was delivered to these and the
first section was lit with an electric spark
igniter. (Those who saw Huggins' demonstrations at the 1983 USITT Convention saw a small scale version of this effect.) The flames traveled down the

The Agnes sysrelll, lI'ir hour rhe cOllcealillg IIUII'S habir.

conduit and lit the next section, and 0
on. 0 that the flames spread in a very
realistic manner. Huggin has used imilar techniques in de igning the pyro for
Trulllper ill rhe Lalld and Blue Jacker,
[\\'0 outdoor historical dramas in Ohio.
On the OS set, being indoors presented significant safety problems. Everything \\'as flame-proofed far beyond
the legal ignition and burn-rate requirements. The major safety feature, how-

ever, was a "dead-man" switch that
controlled a solenoid in the gas line.
When de-energized the solenoid would
stop the flow of gas and release massive
qualtities of dry-chemical extinguisher
that was propelled through the same
conduit. The system was its own fire
extinguisher.
Huggins also does flashpots, concussion mortars, fireworks, etc., but declines to market these through Theatre
Magic. He wants to know into whose
hands such effects are going.
One of the first really different projects Huggins did was a show entitled
The First which dealt with the problems
encountered when Jackie Robinson
broke the color line in major-league
baseball. Carrie Robbins designed the
costumes and she had need of an effects
person. She called Bob Scales, who referred her to ick Bryson, who, involved
in other projects, suggested she call Jim
Bakkom. Bakkom agreed to try. He
called Huggins with some questions involving pneumatics and eventually Bakkom suggested that Huggins call Carrie
Robbins and take over the effect.
The effect was for a musical number
called "Bloat" during which a group of
o\'enveight baseball players in spring
training had to shed their winter "spare
tires" during a I :54 minute choreographed calisthenic routine. Huggins
designed air bladders out of government
surplus weather balloons that were inserted into the costumes under a stretch
dance top. Under the baseball uniforms,
when inflated, these bladders appeared
to be an extra twenty pounds or so at
the waistline of each ballplayer. During
the number the air was released through
tubes fitted with Travenol valves (used
for intravenous tubes) that were manually controlled by the actors. Since a
balloon will only deflate itself to the extent that it is OI'er-infiated, the bladders
and \'ah'es had to be indi\'idually designed so that each actor's mo\'ements
\\'ould expel all of the trapped air. Ob\'iously, thi required cooperation and
Huggin credit Carrie Robbins \\'ilh
making hi life easier.
Huggins' work on The Firsr e\'enlUally led to Aglles 0/ God. All he was
[old was that the effect was to get blood
[0 flo\\' from an actress's hands on cue.
The system Huggins designed consisted
of a commercial radio controller, used
\\'ith model airplanes, that signalled a
recei\'er with a chip that he built which
essentially turned the proportional ana-

USITT Willler 1983 Thealre De,ign &

Technolog~

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1983