building a false proscenium...

[danl]

our stage currently has a rectangular proscenium and i'm wanting to build an arched false proscenium and box seats on the sides... i've already got the boxes figured out, but i'd like some advice or guidance on building the proscenium... what is the best material??? thanks for any help you can offer...

dan'l

[Footer]

Do you want it to blend into the plaster of the pro (or wood... or whatever your pro is made off) or are you looking for something black just to knock the pro down. Steel flats with duvateen are the defacto standard, but you can go a few different ways. Also, how easily to you want this thing to go away?

[danl]

well, it's just for one show, so it will be hung (?) or built (?) in front of the current proscenium... it will not move in or out...

i was thinking of building platforms, but wasn't sure if it would be best with wood or fabric, and if fabric - which type...

i will be painting it, but with fabric i'm afraid of on-stage light bleed through from the back...

[gafftaper]

Do you have anything up "there" to attach the top of it to?

[Van]

Originally Posted by danl

well, it's just for one show, so it will be hung (?) or built (?) in front of the current proscenium... it will not move in or out...

i was thinking of building platforms, but wasn't sure if it would be best with wood or fabric, and if fabric - which type...

i will be painting it, but with fabric i'm afraid of on-stage light bleed through from the back...

Platforms??? are you building just a false pro or are you adding a thrust too ? It sounds to me as if you are not going to have anything above to rig to so Flats would probably be the way to go.
Kinda need some dimensions, rig point info. You say it's only for one show. do you mean one performance or one run?
The paint treatment that you are doing will greatly impact your choice of fabrics. If your'e doing a Vaudevillian style paint treatment you could get away with covering flats with a heavy Muslin, adequately sized, base painting and back painted, you shouldn't have any light leak issues.
Post a few more particulars and we can zeroin on this issue a little better.

[danl]

i'm not building a thrust... i'm just wanting to put a facing on the current proscenium which is rectangular to create an arched portal... the pro measures 18 H x 40 W... i am able to connect it to the top of the current pro, which is wooden... the sides are concrete block, but possible to connect to... the link below is a rendering of what i'm hoping to do... the problem i want to avoid is light bleed-through on the fabric, showing the skeletons of the plats... i suppose i could use sheet goods to cover it, but i'm concered about weight...

(the run, including tech, will be three weeks)

http://www.revolutionfreedom.com/images/pro.jpg

[soundlight]

I assume that you mean flats and not platforms, because building platforms to do such a thing would be rather impractical.

What about skinning the whole deal with 1/8" MDF material? I've made all sorts of archway members out of that and 1x material, and it works rather well, and is very lightweight compared to other hardcovering materials.

[gafftaper]

Build hard flats covered with Luan. You could just paint them directly. Or you can cover them with muslin and then paint (my preferred method of flat construction at all times by the way). You'll get a much smoother looking surface with a proper muslin and sizing job than if you just paint the wood. And you can reuse them as flats in the future too. I'm assuming you are a school and don't have access to a good welder. The pros would weld up a steel tube frame, bolt it in place, and then screw luan to the frame.

By the way, Luan is thin plywood about 1/8 of an inch thick (it comes in several thicknesses and types of wood). It's only about $11 per 4'X8' sheet. The MDF approach would also work but it would add a lot more weight to the structure which isn't a good idea when working in the air.

[soundlight]

I just usually don't consider anything below 1/4" luan to be usable because of the number of times that I've gotten luan with a bad core from a supplier. Many times it is returned, but sometimes it's already been cut and installed by the time that I notice this. Thus, I always go the MDF route when doing 1/8" material. It's also good to have an acquaintance in a major cabinetry facility that doesn't mind losing 25 sheets of the stuff to our truck every now and then...

[danl]

Originally Posted by soundlight

I assume that you mean flats and not platforms, because building platforms to do such a thing would be rather impractical.

eep... yeah, i meant to type flats and not plats... lol...

i considered luan, but wasn't sure how the price would compare to canvas or muslin... if i could afford to use both as mentioned above, i would - it sounds very nice...

thanks!