Download The Stage and It`s Equipment

The Stage and Its
Equipment
ROP Stagehand Technician
2/5/10
Lesson Objective
 To learn the types of theatre spaces in
use today in order to understand why
and how the functional design of the
environment in which the play is
produced is a major factor in determining
the type, style, and design of technical
elements used in a production.
 Define key terms and identify modern
stage equipment.
Key Terms
 Vocabulary you will use in our
theatres
 Will be in bold and underlined
Theatrical Performing Spaces
 Evolution of spaces since the 1960s
 Influenced by
 Experimental theatre movements
 Economic pressures to make theatres usable
for
 Dance groups
 Symphony concerts
 Car, home, boat shows
Dominant Trends of Modern
Theatrical Spaces
 Reduction of physical and psychological
barriers that separate audience from the
production
 Cats in NY- scenery on orchestra pit,
auditorium walls, actors entering through
auditorium and interacting with audience
 Theatre spaces designed today are
reflections of this trend
Stage-Auditorium Relationship
 3 primary configurations
 Proscenium (aka Picture Frame
Stage)
 The dominant mode of theatrical
presentation for 300 years
 Thrust
 Arena
Proscenium Theatres
Elements of Proscenium
Theatres
 Proscenium Arch
 Average height 18-22
feet
 Average width 36-40
feet
 Ours is 19’h x 44’w
 Stage
 The playing area
behind (upstage of) the
proscenium arch
Elements of Proscenium
Theatres
 Wings
 The spaces on either side of
the stage (hidden by the
arch)
 Primarily used for storage of
scenery, props, and other
equipments used in a
current production
 Apron
 Aka forestage
 Range from 3’ deep to 15’
 Sides extend beyond prosc.
opening 5 to 15’
Elements of Proscenium
Theatres
 Orchestra Pit
 Traditionally between apron and audience
 For pit band or orchestra to play live music
during a performance
 As wide as the proscenium, depth 8’ to 12’
 Adds distance between audience and actors
when not in use- so combined apron and pit
 Removable floor panels or pit filler
 Hydraulic lift with 3 settings: stage height,
auditorium height, and orchestra pit height
Elements of Proscenium
Theatres
 Auditorium (aka House)
 Shape is roughly rectangular with prosc. arch
at narrower end
 Each seat is approx perpendicular to prosc.
arch
 To reduce reflection of sound waves on walls
(creating echoes) no walls are parallel to any
others
 Floor is raked, or inclined, from the stage to
the back of the house
 improves acoustics and view of stage
Proscenium Stage Equipment
 Traps
 Removable sections of
floor that provide
access to the space
below
 Can be filled with stairs,
elevator, slide, or left
open depending on
desired visual and
physical effect
Proscenium Stage Equipment
 Revolve (aka turntable or revolving
stage)
 Can be built into the stage floor or be a
temporary structure on top
 Depending on size, part or all of a set
can fit onto it and rotated to bring other
scenic elements into view
Proscenium Stage Equipment
 Slipstage
 Huge stage wagon large enough to cove the
full width of proscenium arch
 Stored in wings when not in use
 Entire sets can be mounted on slipstage and
rolled into place
 Need enough wing space for slipstage to be
in offstage position
 Also can build smaller, temporary versions to
accommodate productions
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Fly lofts (aka “the flies”)
 The open space above the stage where
the scenery and equipment are flown
 Fly (verb) to raise an object or person above
the stage floor with ropes or cables
 Usually 2.5 times the height of the prosc.
arch to allow scenery to be raised out of
sight
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Grid (aka Gridiron)
 Network of steel I beams supporting
elements of the system used to raise and
lower scenery
 Located just below roof of fly loft
 Provides primary support for the weight of
the scenery and curtains being flown.
