This is a long story... Sorry. However I think reading through the process may be useful and I hope you find it interesting. My son started Kindergarten at a small private K-8 school this year. At the end of August all the incoming families got together for a barbecue. I was talking with the principal and eventually we got around to the question that would complicate my life for the next 11 years (My 3 year old starts preschool there next year). "So... what do you do for a living? Ohh well we do these amazing school musicals... you have to meet Liz the director!" Fast forward to dropping off my son for the first day of school "Hi, I'm Liz we are doing Peter Pan this year and I want the kids to fly." You see where this is going, Right? First words out of my mouth, "I can make that happen but it's going to be expensive... somewhere between $5k and $10k"... She never blinked and we were off on a grand adventure. I
Fortunately because of CB I had a friend who is a rigger. I immediately started e-mailing and texting him questions. Right away I knew that Venue was a huge problem that had to be addressed before flying. They had been performing all their shows in the school cafe-gym-atorium. They were paying nearly $3k just to renting lighting and sound equipment. If you are doing Pan... you can't fly in a cafe-gym-atorium. Well a lot of phone calls and a lot of favors called in and I got us a week at a nearby college theater for a fraction of the cost they had been paying. The schedule would be insane, with other events in the theater nearly every day (including another group doing show at 11am today BEFORE our 2pm matinee :shock
. But we had a 375 seat real theater with real stage lights and sound gear... and I had save a couple thousand bucks off the budget so I had more money to throw at the flight company.
But would the flight company be able to fly pan in the rented space? How would we make it fit the tight rehearsal schedule? Many trials were ahead. So the first questions you get when you call the professional flight company is about your space. And this is where my real headaches began. I had assumed the grid was perfectly stable. However I got up there and discovered it was the most frightening and convoluted thing I've ever seen. There is a plaster ceiling above the stage. Emerging from the plaster are these 3/4" long x 3/16" bolts. Bolted to each bolt (using a standard nut, not a lock nut or lock washer) is a small piece of angle iron with a hole in it. Hanging from this hole is an S-hook... no shackle or quick link.
From the S-hook hangs some chain link that looks like they got it on special at Wall Mart, NOT grade 80 approved for overhead lifting or anything even close. Using the "grid" was not going to be possible. ZFX essentially told me the only way they would touch the job was if they were allowed to punch holes in the plaster and find some real steel to hang their track from. Fortunately Hall Associates didn't give up on me.
Over a period of a couple weeks of pictures, measurements, and phone calls the team at Hall and myself put together a plan. I would install two free standing trusses 16' tall. Then we would connect them together for stability and the guy from Hall could install their system underneath it, completely bypassing the frightening system overhead. But how to make that fit in the theater... you see it has NO wing space. the proscenium opening is 37' wide with a BRICK WALL on each side of the stage. Another couple of weeks passed negotiating with the local rental house, Hall, and examining the space. In the end we found a way for it to work. Renting it would add an extra $1500 or so to the bill. It would also greatly complicate our load in, our installation, and rehearsal.
No wing space created operational issues. You need to have 5 flymen working at the same time for the opening scene. They need to have full view of the person they are flying. So we would have to mask off a good portion of the stage in order to make this work. In the end we gave up and left the curtains back a bit (allowing some seats on the right side of the house to have a view of back stage). We just had to say... it's a school show, not a pro show, let it go.
Finding the right truss to meet our needs in Seattle was complicated. Some companies didn't have enough gear and one wanted us to pay an extra $500 to pay their rigger to come supervise the installation. Fortunately my regular dealer was able to put the order together combined with a sub rental. They also trusted me to supervise the installation. They won't rent truss to just anyone. It's quite dangerous. It's sort of like buying M-80's at an Indian Fireworks stand. You have to pass a little test to prove you are safe before they will let you see the merchandise. Once again this added a great deal of time to the process. I had to find a large enough and strong enough truss that would fit PERFECTLY within the brick walled confines and UNDER the other "grid".
Skipping ahead past details to dangerous to post. Truss installed with an army of parent power at my disposal. Contracts signed, extra insurance policy taken care of, hotel booked, I picked up our flight director at the airport. What a great guy! He's a T.D. from Indianapolis who does this occasionally on the side. Good news, the delivery company got us the gear just in time. Bad news... the airline lost his tool kit. Remember that insane schedule of other events in the space? Well in order for us to not lose a day of rehearsal, we have to get the system wired up between 11:30pm and 8:00am his plane lands at 10:30pm, and he has no tools... "Do you know a 24 hour hardware store with High quality tools?" Fortunately my theater is well equipped and I had all the tools needed at my theater. So we don't start instaling the gear until 1:30am. Long night. The guy began by spending several hours running guy wires all over the place to prevent sway. This was one of those points where you see that it really pays to hire a pro. Many would not have thought of this, then been disappointed when the thing starts rocking and squeaking. In the end we can get all four kids flying around at top speed and not hear a thing.
