A general cry for help.   I looks like my director" has chosen "Singing In the Rain" for our high schools next musical in Nov. 2008.    The rain sequence is going to be tough.   Any experience out there would be very welcome.   By the way, the Director is my wife......which makes things even more delicate in the way I need to build and set up the stage settings.

     I have mainly questions on reclaiming the water used and how to make the stage watrer proof.   I am particularly interested in safety if the flooring becomes wet and slippery.   We do not have a "black or Marley" foor and will have to create the drain slope out of plywood and some type of non-slip paint.    Again any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance ,

Charlie

    Thanks for the quick response.   Your suggestion was also my first thought....my wife on the other hand, the director, doesn't want to concern herself with the how to she just wants the actor to have water bouncing off his umbella and go splashing merrily through the puddles...as she says she doesn't want to hear how it is difficult just "do it".

    So as any well behaved volunteer set builder does, I keep my mouth shut and give it a try.

     I still feel that the "wall" of water up and down stage with a trough made to look like a street gutter with a "sewer grate" along ythe back riser would do the trick and if I make the "gutter" wide enough he could splash to his hearts content by stepping off the "sidewalk" and splashing in the "gutter".  I am still concerned about safety, the stage could get very slippery.

    Have you ever done something like this with bleeder pipes?  How would you get the "rain" to start to  fall all across the stage  at the same time?

Any ideas?

     Thank you again for the quick response.

Charlie

 

Linda

    I think that I already have downloaded that info.......12 pages of calculations and physics......ouch....stayed away form that as much as I could but it looks like I will have to bite the bullet and actually do some math.

     I am thinking of a "curtain" of rain downstage and then another curtain in the middle so that it will splah off the umbella, could be a graduated platform to channel all the water to a central "gutter" on the street scene....but I am stuck on how to bring the scene onstage or shold it be a false floor on stage at all times?    I don't think this will work as some of the scenes will require a flat stage.

     I feel that we can fly most of the backgrounds.....we have a very large stage with tremendous fly space but our wings are quite restricted.

     I am mainly concerned with how to bring the street scene onstage and connect it...say two pieces.....with a waterproof connection during a blackout....logistically an nightmare...the pump hoses could be already hooked up and back up pumps already online so that if one set goes down we could still have some rain though not as much as desired.

    But the scene change is my nightmare....how to get the street scene on quickly and still make it watertight and all the connections right,

   Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Charlie

    Will let you know if my ideas and end results are worth it.....might let you know all of my mistakes also....could help you just learning what did't work for us.

    The show isn't until Nov. 2008 but I am already having dreams about the rain scene.....not good.

Charlie

   Could be a lifesaver, as your friend how he/she managed to get the street scene onstage, watertight and quickly, and quietly also, I hate hearing the directors yelling in my earpiece about all the noise and "....why is it taking so long???"

    I feel that the recycling of the water is pretty straight forward. sloping the street scene to channel the water and re-circulating pumps for the rain but I am concerned about the "floor" being slippery and water tight.

     I would  be greatly interested in whatever your friend would be willing to share.

Charlie

     

 

  Thanks for the suggestions, the idea of backlighting the water is very helpful.   We are going to build a raked stage ,32X12, to facilitate the water removal,.....at least we hope it will facilitate it.  Let you all know how it ends up.   Show is scheduled for Nov. '08.  Laying the first board for the set next Sat.  7/26/08....obviously building the raked stage first....will then try it and attempt to correct all the errors that I know will show up.

Charlie

 

   I had thought of something like that but it is nice to know that it may work.  A lot of trial and error is going into this set i'm afraid.  Would you happen to have an idea on the correct or least amount of slope we could use and still effectively channel the water to the collection point.....my thought was about 1 inch per 5-6 feet?  Thank you for any help you can give.

Have a great day,

Charlie

   Yes....a raked stage .....should be "fun".  Also needs to be on wheels...should be a great adventure.   Size is expected to be 28 X 12 and a back end height of 16  in. to a ffront end height of 12 in. with a catch trough in the center of about 10 in......I hope.  Lewt you all know how it is progressing.   Might post some pics of the work in progress just so you could enjoy it as much as I probably will.  If I can pull this off then I think I will tell my wife, The director, that I am going to retire.

    Have a great day,

Charlie

    Just wanted you to know that we just completed our run of "Singing in the Rain",  The show was great and the Rain was successful.  Thank you for the tips which helped immensely.

    I set up a closed system, longest I ran the water system was one hour, approx. 1000-1200 gallons, for settings and lighting etc.  lost about 3 ounces on the stage, a small drip I was never able to solve, am breaking set this week and can't wait to see where the darn drip came from.

   Again, thank you  for the help,

Charlie 

   The raked stage worked great,  was a pain to build, lived for days with a four foot level and coffee.   Landed a curtain of water just up on the "sidewalk" edge above the "streeet guttter" .  Great visual effect of the splash and made a portion of the sidewalk with a 1/4 inch lower height to allow for pooling of water to splash in.   The raked stage collected all of the water and we used 2" pvc pipe to send it back to a collection area where a sump pump sent it back to my main, sanitized, supply tank, 300 gallons, where the transfer pump sent it heavenward again,   Closed system, ran it one time for about an hour.  kind of nice to sit on a chair and watch it, knowing you built it.  Just wish I could have had a brandy instead of coffee.  Ah well, when doing school plays one must make do.

Charlie 

   Your suggestion of coating the raked stage with sand was really good.  Put the second coat of paint on and spread sand over it, then let it dry and coated it with another layer of paint.  Worked great.  The whole system worked really well.   threw about 500 -600 gallons of water at it each show and lost about 2 ounces each time....in the same two spots, slow drips, could see them with a flash light and lying on my stomach but couldn't get at them.   Oh well, acouple of ounces out of a few hundred gallons I could live with.

   Thank you for the tip.

Charlie

 

P.S. looking like we will be doing either " 42nd Street" or "Crazy for You" next year, any suggestions? 

   Your right, though it was hard to see it all taken apart after the show.  I did preserve the street scene background....it is now flying high, can always use another street scene, counterweighted at 1000 lbs. with 6 2000 lb. cables to be extra sure it stays aloft.

    Sitting and admiring it was a highlight, but watching the kids faces as they performed with it was, I think, the best....makes it all worth while.

Charlie