Stage Rain

[tomed101]

A few years ago when Singing in the Rain came to a large professional theatre nearby they had a rather sophisticated rig. Because the rain had to fall over a very large area of stage and for an extended length of time, a lot of water was required. They had the jets over 5 battens. The water would fall to stage level, drain downstage into a drain, through a filter to remove dirt and dust, into a holding tank, into a heating tank, through a pump, up to grid level, into another tank, then down onto stage again. On the preview night, somehow a pipe was broken by a stagehand and the stage was flooded a bit early.

*stop show, mop the stage and keep going*

In total, about 2000 gallons of water was in the system.

[loki]

Just remember, its not just making it rain, what ever water you put on the stage you have to get off, not to mention any electronics on stage. When we did Singing in the Rain we only used about 30lt and it still took 20+ minutes to get all the water

[thelightingmancan]

I remember Black Forest Productions, we made props as part of a tech class this summer. I know your stage layout, you have a stairway up to your catwalk correct, because you can put the tank up in the loft before the catwalk entrance, and have a four foot head to pump in stead of 20 something. You can fill the tank before the show, and have it ready to go. The loft should hold the weight, but I am not sure, you would need to check with the building engineer. The gutter idea sounds good, and you can dump the water out the garage door BSL easily.

[jwl868]

Originally Posted by Footer4321

City water supply where we were were not enough to get the volume of water we needed when we needed it. We were downtown in a good sized city, constant pressure simply did not exist. Also, keep in mind if you want an entire stage to be covered by rain, its going to take a large volume of water, way more then usually runs to any stage unless you hook up to the fire suppression system (which you should NEVER do).

I hadn't appreciated the coverage needed for your show. And now that I think about it, other than a fire water supply line, there really isn't a good reason to provide a high-volume water supply to a stage area.

Joe

[bobgaggle]

Okay, thanks everyone for the tips, I talked the director down to rain in only one location, (Jekyll will be in a single follow spot, so the rest of the space won't need rain) Is there a way to figure out how much water I'll need? I'll only need 30 seconds or so with a moderate rainfall (not a torrential downpour). This is over a space not more than 4 feet wide.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by bobgaggle

Okay, thanks everyone for the tips, I talked the director down to rain in only one location, (Jekyll will be in a single follow spot, so the rest of the space won't need rain) Is there a way to figure out how much water I'll need? I'll only need 30 seconds or so with a moderate rainfall (not a torrential downpour). This is over a space not more than 4 feet wide.

Well, for that, I would give a garden hose and a few downpour showerheads a try. Come up with rig on the deck, give the PVC thing a try as well. Move it up, if you have the pressure from city water, go for it, if not take a plastic trash can (55 gal) and put a 1" butterfly valve in the base and seal the crap out of it. Take that up to your grid (if you have one!) and get water up there ever night. I know city water pressure will get you that high, it just won't do it that fast.

[Brilliant2007]

Why don't you just use lighting...no clean up, no mess...and cheaper! Look at the GAM Flim/FX unit, or the...they have two different rain loops you can pick! The SX4 can also do rain. A few instruments and you could probably cover the whole stage.

BRANDON

[icewolf08]

While devices like the GAM Scene Machine and the SX4 can produce a good looking effect, there is nothing like the real thing. Plus with a projected effect you have to have something to project onto, and it would look really odd if it was projected on people. Sometimes having the real thing is just better.

[Van]

Originally Posted by Brilliant2007

Why don't you just use lighting...no clean up, no mess...and cheaper! Look at the GAM Flim/FX unit, or the...they have two different rain loops you can pick! The SX4 can also do rain. A few instruments and you could probably cover the whole stage.

BRANDON

That's a good suggestion, however..... We just got done doing House and Garden. I was all set to do the rain thing all over the stage when the director decided to go with the GAM Film/FX unit. I have to say I was extremely disappointed with the outcome. The visual wasn't all that great and the units were quite noisy, though the crinkling of the metal film strips did sound a bit like rain. They might have worked in a larger house, but in our black box, mmmmmmmm not so much

Back to the question at hand, If you are going to use traditional shower heads, they typically have a flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, per head. Almost any valve you get should have a GPM rating on it for EPA standards. I'll check my computer at work in the morning, I had quite a few links to websites dealing with hydro-dynamics stored , when doing research for H&G and MetaMorphoses. < we do too many shows with water here, Hmm maybe it's a North West thing. Rain outside, rain inside>

[theatrebum2010]

Hi, I know this is semi-off topic, but I'm student lighting designer for a high school version of the scottish play, and I'm trying to figure out a way to do a rain effect. I'm pretty sure the real thing is out, and I'm working with limited equipment...I believe all we have are source 4s and parcans, and some of them are pretty ancient at that. It would be lovely if anyone has any ideas they could share...way in over my head here, and help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!