Return-Path: X-Processed-By: Virex 7 on prxy.net X-Real-To: stagecraftlist [at] theatrical.net X-ListServer: CommuniGate Pro LIST 4.1.8 List-Unsubscribe: List-ID: Message-ID: From: "Stagecraft" Sender: "Stagecraft" To: "Stagecraft" Precedence: list Subject: Stagecraft Digest #73 Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 03:01:05 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Disposition: inline For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see --------------------------------------------------- Stagecraft Digest, Issue #73 1. Re: Interstellar Winch Design by Michael Powers 2. Re: theater, opera, ballet in film by Jason Tollefson 3. Re: theater, opera, ballet in film by Boyd Ostroff 4. Re: CAD help by "Will Leonard" 5. Re: theater, opera, ballet in film by IAEG [at] aol.com 6. Re: theater, opera, ballet in film by Boyd Ostroff 7. Re: CAD help by usctd [at] columbia.sc 8. triplets by "Peter Kiely" 9. Re: Heat Survey by "Will Leonard" 10. Re: triplets (long) by Steve Larson 11. Stacker Lifts by CB 12. Perhaps we can ALL agree to protest this one! by "RICHARD FINKELSTEIN" 13. Re: Awards nominations protest! by Steve Larson 14. Re: Heat survey by Stuart Wheaton 15. Re: beating a dead winch... by Stuart Wheaton 16. Re: Awards nominations protest! by Kevin Lee Allen *** Please update the subject line of your reply to use the subject *** line of the message you are replying to! Please only reply to *** one message subject in each reply. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 09:30:17 -0400 From: Michael Powers Subject: Re: Interstellar Winch Design Cc: mfpowers [at] theater.umass.edu (mfpowers [at] theater.umass.edu) Message-id: <1089984617.40f7d8697eb56 [at] mail-www3.oit.umass.edu> "White, Brian" writes: <> Guess it's time to toss in my 2 cents on this. A rubber coating would be compressed in the same places and manner as a rubber belt. Loren S. actually had the answer, two separate, grooved drums. No need for a coating or belt. The second drum could well be an idler, not even mechanically connected to the drive drum. If mechanical connection is desired or needed, chain and sprocket offer (IMHO) the solution with the longest life and least probability of failure during use. Jerry Durand mentioned an innovative idea of using steel tape instead of cable and winding in a stacking manner, kind of like a tape measure. Otis elevator actually has a passenger elevator using this technology on the market. They tout it as being stronger than cable, no adjustment needed for cable stretch, needing substantially less overhead room in the elevator tower. One advantage of the steel tape is the acceptable minimum diameter drum is quite small in comparison to the minimum diameter drum or pulley needed for aircraft cable. It is my understanding that the speed is monitored and computer controlled by the fpm of the steel tape rather than the rotational speed of the drum, so stacking and the apparent changing diameter of the drum is not an issue. Maybe it is time for us to give up on our sailing ship heritage and stop thinking of only round twisted things for lifting scenery and lights, hmmmmm??? Which brings us back to the original reason for this thread. Originally, the vertically stacked,two drum idea was to reduce the drum diameter so that motorized line sets could be placed on closer centers. The drums on the Vortek system, for example, are pushing the minimum recommended diameter for 1/4" cable, so there is not much space to be gained by the double drum idea. However there are other ways to accomplish the goal with existing systems. The easiest is to simply alternate the motor/drum location. For example, odd number linesets have the motors mounted S.R. and the even number line sets S.L. This would allow linesets on centers equal to slightly more than 1/2 the largest part of the winch mechanism. Another way is to stagger the motors on the same side of the stage, say #'s 1, 4, 7 etc. right at the first lift line position, 2, 5, 8, at, say, 10' further off and finally 3's 3, 6, 9 etc at the side wall. This would get you line set spacing of a little over 1/3 the motor housing measurement. Combine the two stager schemes and on could approach 1/6 the motor housing spacing, which is probably far more linesets than any of us can afford. Michael Michael Powers, Technical Director UMass Theatre Department 112 FAC West 151 Presidents Drive, Ofc.2 Amherst, Ma. 01003-9331 413-545-6821 voice 413-577-0025 fax mfpowers [at] theater.umass.edu ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20040716140156.7506.qmail [at] web50310.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 07:01:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Jason Tollefson Subject: Re: theater, opera, ballet in film In-Reply-To: Maybe these have been mentioned already but two that come to mind are: "Shakespeare in Love" with multiple scenes in the Globe Theater and "Rosencranz & Guildenstern Are Dead" with it's scene of the traveling minstrels. Jason Tollefson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 10:36:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Boyd Ostroff Subject: Re: theater, opera, ballet in film In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Thu, 15 Jul 2004, Margaret Petrey wrote: > the clown's famous aria - name of which escapes me right now. That would be "I Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo... Boyd Ostroff ooo Opera Company of Philadelphia Director of Design & Technology ooooooo 1420 Locust St, Suite 210 ostroff [at] operaphilly.com ooooooo Philadelphia, PA 19102 http://tech.operaphilly.com ooo (215) 