So there are two systems they usually use. One is a complicated track device which allows the flyer to travel all the way across the stage and to maintain a level height. How it works is a trade secret. They take it very seriously. Given the limited rehearsal time, budget, and limited space on stage we went with a simpler all pulley system approach. They use this AMAZING cable. It has 9 bundles of wire woven together. Each bundle contains 17 strands of steel cable... that's 153 strands of wire all in a 3/16" cable. You can lift an elephant with the stuff. From there the system is quite simple. As he was installing it, it was very tempting to think, why do I need this guy, I know where to buy this stuff myself.
But there was something else you get for your money, experience. The guy knew exactly where to place the pulleys to get just the right swing. Even though you only have a simple line going up and down it's AMAZING the types of tricks you can do. Peter can leap onto furniture, swing long distances, and fly through the air half way across the stage and grabs the bomb out of Hook's hand in the air. As we were trained we began to see the physics. It's really simple. If you pull a pendulum back two feet it will swing two feet past center... then back again. But the knowledge of where and how to do it so that the actors stay safe is what you really pay for. We had one minor crash where Pan crashed into a bed, but beyond that the flights have been injury free. Over time the actors have grown more comfortable and we have grown more skilled at our control.
After three days of rehearsals, our flight director got on a plane and headed back to the other side of the country. Tonight we just completed our 3rd of 4 performances and it was great!
What did I learn:
-Flying is REALLY fun, really cool, and a LOT of work. There is no mechanical advantage involved. You've got to pull down with 100 pounds to lift that 100 pound kid up in the air. This means you get tired. On the flying end, it's quite the ab workout to stay properly positioned while flying. After a long set of rehearsals out Pan was wiped out. Plan for this and build breaks into the rehearsal schedule.
-Even though I now know the "secrets" of primitive flight systems, I would never consider installing it myself. It's much to dangerous. It's so easy to make a mistake and cause someone crash and get injured. So call a flight company. I've got nothing but good things to say about Hall and Associates (flyingfx.com). Our flight director told me so many scary stories about people who thought they could so easily do a flight on their own. You could, but would it be TRULY safe? No.
Total cost: about $7,000 including the truss rental and hotel. If you have a good grid and don't need to rent truss, plus space to use the fancy track device to do the best tricks, you'll end up paying a little less. Profit: We sold out 375 seats for 3 of 4 shows. Not only did we make our money back, we made a profit!
Audiences Love flight. It's amazing how they cheer with Peter and the children all start flying wildly above the stage. Heck we had a necklace break on stage and I got cheered for going on in a scene change and sweeping the stage. That was new.
One thing people take for granted is the harnesses. They think any fall protection harness will do. That is NOT the case. These harnesses are custom made and have a very specific fit to them. You can't sing a song while flying through the air unless the harness has a perfect fit.
Communication is critical. From the early stages of booking the flight effect company, to the training itself, and maintaining safety through the performances, communication is critical. If you don't have a great support staff and good people to work with on your crew, flight is not a good idea.
-Want to learn more about rigging and flight? The owner of Hall (Tracy Nunnally) teaches it. Learn more here.
Fortunately because of CB I had a friend who is a rigger. I immediately started e-mailing and texting him questions. Right away I knew that Venue was a huge problem that had to be addressed before flying. They had been performing all their shows in the school cafe-gym-atorium. They were paying nearly $3k just to renting lighting and sound equipment. If you are doing Pan... you can't fly in a cafe-gym-atorium. Well a lot of phone calls and a lot of favors called in and I got us a week at a nearby college theater for a fraction of the cost they had been paying. The schedule would be insane, with other events in the theater nearly every day (including another group doing show at 11am today BEFORE our 2pm matinee :shock
. But we had a 375 seat real theater with real stage lights and sound gear... and I had save a couple thousand bucks off the budget so I had more money to throw at the flight company. But would the flight company be able to fly pan in the rented space? How would we make it fit the tight rehearsal schedule? Many trials were ahead. So the first questions you get when you call the professional flight company is about your space. And this is where my real headaches began. I had assumed the grid was perfectly stable. However I got up there and discovered it was the most frightening and convoluted thing I've ever seen. There is a plaster ceiling above the stage. Emerging from the plaster are these 3/4" long x 3/16" bolts. Bolted to each bolt (using a standard nut, not a lock nut or lock washer) is a small piece of angle iron with a hole in it. Hanging from this hole is an S-hook... no shackle or quick link.
From the S-hook hangs some chain link that looks like they got it on special at Wall Mart, NOT grade 80 approved for overhead lifting or anything even close. Using the "grid" was not going to be possible. ZFX essentially told me the only way they would touch the job was if they were allowed to punch holes in the plaster and find some real steel to hang their track from. Fortunately Hall Associates didn't give up on me. Over a period of a couple weeks of pictures, measurements, and phone calls the team at Hall and myself put together a plan. I would install two free standing trusses 16' tall. Then we would connect them together for stability and the guy from Hall could install their system underneath it, completely bypassing the frightening system overhead. But how to make that fit in the theater... you see it has NO wing space. the proscenium opening is 37' wide with a BRICK WALL on each side of the stage. Another couple of weeks passed negotiating with the local rental house, Hall, and examining the space. In the end we found a way for it to work. Renting it would add an extra $1500 or so to the bill. It would also greatly complicate our load in, our installation, and rehearsal.
