I am looking for a good fake belly for a one act at a local theater, the budget is small and all the participants are volunteers. We are all new to this and I am not sure how to go about finding good props online. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Try The Empathy Belly Pregnancy Simulator
I hope this helps.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SmileSmilesBack

I am looking for a good fake belly for a one act at a local theater, the budget is small and all the participants are volunteers. We are all new to this and I am not sure how to go about finding good props online. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

---

You can make one, that is relatively cheap by taking a piece of green foam, (soft foam) like packing foam, and shaping it. Then simply sew cloth over it. Something like spandex or something smooth like satin seems to work well. Add a piece of elastic with a hook and viola!
I am working on a production of Rabbit Hole, and that is how they are making my pregnancy pad.

I was Annelle (Steel Magnolias) at a community theatre with a similar problem. Annelle is quite pregnant in the last scene...

I used a rounded throw pillow and a tight undershirt... it rounded out the edges of the pillow and made it look quite real. I had people asking me during Meet and Greet how far I was along!

It's all in the walk, too. Anyone can strap on a fake belly, but get someone to teach you to walk the talk! :)

And, Break a leg!!

WOW... how ironic!
I am also playing Annelle in Steel Magnolias at our local theatre!
I am looking for a belly for that!
Thanks for the help!!

Aww... she's a great part.

I think, of all of my acting experience, she was my favorite.

Because she changes... but her character stays the same. She starts as just a spacy wanderer, morphs into a religious zealot, then settles down into a balanced Mom. She's the best. Have fun with the part!

I did the same thing! However, I'm playing little becky two shoes in urinetown :)
its awesome, playing pregnant is fun for some reason, and everyone seems to believe I'm really pregnant. I'm using a small bean bag throw pillow and 4X control top tights. They go up past my chest so I can safety pin the tights to make sure they stay in place.

Ah, the dragging up of old threads... but since it's been brought up and since I've never posted in this particular forum, what the heck... :D

I did Stella in Streetcar. I used a little throw pillow, and we found a way to tie that around me, and we were able to use the ties to pull on the corners to help round it a bit. Then we had a bit of padding that went over that so it wasn't lumpy. And since she goes from 7 months to 9, we had another layer of padding that simply added more to it. It sounds crude but actually worked quite well.

I worked with a friend's sister who'd had two babies on all the walking, sitting, standing, etc. She was a good coach. I found it quite fun actually. (Though I also got quite a few cracks from the other actors, about ending up pregnant every night and such. :))

We had the play judged for a contest thing and I was extremely happy that one comment I got was that I pulled off that pregnancy very realistically.

Nice! I, too, did what you did and asked a friend who has had five kids.

Funny thing was... one of the last nights, this little old lady came up to me, patted my belly, and said, "Oh, dear. When are you due??"

Like the 90% of the show NOT pregnant wasn't a good identifier that I was NOT pregnant... :)

I took it as a compliment. :)

Very old thread which is now archived, and so not generally visible, unless someone happens to visit this forum topic area or who has been already a part of it and is notified because there's activity on it.

Thread is now CLOSED.

Please post any questions or comments by starting a new thread so that anyone on the site will know that there's current activity because of new thread being started.

Thanks!