Securing live trees on stage

[meghanpotpie]

Hello all,

For a production of Winter's Tale, the designer has called for live trees to be cut down and used on stage. We've procured the 16' tall leaf bare trees but I need to find a way to secure them upright but still be able to move them off the stage during a scene change. I can rig half of them to the grid but the downstage trees must look as organic as possible with no visible gack. Any ideas out there?

 

[MPowers]

Megan,

Bloomington??? Seven Angels???? I did my Grad work at IU ('70) and AFAIK there was no group/theatre Seven Angels back then. Anyway, it can be done but it takes weight and floor space, the amount of each depending on the height/weight of the actual tree(s). Build a steel frame platform with a double deck, one deck under the frame and one on top. Size determined, as I said by the tree height/available weight. Make steel jack braces with a "T" shape plan view and tall enough to support each tree when bolted to the platform frame and the back of the tree. Place stage weights, sand, or other high density weight in the platform on the lower deck, concentrated as far from the tree(s) as possible. Install the top deck, dress as desired.

You can help yourself by strategically cutting up stage and down stage protruding limbs and re-attaching them in a left/right position that, from the front, still "appears" to be in the 3-D position, think "forced Perspective" or "Trompe l'oeil" (fool the eye) in 3-D, to reduce the up/down stage foot print. Without more info on size and weight of trees and budget and time, etc. that's about the best I can do, hope it helps.

 

[shiben]

Hello all,

For a production of Winter's Tale, the designer has called for live trees to be cut down and used on stage. We've procured the 16' tall leaf bare trees but I need to find a way to secure them upright but still be able to move them off the stage during a scene change. I can rig half of them to the grid but the downstage trees must look as organic as possible with no visible gack. Any ideas out there?

I feel like rigging to the grid would be kind of a pain anyhow unless you had tracks for them. If you did, 1/8" GAC could probably be made to work on all trees with minimal visibility. Depending on the size of the theater, GAC can disappear quite effectively. The alternative is heavily weighted carts like MPowers described.

 

[MPowers]

As Shiben said, Tracks are another possibility that probably is not practical in your case due to cost and time. That would be to install Heavy Duty scenery track, with load rated carriers suitable for the the weight of the trees you have. Either ADC 2800 or H&H 400 track with the H&H "Really Useful Carriers #451 or 451A" would be the lightest weight system that would be suitable. 3E Unibeam would be better but at a considerably higher cost. I have installed both systems and they can work well for loads up to 800# (channel track) and 1500# (Unibeam) using the proper number of carriers, spaced correctly for the load and the track supported at appropriate intervals. The forced perspective trick is still a very good idea.