Hi all.
I've been wracking my brain for a couple days about this one. A performance we're doing requires a short film to be played on the large projection screen. After the film, the credits will roll in the top half while the performers will move into position on stage. The curtain closes, the projector douses, and the lighting comes up.
One of the performers has adamantly expressed a concern about being within 5' of the curtain as it closes behind them.
Our curtain can be controlled from immediately offstage, stage right with a bright red Emergency Stop button (however, no overload safety interlocks or anything like that, just a winch system with contacts that open at the fully open and fully closed sides, disconnecting that button, fully open curtain = open button is electrically disconnected.) The emergency stop button is a 30A latch breaker. When the button is pressed, the circuit is broken, when it is manually pulled out, the circuit is restored.
However, the curtain for this show will be controlled from our projection booth which only has Open and Close buttons, no Stop button.
I don't see an issue with the curtain, we've used it thousands of times since it's been installed. I tried a couple simple tests, press the close curtain button and gently tugged on it as it closed. There is some force there but my concern is that the cable holding it in place on the track would break before the winch stopped if a person's dead weight was somehow attached at the moving bottom corner. I have no idea what the curtain weighs but I know that it is supported at multiple points, and I don't know any stress ratings for it. There are no costumes to get caught, no props or scenery in the way, this individual is just genuinely afraid of being near the curtain as it moves.
Since there is no scenery for this part, I've asked about having that performer move to a different part of the stage, but since dance and choreography is a big part of this show they're reluctant to change anything unless absolutely necessary.
Maybe this makes this thread a little more relevant: The performer is a middle school student, and the parents have taken the approach that if it concerns their child, it concerns them. This space is not part of a school or anything though.
I'm about at my wit's end on this one because I'd like to accomodate any concerns and address any potential or even imagined safety concerns...I just can't quite figure out a way to make this work.
I've been wracking my brain for a couple days about this one. A performance we're doing requires a short film to be played on the large projection screen. After the film, the credits will roll in the top half while the performers will move into position on stage. The curtain closes, the projector douses, and the lighting comes up.
One of the performers has adamantly expressed a concern about being within 5' of the curtain as it closes behind them.
Our curtain can be controlled from immediately offstage, stage right with a bright red Emergency Stop button (however, no overload safety interlocks or anything like that, just a winch system with contacts that open at the fully open and fully closed sides, disconnecting that button, fully open curtain = open button is electrically disconnected.) The emergency stop button is a 30A latch breaker. When the button is pressed, the circuit is broken, when it is manually pulled out, the circuit is restored.
However, the curtain for this show will be controlled from our projection booth which only has Open and Close buttons, no Stop button.
I don't see an issue with the curtain, we've used it thousands of times since it's been installed. I tried a couple simple tests, press the close curtain button and gently tugged on it as it closed. There is some force there but my concern is that the cable holding it in place on the track would break before the winch stopped if a person's dead weight was somehow attached at the moving bottom corner. I have no idea what the curtain weighs but I know that it is supported at multiple points, and I don't know any stress ratings for it. There are no costumes to get caught, no props or scenery in the way, this individual is just genuinely afraid of being near the curtain as it moves.
Since there is no scenery for this part, I've asked about having that performer move to a different part of the stage, but since dance and choreography is a big part of this show they're reluctant to change anything unless absolutely necessary.
Maybe this makes this thread a little more relevant: The performer is a middle school student, and the parents have taken the approach that if it concerns their child, it concerns them. This space is not part of a school or anything though.
I'm about at my wit's end on this one because I'd like to accomodate any concerns and address any potential or even imagined safety concerns...I just can't quite figure out a way to make this work.