Black box on proscenium stage - concerns?

danTt said:

How do you normally guard your pit when it's not in use?

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DanTt - as with the non-existent fly system, there is no actual pit. The stage is 28" above the house floor and the area demarked on the floor plan that you are likely referring to as the pit (hey, we do too!) contains the first row of seating (removable) along that curved edge. All falls from the stage are limited to that 28".

BillConnerFASTC said:

When you say flats, I still think of conventional canvas and frame. I doubt these would meet the strength requirements - or even come very close - for a guard at pit edge -but hollywood flats might. May depend on connection.

I wondered if there was a chance for "bridge" to audience - for entrance, egress, and access to usual toilet rooms. Maybe from the ends of the calier stage area? Just a thought.

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Bill, sorry I didn't specify hollywood as the plan for all flats mentioned. Audience could enter, egress, and access usual toilet rooms from the ends of the stage that meet row E of the house. Up the stairs they go to row Q, level with the lobby and the restrooms there!

@TimMc, In terms of accessible entrance, seating, and restrooms, those are addressed by stage access via the scene shop, which is at ground level (albeit downhill from) with one of our parking lots. The restrooms typically reserved for actors are accessible.

Bill: When you say "fasten the chairs"... would it be enough to fasten them *to each other*?

Or do they have to be fastened to the deck?

If we ever did this, we'd be doing it with full commercial Wenger platforms, with clamps, toe rails, and clamp-on railings at the back of the top row; that works plenty well enough in our actual blackbox, against the walls, but it also seems fine for the occasional bleachers we build in our rehearsal hall, and I suspect it would be fine on our mainstage, even at the downstage end (we do it upstage pretty regular, too, even with out the rails, but for performers, not audience).

I don't think there is a law - code - that requires they be fastened instead of ganged. Based on litigation I know of, I would be very reticent to not fasten them. If ganged, be sure there is no chance - even in an emergency egress such as a fire or active shooter might incite - that a chair could be displaced and fall. If ganged, can the whole row move? Would clamps at the ends be possible?

We roll the sound shell units down into the house, line them up along the apron to mask off the house . They are free standing and are super easy to move.

BillConnerFASTC said:

I don't think there is a law - code - that requires they be fastened instead of ganged. Based on litigation I know of, I would be very reticent to not fasten them. If ganged, be sure there is no chance - even in an emergency egress such as a fire or active shooter might incite - that a chair could be displaced and fall. If ganged, can the whole row move? Would clamps at the ends be possible?

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We'd have to gin them up ourselves.

The clamp on railings that go around the seating area, though, are *REALLY* rugged; each ways 50-60lbs and has 4 clamps with 1/4-20 captive bolts. That combined with the gangable seats has always proven good enough in our facility.

Jay Ashworth said:

We'd have to gin them up ourselves.

The clamp on railings that go around the seating area, though, are *REALLY* rugged; each ways 50-60lbs and has 4 clamps with 1/4-20 captive bolts. That combined with the gangable seats has always proven good enough in our facility.

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@Jay Ashworth Not being able to see your facility; your 1/4-20 bolts are sounding a little thin if / when leverage and tear-out forces are considered. If for example, your railings are each pre-fabricated units consisting of welded 1.5" schedule 40 aluminum or iron pipe which lower into rigidly welded sleeves and your 1/4-20 bolts are merely preventing them from lifting up 3 or 4 inches and escaping their sleeves I wouldn't envision any / many concerns. On the other hand, if your 1/4-20 bolts are all you have supporting your railing assemblies both vertically and laterally, my concerns would be stripping, pull through and tear out. I've personally witnessed 5/16-18 bolts anchored into 5/16 3 or 4 prong T-nuts where the T-nuts have been torn clear through a single layer of 3/4" normal plywood. Two layers of 3/4" I may be less concerned with pull-through / tear out. Two layers of 19 mm Baltic birch with laminated solid layers rather than intermediary layers of glued sawdust would likely let me sleep soundly. In my mind's eye, it's all about how it's engineered structurally, interlocked / secured and the forces applied; none of which I'm adequately envisioning from your #25 post.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

Damnit, I *still* forgot to get a picture of these railings... and I'm off til after Christmas.