Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Tent Theatre
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Tent Theatre
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Part of the design for this production included an automated wagon that revealed Carole sitting at the piano. The desire was not to have any cords running to the wagon to create the effect. We didn't own any automation gear, and the set budget was maxed out, so finding a cheap solution was paramount.
My solution was to deploy two wheelchair motors controlled by an RC controller (similar to an RC car). The whole system costs under $500.
Below are a few videos of the wagon in motion.