Rigging Quandry for Relative Noob

LShealey

Member
I have recently acquired a full time job with a large high school in South Georgia where I am the sole person to do any and everything for the Performing Arts Center. I was hired becuase of my background in theatre management, however I have a basic knowledge of technical theatre both practical and educational.

Here is my rigging issue: The show choir wants to hang signs. Not just any signs, mind you, brand new legal road signs that the choir director managed to "borrow" from the state since she has a friend at the DOT. My quandry is that we can not drill and or damage the signs in any way since they are legal road signs and doing so will result in a felony. I have asked if using an epoxy is okay and was granted permission as long as we remove as much as we can when we are done with them.

Now to be completely honest, I have thought of several ways to "Jerry Rig" them, but as a stage manager my saftey concerns will not allow me to do just anything. Especially since I will have over 300 kids singing on the stage, forcing me to hang the signs above them. What I need are some ideas on how to rig these road signs, from the proverbial stop sign all the way to the yield, without holes. We are willing to buy proper rigging hardware as I currently have none, and I am working with an ETC Prodigy Fixed Speed fly system.

Any help or suggestions are welcome, and trust me I am more than grateful!

Lauraleigh
 
I have recently acquired a full time job with a large high school in South Georgia where I am the sole person to do any and everything for the Performing Arts Center. I was hired becuase of my background in theatre management, however I have a basic knowledge of technical theatre both practical and educational.

Here is my rigging issue: The show choir wants to hang signs. Not just any signs, mind you, brand new legal road signs that the choir director managed to "borrow" from the state since she has a friend at the DOT. My quandry is that we can not drill and or damage the signs in any way since they are legal road signs and doing so will result in a felony. I have asked if using an epoxy is okay and was granted permission as long as we remove as much as we can when we are done with them.

Now to be completely honest, I have thought of several ways to "Jerry Rig" them, but as a stage manager my saftey concerns will not allow me to do just anything. Especially since I will have over 300 kids singing on the stage, forcing me to hang the signs above them. What I need are some ideas on how to rig these road signs, from the proverbial stop sign all the way to the yield, without holes. We are willing to buy proper rigging hardware as I currently have none, and I am working with an ETC Prodigy Fixed Speed fly system.

Any help or suggestions are welcome, and trust me I am more than grateful!

Lauraleigh

You're talking about objects that could easily KILL a person if the rigging should fail. Don't play around with this.

I think you have three options here:

1. Hire a professional rigger to handle this.
2. Persuade the choir director to use prop signs painted on foam core or some other material that would not smash a skull if it fell on someone.
3. Tell the choir director to pound sand.

Please don't fall victim to the "it won't happen here" mentality. You have responsibility for the safety of students and owe it to them to ensure that no unnecessary risks are taken with their safety and that any unavoidable risks are properly managed.
 
Thank you. I was afraid of that, but knew it was inevitable. I have already put a bee in their bonnett by slashing threw their flying people in on swings without proper safety equipment so it's up to me to be the bad (safe) guy. Thankfully, as management I'm used to it :)
 
Thank you. I was afraid of that, but knew it was inevitable. I have already put a bee in their bonnett by slashing threw their flying people in on swings without proper safety equipment so it's up to me to be the bad (safe) guy. Thankfully, as management I'm used to it :)

Good for you for putting the kibosh on an amateur flying rig!

I think most people who ask technical directors to do unsafe things simply don't consider the risks involved - if they stopped to think that an accident with a flying rig could kill someone, they wouldn't dream of it. It's up to us to educate them.
 
No epoxy that will hold them up will come off cleanly later. Most epoxy's actually are stronger then the material they are bonded to.

Getting them into the air is easy... getting points on them to hang from is going to be your major issue. I see no way of doing that without drilling them. I would not rig a 20# sign over kids heads without a mechanical fastener. Something about a 1/16" piece of steel falling on edge from 20' does not sound good...
 
