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 Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Set Design and Construction |
 Topic: new and need lots of help!( Topic Closed) |
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ChanaGoanna
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Joined: 10/05/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
 Topic: new and need lots of help!Posted: 10/18/10 at 2:03pm |
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We've never had a very good theater program at the very small (~200 kids) school where I work, so when the last director left, I
While I have enough acting experience from college and community theater days that I'm fairly comfortable with the artistic aspect, I'm really at sea with the tech stuff. For our first project, we're doing a dinner theater fundraiser in the cafeteria. The play is Death by Dessert by Nathan Hartswick. We have enough platform risers to make a 16x16 stage, which will be a tad tight but sufficient. I also have four large, um, things on casters (can't really call them flats but that's what they're supposed to be) that are about 8' high by 12' wide. I was planning to put two of those to either side of the platform to make a backstage area.
My main questions for now (I'm sure I'll have plenty more in the future) are about sound and lighting. I found a rental company that can furnish both. He suggested putting lights on trees and lighting from the side and from the back. I'm not sure how to light from the side if the movable flats will be blocking most of the sides. There is a door to either side of the stage area, but it's on a very long wall, too long, I think, to use the area behind it as a backstage because the kids would still be in sight as they exit between scenes.
There's also a very long piece of art on the wall behind that we need to at least partially cover up. Because the stage is so small and tight already, I was thinking of using something as a backdrop that we could suspend from the frame supporting the acoustical tile in the cafeteria. It's an extremely simple set, needing only minimal decoration and two signs that are replaced by one sign at the end of the play. (The action takes place in two side-by-side feuding Italian restaurants.)
I would be so grateful for any ideas anyone can provide. I tried to attach a sketch of my proposed setup but the site won't let me post it. :-(
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Spectrum
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Joined: 4/16/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 176 |
Posted: 10/19/10 at 1:39am |
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If I'm understanding your arrangement correctly, you intend to place these 12 foot by 8 foot rolling 'flats' perpendicular to the stage at the down stage right and left corners. Is that right? If so, why not set the walls back about four to six feet and put the light trees IN FRONT of your walls, angled across your stage (and looking OVER the walls where neccessary)? Be aware of audience sight lines! Even then, you really need to get a few lights out in front of your stage, crossing to opposite sides of the stage. Another idea would be to hang the lighting instruments from pipe suspended above the ceiling tile (that will have to be removed for your production - if that's possible). What is the height of your cafeteria ceiling? Getting the lighting as high as practical will help eliminate (or at least minimize) long shadows across your stage. This reminds me of my earliest high school theatre experiences. We produced several shows on a portable stage (in the cafeteria), using rheostats (big, old heavy autotransformers) to control flood lights fashioned from 5 pound coffee cans. It all worked, but it sure kept me busy at a blackout! By the way, that school now has a state of the art 1247 seat theatre.
Anyway, GOOD LUCK with your endeavor. May you have great shows and full houses!
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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832 |
Posted: 10/19/10 at 7:54am |
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Blimey Bill the 'lamp cans'bring back memories!
The only difference being I used large Baby Food tin cans, as we never drank coffee, only tea, in our house back in the 50's.
I could'nt afford Rheostats so had to resort to making up a series of the old 'Water Dimmers' [a.k.a "Piss Pots"].
 Anyhow for your 'cafeatre' besides the 'trees' you could utalise a couple of ground rows [strip lights] as footlights [Floats] {from the Down stage apron 'Z' position}. This would free up your Trees to side cross light from the PS[SL] & OP[SR] & this would reduce the amount of lanterns needed to be dead hung on the 'X' [overhead] Or 'Y' [ front angled] light battens [pipes]. Edited by JoeMc - 11/01/10 at 12:54am |
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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
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ChanaGoanna
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Joined: 10/05/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
Posted: 10/19/10 at 11:50am |
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That's a great idea. I was going to put, on each side, one perpendicular and one parallel to the stage in lieu of legs, which left exactly the right amount of space for the steps. I hadn't decided whether to put the steps upstage or downstage because I haven't figured out yet which would work better for sight lines. But I suppose we could rig up a lightweight curtain instead and put the second flat somewhere else. Hanging lights from the pipes could be doable. Ceiling height is about 12'. It might work. I will have to make all my very best cookie recipes for our maintenance staff and suck up big time. :-) Do you think it will be doable for a 3-day rental? The performance is on Sunday night, and we cannot do anything from Friday night till sundown Saturday night as we are a religious Jewish school. This leaves me very little time for tech rehearsals, which is making me rather nervous. JoeMc's idea of the strip lights might be easier. I think. I don't know!!! Argh. I can see this is going to be a great, ah, learning experience for me.
We actually have a lovely auditorium! I pitched the idea to my boss of splitting the venue and serving dinner beforehand, but he wants it done as dinner theater in one spot, so I'm stuck with making the cafeteria work.
Thank you both so much for your reply and your help!
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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832 |
Posted: 10/20/10 at 3:05am |
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If you hang lantern baterns or drapes from the suspended ceiling, ensure your anchor pionts are at the suspension droppers & not from the ceiling chanel strips.
Also with the lantern trees they need to be anchored as they do have the tendancy to be easly tipped over.
By the way with the groundrow [scoop batern/boarderlights (+Trunions)] strip lights, I don't mean fluro strips, just in case I didn't explain it properly.
 Edited by JoeMc - 11/02/10 at 3:44am |
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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
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TZine
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Joined: 9/17/10 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 11 |
Posted: 10/20/10 at 10:29am |
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Do you have any local community theatres? It would definitely be worth contacting them and seeing if any of the folks there can help. You're doing a wonderful thing, and I'd be willing to bet that there would be people who would want to support you, either with their own time and experience, or by loaning equipment.
What about any local college theatre departments, or other schools? |
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ChanaGoanna
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Joined: 10/05/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
Posted: 10/23/10 at 11:38pm |
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Joe: What do I stabilize the trees with? Sandbags?
T: Thanks! I have a call in to my town's HS theater director and am hoping she'll call me back and give me an hour or so of her time. I hadn't thought of trying other community theaters, but I will; it's a great idea and I thank you for it.
Edited by ChanaGoanna - 10/23/10 at 11:40pm |
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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832 |
Posted: 10/24/10 at 5:12am |
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Heavier types of stage weights, such as Fly cast iron counterweights [biccies], however if you tie the tree or mechanicaly fix it to a stable structure or stage screw it to the floor &/or mount the tree base on a large sheet of ply or whatever.
Edited by JoeMc - 10/24/10 at 10:18am |
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[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
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David McCall
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Joined: 1/28/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 299 |
Posted: 10/24/10 at 12:42pm |
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Just a note on drop ceilings. Joe is right to say that you should try to support your load from the support wires. Even then, you need to spread your load across as many supports as possible. And, if you want to do it right you will get an engineer to take a look at it, especially if there will be people walking or sitting under these loads. That being said, In my work as a lighting director for video, I very often rigged temporary lighting directly to the rails of a drop ceiling using scissor clips, and never had a failure. You normally think of the structure of a drop ceiling as being the rails, but they are only a part of the story. The ceiling panels that go into the ceiling are very important to the structural integrity. They keep everything straight and that prevents twisting of the rail. If a rail twist out of position it will easily bend and fail.
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David M
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ChanaGoanna
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Joined: 10/05/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
Posted: 10/25/10 at 9:54pm |
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Thanks, David, that makes sense.
You guys rock. Thank you SO much for all the help!
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