No wing space created operational issues. You need to have 5 flymen working at the same time for the opening scene. They need to have full view of the person they are flying. So we would have to mask off a good portion of the stage in order to make this work. In the end we gave up and left the curtains back a bit (allowing some seats on the right side of the house to have a view of back stage). We just had to say... it's a school show, not a pro show, let it go.
Finding the right truss to meet our needs in Seattle was complicated. Some companies didn't have enough gear and one wanted us to pay an extra $500 to pay their rigger to come supervise the installation. Fortunately my regular dealer was able to put the order together combined with a sub rental. They also trusted me to supervise the installation. They won't rent truss to just anyone. It's quite dangerous. It's sort of like buying M-80's at an Indian Fireworks stand. You have to pass a little test to prove you are safe before they will let you see the merchandise. Once again this added a great deal of time to the process. I had to find a large enough and strong enough truss that would fit PERFECTLY within the brick walled confines and UNDER the other "grid".
Skipping ahead past details to dangerous to post. Truss installed with an army of parent power at my disposal. Contracts signed, extra insurance policy taken care of, hotel booked, I picked up our flight director at the airport. What a great guy! He's a T.D. from Indianapolis who does this occasionally on the side. Good news, the delivery company got us the gear just in time. Bad news... the airline lost his tool kit. Remember that insane schedule of other events in the space? Well in order for us to not lose a day of rehearsal, we have to get the system wired up between 11:30pm and 8:00am his plane lands at 10:30pm, and he has no tools... "Do you know a 24 hour hardware store with High quality tools?" Fortunately my theater is well equipped and I had all the tools needed at my theater. So we don't start instaling the gear until 1:30am. Long night. The guy began by spending several hours running guy wires all over the place to prevent sway. This was one of those points where you see that it really pays to hire a pro. Many would not have thought of this, then been disappointed when the thing starts rocking and squeaking. In the end we can get all four kids flying around at top speed and not hear a thing.
So there are two systems they usually use. One is a complicated track device which allows the flyer to travel all the way across the stage and to maintain a level height. How it works is a trade secret. They take it very seriously. Given the limited rehearsal time, budget, and limited space on stage we went with a simpler all pulley system approach. They use this AMAZING cable. It has 9 bundles of wire woven together. Each bundle contains 17 strands of steel cable... that's 153 strands of wire all in a 3/16" cable. You can lift an elephant with the stuff. From there the system is quite simple. As he was installing it, it was very tempting to think, why do I need this guy, I know where to buy this stuff myself.
But there was something else you get for your money, experience. The guy knew exactly where to place the pulleys to get just the right swing. Even though you only have a simple line going up and down it's AMAZING the types of tricks you can do. Peter can leap onto furniture, swing long distances, and fly through the air half way across the stage and grabs the bomb out of Hook's hand in the air. As we were trained we began to see the physics. It's really simple. If you pull a pendulum back two feet it will swing two feet past center... then back again. But the knowledge of where and how to do it so that the actors stay safe is what you really pay for. We had one minor crash where Pan crashed into a bed, but beyond that the flights have been injury free. Over time the actors have grown more comfortable and we have grown more skilled at our control.
After three days of rehearsals, our flight director got on a plane and headed back to the other side of the country. Tonight we just completed our 3rd of 4 performances and it was great!
What did I learn:
-Flying is REALLY fun, really cool, and a LOT of work. There is no mechanical advantage involved. You've got to pull down with 100 pounds to lift that 100 pound kid up in the air. This means you get tired. On the flying end, it's quite the ab workout to stay properly positioned while flying. After a long set of rehearsals out Pan was wiped out. Plan for this and build breaks into the rehearsal schedule.
-Even though I now know the "secrets" of primitive flight systems, I would never consider installing it myself. It's much to dangerous. It's so easy to make a mistake and cause someone crash and get injured. So call a flight company. I've got nothing but good things to say about Hall and Associates (flyingfx.com). Our flight director told me so many scary stories about people who thought they could so easily do a flight on their own. You could, but would it be TRULY safe? No.
Total cost: about $7,000 including the truss rental and hotel. If you have a good grid and don't need to rent truss, plus space to use the fancy track device to do the best tricks, you'll end up paying a little less. Profit: We sold out 375 seats for 3 of 4 shows. Not only did we make our money back, we made a profit!
Audiences Love flight. It's amazing how they cheer with Peter and the children all start flying wildly above the stage. Heck we had a necklace break on stage and I got cheered for going on in a scene change and sweeping the stage. That was new.
One thing people take for granted is the harnesses. They think any fall protection harness will do. That is NOT the case. These harnesses are custom made and have a very specific fit to them. You can't sing a song while flying through the air unless the harness has a perfect fit.
Communication is critical. From the early stages of booking the flight effect company, to the training itself, and maintaining safety through the performances, communication is critical. If you don't have a great support staff and good people to work with on your crew, flight is not a good idea.
-Want to learn more about rigging and flight? The owner of Hall (Tracy Nunnally) teaches it. Learn more here.
