Disappearing Dinner

The first scene in Hunger at Lifeline Theatre takes place at a fancy anniversary dinner. It is supposed to appear as if a lavish meal has just been completed. Unfortunately the entire setup needs to disappear in seconds. leaving only the desk beneath it, and only one actor is available to strike it. 

To accomplish this I started by cutting three pieces of lauan to match the size of the table top. I taped the lauan together along the seams creating hinges. Then, from the underside up, I screwed all of the flat dished to the lauan.

 This first picture is of the table as it appears during the scene.

 Then the scene ends, the actor striking the dinner moves all of the tall pieces (wine glasses and bottle, 2 stacked dessert dishes) to the center of the table, leaving only flat pieces on the sides.

 From there, all the actor needs to do is lift up the two large side pieces and everything folds together to be neatly carried offstage.

Only one of the flat dishes ever holds any real food. I chose this small light dish for the "last bite of cake" that is consumed during the scene. So that this dish could be removed and washed by stage management , this plate is attached with Velcro instead of being screwed down.