893-3600 x225 ------------------------------ From: "Will Leonard" Subject: Re: CAD help Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 10:41:09 -0400 Message-ID: <000a01c46b42$ef1ff8c0$e6d50298 [at] asntdomain1.cas.unc.edu> In-Reply-To: I worked for a guy who used color to denote 1x, 2x..., steel, etc. He maintained a color key in the corner of his draftings for reference (like a lighting key). After a couple of weeks, it was easy to quickly pick out what was what. However, if you use blueprints on your shop floor (like we do here), this defeats the helpfulness of color codes. That's my 2 cents worth, - Will Leonard DDA Facility Manager PlayMakers Repertory Company Center for Dramatic Art UNC - Chapel Hill O: 919-843-9817 C: 919-423-9612 Sometimes you just have to ask yourself: WWJCD? (What would Johnny Cash do?) My website: http://WillTheTD.tripod.com ------------------------------ From: IAEG [at] aol.com Message-ID: <198.2bcdaff0.2e294801 [at] aol.com> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:02:25 EDT Subject: Re: theater, opera, ballet in film In a message dated 7/16/04 7:38:01 AM, ostroff [at] operaphilly.com writes: << That would be "I Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo... Boyd Ostroff ooo Opera Company of Philadelphia >> actually, , the Opera is Pagliacci, , the aria in question I believe is "Vesti la giubba" very best, Keith Arsenault IAEG - International Arts & Entertainment Group Tampa, Florida ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:16:04 -0400 (EDT) From: Boyd Ostroff Subject: Re: theater, opera, ballet in film In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 IAEG [at] aol.com wrote: > actually, , the Opera is Pagliacci, , the aria in question I believe is > "Vesti la giubba" True. I thought they were looking for the name of the opera.... Boyd Ostroff ooo Opera Company of Philadelphia Director of Design & Technology ooooooo 1420 Locust St, Suite 210 ostroff [at] operaphilly.com ooooooo Philadelphia, PA 19102 http://tech.operaphilly.com ooo (215) 893-3600 x225 ------------------------------ Message-ID: <3295.129.252.241.105.1089994503.squirrel [at] webmail.columbia.sc> In-Reply-To: References: Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 12:15:03 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: CAD help From: usctd [at] columbia.sc I've never heard of doing it this way before. Were the drawings to scale, or did he just have his color key, general dimensions and then you did the math? -- Eric Rouse TD-University of SC, Columbia Freelance Foyboy > For info, archives & UNSUBSCRIBE, see > --------------------------------------------------- > > I worked for a guy who used color to denote 1x, 2x..., steel, etc. He > maintained a color key in the corner of his draftings for reference > (like a lighting key). After a couple of weeks, it was easy to quickly > pick out what was what. > > However, if you use blueprints on your shop floor (like we do here), > this defeats the helpfulness of color codes. > > That's my 2 cents worth, > - Will Leonard > DDA Facility Manager > PlayMakers Repertory Company > Center for Dramatic Art > UNC - Chapel Hill > O: 919-843-9817 > C: 919-423-9612 > > Sometimes you just have to ask yourself: WWJCD? > (What would Johnny Cash do?) > > My website: http://WillTheTD.tripod.com > > > ------------------------------ From: "Peter Kiely" Subject: triplets Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 17:08:50 +0200 Message-ID: <000901c46b46$cdc9be50$6649ef9b [at] Peter1> In-Reply-To: Does anyone know how the "triplets" number in the old film Bandwagon was done. I am putting on a local production and we are unsure whether trick photography was used. Best Regards, Peter Kiely Peter.Kiely [at] telkomsa.net ------------------------------ From: "Will Leonard" Subject: Re: Heat Survey Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 12:24:26 -0400 Message-ID: <001501c46b51$5d149710$e6d50298 [at] asntdomain1.cas.unc.edu> In-Reply-To: Our Shop is not "technically" open during the summer, we try to send everyone away to summer stock. However, I am here this summer doing Facilities Improvement so I think I can answer these questions. First off, here at Chapel Hill it get hot from May - Sept. with decent humidity (not as bad as when I was working in Atlanta in an non-AC shop). >Do any of you have AC or swamp coolers? Technically, we have AC, which keeps the shop "cool" until you start to work & then it get hot. The stage has AC as well & is kept very cool, which can be nice. We have two loading doors, which we can open, this helps, but they are on the same wall on opposite ends of the shop, so it doesn't create a strong cross wind. >Do you mainly do metal work, wood, or both? We do BOTH metal & wood. The small loading door in the metal area is to remain open anytime we are welding, cutting, etc. This does help with fumes. >Do you have a dust collection system? Yes, we have a dust collection system which is connected to all the stationary tools (table saw, radial arm saw, miter saw, production sander, lathe, etc). It also returns air into the metal area which helps evacuate fumes when we're doing a lot of welding, painting, etc. The only "problem" with the dust collector is the noise is creates when it runs. It can make communicating in the shop difficult (which can cut the distracting conversations among the undergrads at times). Hope that helps, - Will Leonard Assistant Technical Director Facility Manager PlayMakers Repertory Company Center for Dramatic Art UNC - Chapel Hill O: 919-843-9817 C: 919-423-9612 Sometimes you just have to ask yourself: WWJCD? (What would Johnny Cash do?) My website: http://WillTheTD.tripod.