Safely Hung Batten

[midgetgreen11]

I was just wondering what some of you professionals thought of this, whether or not this is logistically safe...


This past summer we were in a hurry because the LD backed out last minute so we had to create a plot, our electrics do not raise or lower, and our teasers [is that the technical term?] were hung so low that we couldn't hit our platforms from the front.

So what we did was, we hooked numerous safety cables TOGETHER and looped them around the original batton for hanging fixtures, and got the same piping and hung it below by the safety cables. We DID, however, safety the fixture yokes to the original battons for extra precaution.

Is this something we should do in the future or is this something we should never do again?

And yes, i spelled safety wrong, don't i look like a fool.

[Grog12]

Originally Posted by midgetgreen11

\
Is this something we should do in the future or is this something we should never do again?

Option B young man...option B.

Not only dangerous but mildly illegal.

[midgetgreen11]

Originally Posted by Grog12

Option B young man...option B.
Not only dangerous but mildly illegal.

haha thanks, its probably not the only illegal thing we've done.

[derekleffew]

Personally, I like all my battens well-hung; that's why I use qualified, professional riggers.

Originally Posted by midgetgreen11

... and our teasers (is that the technical term?) ...

"Teasers" is acceptable, but professionals generally call them "borders." Some insist that only the one farthest downstage is called a "teaser," I think to synonymise (made-up word) with "tormentor." Others insist that the downstage most one is a Valance, and if matching the Main Curtain, a "Grand Valance."

Originally Posted by midgetgreen11

...Is this something we should do in the future or is this something we should never do again?...

NEVER do this again! You took the best steps you could at achieving safety, but there ARE better and safer ways. The Policies of Control Booth forbid us from talking about what those are, other than Hire a Qualified Rigger. You can search for Certified Technicians in your area at the ETCP site.

What you are describing is typically called a "tail-down" by stage electricians, but usually does not apply to an entire stage-width batten. Sounds like a permanent solution should be installed, as doesn't every user of the space have the same problem?

[Grog12]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Personally, I like all my battens well-hung; that's why I use qualified, professional riggers.

This is what we call hellua funny....on so many levels.

[midgetgreen11]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

What you are describing is typically called a "tail-down" by stage electricians, but usually does not apply to an entire stage-width batten. Sounds like a permanent solution should be installed, as doesn't every user of the space have the same problem?

Yes they do, but the school won't provide the funding to fix it. The school provides NO funding for the auditorium.... except for electricity. the booth is an ESL teacher's office and has soundproof glass.

Our solution to the problem for the following show was to completely remove the teaser... sorry, border, behind the second electric, and to once again, use safety cables to raise the batton that the teaser was hung on behind the first electric.

I love well-funded programs... we like to call it "gorilla ghetto theatre."


The funny thing is, its a brand new school [well almost...2001, its the newest in RI] And the auditorium looks absolutely spectacular to anyone who doesn't do tech. when we have our tech table in the back of the house, i hear people walk in and gasp about how nice our space is.

[Grog12]

For some reason I'm intrigued by this......seems to me that a auditorium/theatre built in '01 wouldn't have this kind of problem...unless they bought borders that were too long....Have any pictures? Because the schools website sure doesn't.

[derekleffew]

Here's what I would have done/would do, provided in fact Grog12 is correct in his assumption that the borders are too long.

Go to JoAnn Fabrics (or similar) and buy enough of the largest safety pins they have for every 2' width of the problematic borders. Be sure to get the "rustproof" variety as the flameproofing in many drapery fabrics can cause steel pins to rust prematurely.

Pin up the the bottom of the borders just enough so they allow the lights to hit their targets, but still mask the fixtures from the audience's view. Then "forget" to take them out at the end of the production. If you do a proper job, no one will every know, and every future user of the space will thank you.

[midgetgreen11]

Done it, the director made us take them out because it looked worse than the fixtures themselves. *sigh*

I find it interesting that you actually found my school's website... sketchy... anyways, back on topic, i'll see what i can dig up. [grog]

[midgetgreen11]

Well i can't find any pictures of the teasers, and the amazing part about the new school, was that the athletic facilities were all built first, and we live in a town where athletics is king, or so they say, academics is...

So the theatre got the cutbacks... the auditorium was just poorly engineered all together, the sound proof, non-openable booth window is about two feet wide. There is no fly system. The dimmer rack was bought used, and all of the light fixtures are from the old high school. The lighting console, if you could even call it that was bought used. The sound board is only attachable to the system in the booth which no one uses, because its on the third floor and is really impractical to get to. There are closets center stage on the back, that store tables, flourescent light bulbs, classroom chairs, and two-ply toilet paper which are daily accessed by the custodial staff, whom i love, and i don't mean that sarcastically. The amplifiers and speakers that were installed, are always on max volume when turned on, because the slider is on the board which is inaccessible, and so you can hear a constant buzzing unless you go backstage and turn off the amps. The two speakers in the rear of the house were blown during the first show ever performed in the new high school... the annual variety show. Athletics keeps a portable score-board thing in our wings directly below the wood loft, and outside the prop room/scene shop door, and expect us to take care of it. The wings are full of band and chorus risors, The FOH lights are so close to the apron, that its almost downlight. It was originally supposed to house 1800 seats and have its own load in door/dock... it was placed in the dead-center of the school and seats 746. It was supposed to have a sunk orchestra pit under the stage or whatever.... Directly in front of the stage is a concrete floor. Underneath the balcony are two sets of houselights that are non dimmable because they are flourescent. One set is only accessible from backstage at the dimmer rack [despite being non dimmable]. The others are on a switch located inside the rear house doors. Sorry to bore the crap out of you, just no one at school listens to my anger. and what sucks, is that there's nothing to be done about it. They're not going to redo the entire auditorium. The school is going into a 2 million dollar deficit next year.

<rant over>