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.
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.