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Fly Systems
 Key operating principle- counterbalancing
 In simplest terms- pulley is attached to
grid, rope is fed through and ties to
scenery, stagehand pulls on free end of
rope and raises scenery
 If load is too heavy a sandbag is tied to
free end of rope as counterbalance
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Rope Set
 Same as rope and pulley, but with 3 or more
lines instead of one
 Ropes support a batten or pipe
 Ropes pass over loft blocks which direct
them to the side of the stage house
 a grooved pulley, mounted on top of the grid, used
to change the direction in which a rope or cable
travels
Rope Set Fly System
 Lines pass over head block then down to fly
gallery or stage floor and tied off on pin rail
 Head block- several pulleys in one
 Fly gallery- elevated walkway for pin rail
 Pin rail- horizontal pipe or railed with belaying pins,
individual ropes are tied off on individual pins
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Counterweight System
 Steel cables instead of ropes
 Tied off at top of counterweight arbor or
carriage instead of pin rail
 A metal cradle that holds the counterbalancing
weights
 Balance the weight of the scenery
 When batten is lowered to stage, arbor raises
to level of loading platform
 a walkway, suspended just below the grid, where
counterweights are loaded onto the arbor
Counterweight Fly System
Proscenium Fly Systems
 Motorized flying systems
 Safest
 Lift capacity between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds
 This is what our proscenium theatre has
 Automatic- push a button
 Manual- crank a winch
 Some are computer controlled
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 All drapes are designed to mask the
backstage area from the spectators
 to block the audience’s view
 Grand Drape (aka main curtain, main
drape, or grand drag)
 The curtain that covers the opening of the
proscenium
 Can be flown or traveled
 to move horizontally relative to the stage floor, as
with a drape that opens in the middle and is pulled
to the sides
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 Grand Valance
 A teaser or border made up of the same
material as the grand drape, used in
conjunction with the grand drape it masks
scenery and equipment just upstage of
proscenium arch
 Teaser- a short horizontal drape used for masking
the flies
 Border- Wide, short, framed or unframed cloth
drops suspended over the stage to prevent the
audience from seeing above the stage
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 False Proscenium
 A rigid framework covered with drapery
material that is used to adjust the height and
width of the prosc. arch. Sometimes unframed
drapes are used.
 Hard teaser- the horizontal element
 Tormentors- the vertical flats that form the
side elements
 Flats- a framework made of wood or metal
covered with fabric or thin plywood
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 Show Portal
 False proscenium designed for a specific
production
 Legs
 Narrow, vertical stage drapes used for
masking wings used in conjunction with
horizontal borders
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 Sky drop (aka sky tab)
 A large drop made to be hung flat, without
fullness or pleating, used to simulate the sky
 Traditionally painted blue, now made from
unbleached muslin so lighting designer can
use light to create sky color appropriate to
mood and concept of the production
 Cyclorama (aka “Cyc”)
 A large drop used to surround the stage
 With side tabs or curved ends
Proscenium Stage Drapes
 Scrim
 A drop made from translucent or transparent
material
 Sharkstooth scrim
 An open-weave material used to make
transparent scrims
 Light from front is reflected back to viewerfabric appears opaque
 When objects behind scrim are lit, fabric
becomes transparent
 When the scrim is also lit, objects behind are still
visible, but become hazy and less distinct
Thrust Stage
 Audience on 3 sides
 Dates back to Medieval and Restoration
stages
 Modern movement away from proscenium
which some directors felt was limiting
 Most scenery has to be against or close to
the upstage wall
Thrust Stage Equipment
 Lighting grid
 Network of pipes from which lighting
instruments are hung, usually directly above
the stage
 Can have additional hanging positions
above the house/audience
 A location where lighting instruments are placed
 Dead hang
 To suspend without means of raising or
lowering
Arena Stage
 Audience on 4 sides
 Another step in development of intimate
actor-audience relationship
 Audience is closer to action than in the
other to configurations
 Lighting grid instead of fly loft
 Usually covers auditorium as well as stage
Black Box Theatres
 Created as a reaction against the artistic
confines of more formal types of stage
space
 Flexible Staging
 Can have audience on one, 3, or 4 sides
 Can be changed depending on the design
and concept of the current production
 Lighting Grid
“Found” Theatre Spaces
 Housed in structures that were originally




designed for some other purpose
Frequently converted into black box
theatres
Generally small spaces- intimacy
Lower production costs
Less expensive than building a new
theatre
Stage Directions