Fruit basket

In The Black Nativity, one of the numbers takes place in a market scene. I have baskets full of fruit, vegetables, bread, fish, and fabric. The baskets need to looks full and plentiful, have loose pieces for the actors to exchange during the scene, but be solid enough that things aren't rolling away during the dance.

 I started by glueing in a base of the least nice fake fruits. these served as a base to anchor the loose pieces.

 I added in grapes to fill the large open section (these can't roll and don't need the same base). 

Then added the loose pieces on top, carefully placed in the gaps I made between the glued pieces. 

Once the actors knew which specific pieces they could grab nightly, the scene worked very efficiently. 

I also took photos of each basket as it should look pre-show every night, which were given to the run crew so that nightly trading of items and moment between baskets didn't compound over multiple performances.