Making prop weapons — the iconic lead pipe, dagger, wrench, rope, revolver and candlestick — for the comedic whodunit “Clue” is an art in itself.

These are the six murder weapons made famous first by the Hasbro board game and then by the Paramount movie "Clue," both of which are the basis for the new stage adaptation now playing at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron.

Audience members have a lot of fun racking their brains to figure out which character invited to Boddy Mansion — Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Professor Plum and Miss Scarlet — used which fancy weapon to commit dastardly deeds as the body count piles up in this campy show.

For volunteer properties designer Laura Niehaus at Weathervane Playhouse, making or customizing each murder weapon for the show satisfies both a problem-solving and creative itch.

"What are the iconic things from the board game?" Niehaus asked herself. "It's the people and the weapons. The weapons are basically on display throughout the show. It's what people are familiar with."

She figured that Mr. Boddy — the character who summons six guests by letter to his mansion for dinner and gives each a beautifully wrapped weapon — would never have gotten weapons off the rack.

"As opposed to having just a plain gun or something, why not have something fancy?" Niehaus asked.

She spent a lot of time looking for a period-appropriate, great-looking gun, deciding on a Western-style prop revolver on Amazon.

"I think he would have found the most dramatic, opulent revolver he could," Niehaus said host Mr. Boddy. 

When the designer couldn't find exactly what she wanted for the play's stage weapons, she made them herself.

"Any opportunity to kind of think through a problem that I think I know the solution to, and get a chance to let other people play with it, that's the fun for me," Niehaus said.

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Among her most elaborate creations is an oversized wrench that she carved out of a 2-by-4 and then painted. She first sketched the wrench freehand on the wood and then used a Dremel tool with various bits to carve, smooth and sand the wrench. To give it an aged look, she painted the revolver with metallic bronze and copper paints, finishing it off with a holographic silver nail polish from her own nail polish collection, which makes it glint in the light.

"I wanted it to look old and metal and clunky," she said. 

Niehaus, who has an undergraduate degree in history and a master's degree in sociology, loves researching a show as a designer. For "Clue," she appreciates the role that class, the Red Scare and communism have in this 1954 story.

"The whole time I'm carving the wrench, I'm thinking through the character's story," said Niehaus, who works by day as a housing advocate for Equitas Health. "It actually gives me adrenaline to get through a project."

Each of the velvet boxes carrying the murder weapons was custom-made by Niehaus according to the weapon's size. To top that off, she made a faux leather bag in green and brown to put the fancy boxes in for their big reveal to each guest at the mansion.

The rest of the props that the actors use sit on two tables offstage, each in a specific spot with the shape of the item drawn around it. The actors are responsible for checking that their props are in place for each performance and returning them to their exact spot after the show. 

Niehaus went all out to create two iterations of the lead pipe weapon, which she cut from PVC and glued together. One is the weapon that a suspect holds, while the other comes embedded in a character's "head."

The designer achieved that by cutting a little groove in one pipe, drilling holes into the pipe, sewing loops in between the holes and then sewing the actor's wig through the loops. Finally, Niehaus "bloodied" the wig around the emerging pipe.

Next, the actor who wears the tricked-out wig had to get used to an extra pound or so sitting on one side of his head and practice how to fall onstage without the pipe hitting the ground.

In this wacky mystery, whose stage adaptation had its world premiere in early 2020 at Cleveland Play House, murder after murder occurs. For the rope weapon, Niehaus had to Google how to tie a noose to create noose props — both a small version that fits in a suspect's purse and a larger one seen in a murder. 

Small details make a difference when it comes to props for this whodunit. Niehaus customized identical dagger props that she bought from Amazon by painting them with bronzy paints and adding jewels to the handles. To finish them off, she mixed silver paint with mirror black paint so the daggers' tips have a shine that catch the light and look sharper.

"She's a really good props designer and quite honestly an artist," "Clue" director Fred Gloor said of Niehaus.

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Niehaus, who also plays the small role of the cook in "Clue," ends up getting one of those daggers in the back.

She cut one of the daggers in half to create that effect, with the half-dagger sewed to felt and made to stand up straight with a cone of hot glue at its base. An elastic harness that she created to wear under her cook's dress holds the dagger, which sticks through a 2-inch slit in the shoulder of her dress.

Niehaus knew she'd have a lot of down time with her small role as the cook, so she offered to design props.

"I'm gonna be twiddling my thumbs," she thought. "I get a lot of nervous energy in my hands so I color, I do things if I'm not on stage."

As a cast member, she's glad she's had the chance to see nightly how the actors are using her props and to be able to troubleshoot on the spot if needed.

For more details, Niehaus has created a comical evidence board with a mug shot of each actor in period day wear. Paper props that serve as evidence include love notes that Niehaus kissed herself to leave a lipstick imprint She's also adorned envelopes with imaginary stamps that she created with an upside down Eiffel Tower ink stamp. 

For the big "CONFIDENTIAL" envelope that reveals who murdered whom near the end of the show, Niehaus made a stencil to create the wording, modeling the envelope after her own childhood board game envelope that had a twist-string closure in back.

"It felt like you were opening a present," Niehaus said of the game envelope.

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Niehaus works in conjunction with co-props designer Kelli Perk, who puts the props where they're supposed to be each night. That includes loading the weapons gift boxes into their custom bag for their big reveal onstage. Perk also washes the dinner party dishes and napkins for each show.

As an avid volunteer props designer, Niehaus has learned many tricks of the trade. For example, both Miss Scarlet's cigarette and Professor Plum's pipe blow stage smoke, which must be packed for each performance.

Fancy decanters, bottles and a flask holding "alcohol" at this dinner party actually contain water with some food coloring, which the props designers refresh for each show. Getting the look of these drinks just right is important in a show where poisoning becomes a question, and Mrs. Peacock (Amanda Vigneault) comically spits her drink out toward the audience.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

When: Continuing through May 1, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, no show Easter Sunday, 2:30 p.m. other Sundays.

Onstage: Elizabeth Flood, Greg Pierot, Adam Alderson, Tong Xu, Steve Brown, Patrick Dukeman, Arunie Lopez, Adam Vigneault, Keith Carr, Lindsay Dunphy, Sage Katusin, Jonathan Merechant, Laura Niehaus, Mason Shuman

Offstage: Jonathan Lynn, original screenplay; Sandy Rustin, adaptation; Hunter Foster and Eric Price, additional material; Fred Gloor, director; Kelly Andrews, stage manager; Richard Morris Jr., set designer; Ayron Lord, lighting designer; Jasen Smith, costume designer; Megan Nelson, costume co-designer; Chuck Richie, vocal/dialect coach; Kelli Perk, properties co-designer; Laura Niehaus, properties co-designer; Joshua Larkin, assistant director

Information: weathervaneplayhouse.com, 330-836-2626