@Van Your mention and photo of "Humble Boy" caught my attention.
How did you / they handle the bees within the hive? In a local
amateur production, the group elected to locate their set
flat on the finished hardwood floor of their 75' x 75' black box. (They have a collection of four-levelled tiered aluminum risers and upholstered seats with every second seat equipped with arms allowing them to perform fully in the round or in practically any configuration they can dream up) They laid a 24' x 24' square of 1/4" double tempered hardboard
in one corner of their space. I routed a 1/2" wide 3/16" deep
groove from the nearest off-side
edge of the hardboard to beneath their hive. A 4-11/16" square electrical box housed 3 x 1/2 Amp fuses and served to join three 20 Amp 120 Volt dimmed circuits, through the 1/2 Amp fuses and carried the combined
neutral and three individually dimmed live leads out and up into the hive via a single run of
flat, four
conductor, cable similar to the type of cable used to
power TV antenna rotors. The
flat cable rested
flat within the hardboard spaced above the finished hardwood floor by 1/16" and was covered by three layers of 2" white
masking tape which was painted along with their floor. This was in place for at least two weeks prior to opening followed by three weekends of 5 performances per week. The
masking tape was essentially flush and went unnoticed by patrons seated as close as 10'. The tape was also subjected to very little
foot traffic. Within the hive were three strings of small,
clear, wedge-based Christmas tree lights controlled by a
Strand Century MX24 driving 3 x 3.6 Kw 30 Amp dimmers through a slide "hard-patch" outputting 20 Amp breakered circuits via a variety of different chases. Chases could be overlaid upon steady-state low levels and could also have their maximum intensities adjusted by inhibitive sub-masters. Thus the bees could have various levels of frenetic activity and illumination to suite the director's wishes and whims. The three dimmers were chosen from three different phases and all grounds terminated to the 4-11/16" square deep box and its
cover. The four
conductor flat cable was easily capable of handling the
neutral current and the 1/2 Amp fast-blow fuses had no problems with the chasing dimmed 120 Volt
clear wedge-based lamps. There was nothing to be grounded within the hive which was basically constructed of
burlap potato sack material supported over a combination of "
hardware cloth" and
chicken wire mesh. I'm an
IBEW and
IATSE electrician with zero prop pixie experience and skills to fall back on. Don't ever ask me about paint and / or painting. In my opinion, the soft, comfy, end of a brush goes in your
hand, you stir with the wooden part and apply by blowing through the little round hole near the end. I've never gotten a blister handling brushes by their bristles.
Seriously: How did they handle the bees within their hive?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.