new and need lots of help!
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4842
Printed Date: 11/27/24 at 12:10pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: new and need lots of help!
Posted By: ChanaGoanna
Subject: new and need lots of help!
Date 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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Replies:
Posted By: Spectrum
Date 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.
http://www.ioweb.com/marshalltown/mcca_auditorium.htm - http://www.ioweb.com/marshalltown/mcca_auditorium.htm
Anyway, GOOD LUCK with your endeavor. May you have great shows and full houses! ------------- Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date 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]. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: ChanaGoanna
Date 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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Posted By: JoeMc
Date 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.
 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/470934-REG/Altman_528_6_3FT_3_Circuit_Borderlight_Floor.html - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/470934-REG/Altman_528_6_3FT_3_Circuit_Borderlight_Floor.html
------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: TZine
Date 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? ------------- TheatreZine:Theatre news for busy people. A free triweekly e-mail newsletter with the latest, most important theatre news. Subscribe. Stay in the loop. http://theatrezine. |
Posted By: ChanaGoanna
Date Posted: 10/23/10 at 11:38pm
| 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. |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date 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. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: David McCall
Date 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.
------------- David M |
Posted By: ChanaGoanna
Date 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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Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 11/01/10 at 12:05am
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I am a huge, huge fan of the saying "less is more". Do you really need that much more lighting than the room already has?? It is easy to get sucked into the idea that you need this or that. You need actors, and an audience.
Looking forward to hearing how it turns out!
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Posted By: ChanaGoanna
Date Posted: 11/04/10 at 1:52pm
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Majicwrench, it is possible that you are right. Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting my town's public HS director who's quite renowned. She graciously talked to me about my project and said that they had done something similar using just the lighting overhead in their cafeteria plus one followspot.
So yeah, maybe...but I'm worried that it won't be enough light and that they'll look terribly flat and underlit. Not that that's the end of the world, but as this is going to be THE impression people will first have of my efforts at taking over the theater program, it's important for me to make a good first impression so they'll continue to invest in it. It was a terrible program before, and I need to really wow people, while still making a decent amount of money from this....so I'm trying to find the right balance, and it's a delicate one.
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Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 11/04/10 at 11:45pm
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I normally use a followspot [aka Lime, Drummond light or Dome spot] for musical soloists, opera & dance. Also if warm props are bloked to a spike mark to be picked up in a Profile [hard edge] special spot. Because from experiance with comeatre, the luvvies never seem to hit the same stage mark on cue twice in a row or have a reluctance &/or stage prescence to move into a designated special light.
To attain dimmention/definition, side or back light is needed, to give a subtle light/colour lift to enhance the the mise'enscene. Rather than just rely on front full on blatt lighting as pionted out by Keith.
"not enough light" is the general mantre of dance school teachers & a lot of first time directors. Primarly because they view it from the wings & not from the punters view piont.
If you utalise the followspot the operator needs to practice with thier pick ups, one trick is by chucking a tenis ball on to the stage & the operator learning to follow it. Also to have the ability to tweek the focus to a softer edge or using the Iris &/or cheating in the dowser. Further on spot pick ups it's a good practice to clue in target sights on the lantern, to aviod spilling on the Legs or the proscenium & Tormentors. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |