Tall Moveable Set Pieces

[BSchend]

So I have about 9 months to plan out a set for In The Heights.

Now overall design isn't the hard part. The issue is that the theater space involved has some unique rules. It is a college theater used mostly by community theater groups, but there is a clause in the contract that says a portion of the stage down from one mid curtain must be clear and accessible should a traveling kids show or college function need use of the stage. This means that you can design a set that extends further down stage than this point, BUT you must be able to move portions of it to clear that downstage space.

This is my dilemma. There is zero possibility for designing the entire set to live upstage of that point. In reality (if you think of In the Heights as 4 buildings) the 2 most downstage (SL and SR) buildings would need to move.

These units will be close to 16' tall, need an open side at floor level and the second story be walkable. I'm thinking I'll just have to leave the unit on heavy duty triple swivels and just anchor it to the non-moving set pieces as best as I can during performances. I can add additional jacks when in place, but will really only be able to attach to the stage floor with few screws. Will I be able to keep the "shimmy" reasonable that way? I really don't like it (especially if someone is standing 8ft in the air on it) to even have a little wobble, but I'm not sure I have much of a choice. Any raising or lowering of casters in some way worries me, especially if one doesn't work right.

I guess I can also beg for them not to schedule any other events during our run (which some shows get lucky with), but I'm not counting on that.

 

[kicknargel]

For a repping Avenue Q, I built the set on a series of platforms that I did not put on casters. Then I built 4 steel carts that could slip under the corners of each unit to move it for rep. The casters were outboard on the cart, with just two pieces of flat steel going under the corners of the platform, so you only had to use a pry bar to lift the platform 1/2" to get it on the cart. I'll attach a sketch (the casters aren't on it, but you can see where they go). The benefits are 1) few casters to buy and 2) you don't have to defeat the casters for performance.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Look at orchestra shell towers with doors, etc. Use toggle clamps (look for Carr Lane site) to lift it off casters, hold it in place, and level it; casters (I might do two fixed and two swivel but nothing wrong with triple swivel); and a counter weighted base (steel counterweights or concrete blocks or other). I see band directors set up much taller and heavier shells - maybe up to 8 to 12 24' tall towers - in under an hour, and a lot of that is nesting for storage. You may have to attach it to floor but the weight and sitting on the 3 or 4 "feet" should be enough.

 

[DuckJordan]

Or air Castor's. When filled it lifts the set when empty sets on the ground.

 

[RonHebbard]

Hey Duck? Have you ever actually worked with air casters? They're not the great panacea some folks imagine they are. When you thought your floor was in flawless condition there's nothing like an air caster to reveal the slightest (leaking) flaw. If being employed in a road house, keeping the floor in 'air caster approved' condition creates a serious limitation. You can always keep large sheets of semi-rigid plastic rolled up and standing on end that you lay on the floor next to an air-castered unit prior to moving it and then keep flip-flopping the plastic sheets along to create a path but once you slide over any kind of air releasing divot you've suddenly got an immovable object parked right where you don't want it. Kitchener, Ontario's Centre In The Square has a lot of experience with air casters if anyone's in need of a few years worth of horror stories.
Yeah Duck, please tell us of your years of happy experiences with air casters.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[manuallyfocused]

Could you find a way to anchor your downstage units off of your fixed upstage units at a pivot point plus one or more removable points? Then you're talking fixed casters instead of tri-swivels (way less cost and less wobble) and two units that would just swing upstage and out of the way when necessary. In their "playing positions," you could screw L brackets to the deck to keep the units in place, or perhaps make it part of the design that there is a 2x4 or something similar screwed the whole way around it so it has nowhere to go.

I don't suppose this theater has a grid with an i-beam and a few chain hoists? Because then all you need to do is design your units with lift-able points, hook them up to the chain hoists, lift them on to a bunch of dollies and you're golden. If they don't have one, you should strongly suggest that it would make their lives easier with this requirement. There may also be ways to do this with counterweight battens, but you'd need someone with the knowledge and experience to rig that safely. Good luck!

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Air casters are cool but do have limitations. My main experience was a lot of them on very large moving platforms - like 21' X 30' with 100 theatre seats on them - on a poured basketball court floor. (They later added a portable wood floor - inevitable - so the change over got much longer.) Three people could set up or store 800 seats in an hour.

If you leave the piece on casters, pined, pivoted, or whatever, it is likely to make more noise than if the casters are retracted or piece jacked up. And maybe ordinary casters that can be retracted by a crank or bolt or whatever would be simpler or less expensive than the toggle clamps - I just like the because it's so easy to level - each with there own built in threaded "foot".

It would be great if you could fly them entirely but I don't have the sense there is that much fly loft.

 

[DuckJordan]

Sorry I meant air ride Casters not actual air casters. You know the onse that raise up a couple inches "standard" wheels but built to have air "suspension". Used them a few times in college for a very similar purpose

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Sorry I meant air ride Casters not actual air casters. You know the onse that raise up a couple inches "standard" wheels but built to have air "suspension". Used them a few times in college for a very similar purpose

Sure. Retractable casters. Would be a good solution.

 

[JChenault]

For a completely different approach. You may not get as much shimmy as you think. ( especially if you just use standard swivel casters ). These suckers are likely to be heavy. A big heavy platform unit does not shimmy very much unless you've got a lot of folks or vigorous dancing going on

 

[lwinters630]

So I have about 9 months to plan out a set for In The Heights.

Now overall design isn't the hard part. The issue is that the theater space involved has some unique rules. It is a college theater used mostly by community theater groups, but there is a clause in the contract that says a portion of the stage down from one mid curtain must be clear and accessible should a traveling kids show or college function need use of the stage. This means that you can design a set that extends further down stage than this point, BUT you must be able to move portions of it to clear that downstage space.

This is my dilemma. There is zero possibility for designing the entire set to live upstage of that point. In reality (if you think of In the Heights as 4 buildings) the 2 most downstage (SL and SR) buildings would need to move.

These units will be close to 16' tall, need an open side at floor level and the second story be walkable. I'm thinking I'll just have to leave the unit on heavy duty triple swivels and just anchor it to the non-moving set pieces as best as I can during performances. I can add additional jacks when in place, but will really only be able to attach to the stage floor with few screws. Will I be able to keep the "shimmy" reasonable that way? I really don't like it (especially if someone is standing 8ft in the air on it) to even have a little wobble, but I'm not sure I have much of a choice. Any raising or lowering of casters in some way worries me, especially if one doesn't work right.

I guess I can also beg for them not to schedule any other events during our run (which some shows get lucky with), but I'm not counting on that.

In a production of Les Miserables several years we moved two 16 ft tall building on and off stage. Here is a video.
Along the bottom we sandwiched straight wheels bolted between 2- 2x8's then built the building on top. No turn, straight on and off. There was an open hall on the bottom, a second floor, and a top floor.

 

[BSchend]

In a production of Les Miserables several years we moved two 16 ft tall building on and off stage. Here is a video.
Along the bottom we sandwiched straight wheels bolted between 2- 2x8's then built the building on top. No turn, straight on and off. There was an open hall on the bottom, a second floor, and a top floor.

Unfortunately the locations for these pieces aren't a straight shot. Definitely will need to be turned and positioned.

 

[BSchend]

As for the retractable casters. I've thought abut this, and while I have done pneumatics for braking before (pistons activated into the stage floor to keep the raft in Big River stationary), I'd be terrified that any self built ones would fail, and pre-made ones are unfortunately out of the budget.

Also anything welding is out as well. Wish I could do it, but don't have the skills, budget or construction location to do that stuff.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

As for the retractable casters. I've thought abut this, and while I have done pneumatics for braking before (pistons activated into the stage floor to keep the raft in Big River stationary), I'd be terrified that any self built ones would fail, and pre-made ones are unfortunately out of the budget.

Also anything welding is out as well. Wish I could do it, but don't have the skills, budget or construction location to do that stuff.

Casters on a hinged 2x4 and a wedge makes a retractable caster. KISS