Just something to keep in mind. They wwill be (or can be) quite heavy. Whatever you use to support it needs to be able to take the weight. We have one (a very bad one) that the pipe is bending and we've had a rope break occasionally. Much of that might be duw to age, still sometihng to keep in mind.

I know ther are roll drops that can be used (in a theater with no fly system) I don't have any deatils on those though

Maybe not quite the advice you were looking for, but just knowing what doesn't work might save you from problems down the road.

Good luck

 

Thanks for all of this advice.  The 16' span is the first hurdle.  I have found electrical conduit that is very stiff ( much more rigid than standard PVC pipe) and much, much lighter than steel rods.  The electric conduit ( used to run wires under concrete slabs) comes in ten foot lengths and joins together quite easily with the old "male"/"female" ends.  If a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 is inserted into the length of pipe I think it would stay stiff enough to not sag during a two-three hour performance.  The back drops that I paint are not heavy canvas but an artists  canvas.  I paint them in three sections of 54" wide by about 108 " tall.  The fabric is quite light...I can hold all three sections easily under one arm.....they can't weigh more than 25-30 lbs. 

So...now I have a 16'  long "rod" with the three drops held to the pipe with battens...if I hold up each end of the rod at the top of a triangle or A-Frame all I have to do is figure out how to turn the rod.

I actually keep thinking of something like a bicycle tire and I can just grab the spokes and spin.....but then I have to remember that the bicycle tire will be 9' 0" (min.) in the air and there is usually no place for a step ladder.  I need to get a pulley system to be worked from floor level.

You see....sometimes this "back-drop" is all we have.....we do open air work in vineyards and parks and the back-drop stands on risers.  I think I can cover the A frames on each side with panels and also brace the A frames across the stage to each other and cover that ( like a soffit).  The "arch" across the top and the panels on each side would cover the ugly workings of the mechanics of the backdrops.

Am I babbling?

I have a pick-up truck that I can transport 16" lengths of anything so that is no problem ( although sometimes the stairs up and into old music halls and theaters can be a challenge.)

I have played with roll-down window blinds but I am wary of them....they also take a larger backstage crew to get them all changed at the same time.  In true Shakespearean fashion we are always playing four different roles, dashing back and forth with props and lights in mad jugglers fashion.  If I can design this wall to be operated by one person our performances will greatly improve ( or at least there will be less mayhem backstage).

What about having the backdrops rolled up on the stage ( behind a toe-kick of some sort) and cranking them up into position instead of lowering them?  Is there an advantage to this?  I am playing with pulleys (being an artist I am mechanically challenged) and can't figure out how to attach the pulley to the rod that holds the drop.  I keep sketching sort of "Fred Flintstone" wooden pulleys wheels that can actually be screwed to the 2 x 4 inside the conduit.  Two circles cut out of plywood with a block between them.  Put sandpaper on the block so the rope doesn't slip....screw the wheel to the 2 x 4...the whole thing turns and now all I have to do is keep it 9' in the air while this happens.

Am I re-inventing something that everyone else already knows how to build?  How do other theater companies do this? 

 

Tumbler drops is an old system of bring in backdrops where the hight is limited.
Originaly they were a roller of up to 2? in diameter, that had wooden battens fixed to round ribs mounted on a head batten/pipe. The head edge of the cloth was tied off  along one of these battens & the tumbler rotated to roll up evenly the cloth onto the roller, until the tail batten reach the base of the tumbler. Thus giving weight to cloth when rolling it up & down & ensuring it had a flat roll.
The roller would be operated by a large diameter pulley fixed to the roller at one end. The each end it had a bearing housing on the batten/pipe, to allow easy rotation & the bearing housings could be fixed to part of the buildings structure.
One end of a rope or sash cord was attached to the valley of the large pulley, when the cloth was rolled up on the tumbler. Then the tail batten holding the cloth was rolled down to it?s bottom dead. Which in turn wrapped & laid the rope/cord into the pulleys valley, leaving enough rope/cord to the stage floor, so as to work the tumbler.
There was various methods used in rolling the  cloth out, from spring tension mechanisms that roll the tumbler & give a smooth out operation to the cloth.
The one I preferred is to put a counter weight on another rope/cord attached to a secondary pulley valley and was wound up in the opposite direction to the hauling line automatically, when the tumbler was rolled & the cloth hauled in.
Therefore when the cloth went out, the hauling line was released through a floor pulley & the counterweight dropped rolling the tumbler out.
This gave a smooth balanced & controlled movement to cloth being hauled or out.
I have seen various materials used for the tumbler roller such as PVC storm water drain pipe & cardboard carpet tubes, utilising small electrical cable drums as the pulleys, which work well for small drops.
There is the old rolling tail batten system as well!
With a fixed cloth to a head batten & a batten housed in the tail batten pocket of the cloth or just attached. A rope is dropped down the front of each side of the cloth & fed under the tail batten & up the back of the cloth to single pulleys on each side of the head batten. From there the lines are fed through to a double pulley at one end of the cloth & brought together down to be operated from the stage.
With the cloth in to it?s bottom dead, the lines are hauled together & the friction of the lines will roll the cloth up around the tail batern untill it is out. The biggest draw back with this method is you will have two lines showing on the front of the cloth when it is in.

      
      
 

If your securing braced ?A? frames! You can fix a cross member toggle rail to the top of each frame, then stretch steel cables {clothes line]  between them. A turnbuckle at each end, would  tighten & place tension on the cable, to either hang back drops or use the cloths as travellers. To cut down on the noise of the traveller, if you use curtain rings as the tabs, reusable plastic electrical cable ties or electrical conduit fittings work well!
In old shakeys age, nearly all the techs were out of work seafarers. This has been the case  as far back as the Roman colosseum era! This accounts for the use of sailors & their ability to quickly draw over a canvas roof on top of their amphitheatres!
Old Bills troupes on tour, using the local village greens or courtyards of the Inns. Would roll up their touring horse drawn wagons, using the flat beds of the wagons as stages. Then erecting masking & scene drops, by using various methods of staves & spars lashed together, anchored by rope guys & stays.
As for the Globe it debatable, beyond them using dead hanging scene drops from the stage structure & the punters imagination?s.
Best of luck!
Joe

I would suggest engineered lumber I-Beams for the frame work.  You can get wonderful lengths, and the weight is really manageable.

Also, you are on the right track with the bicycle wheel idea, but you will need one at the bottom as well.