One thing I've seen safely done before is to build a frame around the sign with a plexi front, a solid back, and grooves inside to hold the sign in place and then you can design your rigging points into the frame around it.

We built ours out of C-Channel framing to have a preexisting groove built in for a 3/4" piece of material that needed to hang and then used shouldered eye bolts through the top of the c-channel to get our rigging points.
 
An experienced rigger might be able to build something to put them in that could then be attached to. Would it look as great, no. But could it be done correctly by a qualified and competent person to be safe, yes. Think picture frame with signs in it (NOT actual picture frame, something built specifically for rigging). I can think of several ways I could do this if I were there. None are cheap and none will look as good as getting signs that could be drilled.

Any chance you could get the choir teacher to go ask the friend at DOT for say the old beat up ones they're throwing away so you can drill them?

Lol, simultaneous post.
 
Really? They don't have holes in them? That's surprising. There are "stock" mounting hole patterns for street signs, I find it hard to believe they are drilling their signs on site at installation.
 
I agree that I am surprised that there are no mounting holes. Not sure if this is like a metal STOP sign or a painted sign - like Chicago 100 Miles, which are often on MDO/HDO (plywood). If no holes, then someone with experience and training will need to fashion a cradle of sorts and I suspect that unless you spend a lot of money, some part of the support will show. Some sort of combination of clips and clamps and bars and lines - webbing or chain or wire rope or ? - that is conservatively designed.

This "free" reminds me of someone who got a "free" range - which happened to be 1000 miles away and need rebuilding by a specialist. Not so free.
 
Most street signs I've seen have had stock hole patterns in them already, usually with a vertical pattern. If so, bolting to a T-bar of some sort might be an option, then your problem (other than making the T-bars) is connecting them to the batten. A local production company might have some T-bars they use to hang moving lights off of truss, and cheese-borroughs. Drill the T-bar, bolt on the sign, C-B to the batten, and you'd be about as safe as possible (perhaps wrap a safety cable around the T-bar/batten connection just to be sure). A side benefit would be that they wouldn't be able to spin and foul as they fly.

BTW, when I say 'T-bar', I'm talking about a length of 2" aluminum pipe with a 1' or 2' crossbar welded on one end.

Side thought - road signs are usually treated to be reflective, and/or have a gloss finish. Have you considered how that might react to/with your lighting design?
 
Going back to jwolfkill's post, this is a great opportunity to involve more students- making your own signs on foam or cardboard. One great thing about school productions is that more than just the performers can participate, such as the art department.......
 
I really can't thank all of you enough for your interest and support in the matter. I have found older signs that will be hung on the auditorium walls with proper rigging equipment since I can drill into them in any way. These are the signs that have been damaged and/or used for many years and they don't care to get them back. I still had a lot of reservations with hanging them over the children's heads. I have a professional rigger coming to help me from the local college, and a dear friend of mine with a Santa Fe Opera safety position background. Therefore, I feel safe and taken care of. As for having students make signs, I would love to but with it being so close to graduation and the high school being in the middle of EOCT- standardized testing- until then it seems impossible to have anyone pitch in at the last minute. Now that I have the job, I fully intend on getting all of the arts to collaborate to make beautiful art. At least, in my ideal world :)

As for the holes in the new signs, these signs seem to be made of a light weight metal- I'm not sure what kind, and I don't want to guess, that is layered 2-3 sheets thick and then a highly reflective surface is applied to the front. The metal is only half way punched through with a 1/2" cut hole in the backside. All holes are both about 2" from the top and bottom of each sign directly in the center. My problem was that I was told I could not either create new holes or continue to drill out the existing. Thus, I had no holes.

I'm sorry, I felt as though I needed to clarify.

Again, thank you all so much for your help. You're extremely kind and helpful and I am greatful for all the wonderful feedback and ideas.
 
shealey, where are you located down here in South GA?
 

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