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 13:17:14 -0400 Subject: Re: triplets (long) From: Steve Larson Message-ID: In-Reply-To: I believe what you see is real. It's been a while since I saw it. For those who want more info about the film and the song, have at this.....sorry. The Band Wagon (1953) =AD Comden and Green wrote this brilliant backstage story of a stage musical=B9s struggling on its way to Broadway. Vincente Minnelli directed and Michael Kidd provided the witty choreography. Using songs from several Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz stage scores (plus the newly composed "That=B9s Entertainment"), it featured Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant and British stage star Jack Buchannan. Astaire and Charisse shared a stunning pas de deux in "Dancing I= n The Dark," Fabray, Astaire and Buchannan were riotous as "Triplets," and th= e seemingly effortless Astaire-Buchannan duet "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan" is one of the most underrated moments in MGM's vaults. TRIPLETS The "Triplets" are Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan and Fred Astaire. Three little unexpected children Simultaneously, the doctor brought us And you can see that we'll be Three forever and a-e-i-o- You wouldn't know how agonizing Being triple can be Each one is individually the victim Of the clinical day e-i-o- Every summer we go away to Boden, Boden, Boden Every winter we come back home to Walla, Walla, Walla We do everything alike We look alike We dress alike, we walk alike We talk alike=20 And what is more We hate each other very much We hate our folks We're sick of jokes on what an art it is To tell us apart! Fred : If one of us gets the measles Jack : Another one gets the measles All : Then all of us gets the measles And mumps and 'flu. How I wish I had a gun A widdle gun It would be fun to shoot the other two And be only one. Fred : Mrs Whipple Poofer loves to talk to Mrs Hildendorfer of the fatal natal day She had her silly Willy Nanette : Mrs Hudson-Cooper loves to talk to Mrs Golden-Wasser Of her major operations When she had her twins. Jack : But when Mother comes along She silences the others She accomplished something That is very rare in mothers. All : MGM has got a Leo But Mama has got a trio She is proud but says three is a crowd Oh, we do everything alike We look alike We dress alike, we walk alike We talk alike And what is more We hate each other very much We hate our folks We're sick of jokes on what an ... apart. We eat the same kind of vittles We drink the same kind of bottles We sit in the same kind of high-chair High-chair, high-chair! How I wish I had a gun...be only one. ------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20040716112113.01824cd0 [at] pop.west.cox.net> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:21:13 From: CB Subject: Stacker Lifts >If a pallet jack and a forklift had a baby Oh, that's a visual that's going to leave a mark. Must drink heavily to keep the clowns away and sleep tonite... Chris "Chris" Babbie Location Sound MON AZ Delete key training and post trimming done by appointment. Rates negotiable, will trade for typing lessons/ADD treatment... ------------------------------ From: "RICHARD FINKELSTEIN" Subject: Perhaps we can ALL agree to protest this one! Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 17:24:29 -0400 Message-ID: There are so many polarizing issues on this list, here's one that perhaps, or at least SHOULD get unanimous consensus on THIS list and perhaps this note can be a call for action....finally! I have been upset for years now that in coverage of the theatrical awards from the Toniees to The Emmies and Academy Awards, newspapers often leave out the names of who has actually won the award! I couldn't understand this. But now I have discovered by accident at least one sourse of the problem and I'd like to invite users to protest. When I learned that the Emmie Awards recently were announced I ended up on the UPI news service feed page at http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040715-064510-6225r It looked great at first, VERY thorough....that is until I got down to the technical/ design area. According to them the nominees in "Art Direction" this year include Horratio Hornblower, Pancha Villa, and some kind of angel that came to the US!!!! Once when I complained about such stupidity (Like saying that Mozart was the best film designer in the 1980s, a newspaper replied to me that "no one cares about these names". But if this were true, why does the newspaper list these categories at all? They obviously feel the news is important enough to cover, just not the person who MADE the news. Rather I feel that they cover what is important to THEM. For instance, and feel free to point it out to UPI and others, whenever there is an announcement of Pulitzer Prize information, ALL names are listed even if in a category like: "best dog catcher story". So feel free to write the UPI to complain. At the very least they may come to believe that the public is interested in awards other then newspaper awards! Richard Finkelstein ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 17:55:04 -0400 Subject: Re: Awards nominations protest! From: Steve Larson Message-ID: In-Reply-To: Right on! They heard from me. If you list an average actress like Jennifer Anniston, you need to list everyone that makes people think she's great and deserving. Of course, we really know why she's nominated. Let's go folks, send off the emails of protest. Steve on 7/16/04 5:24 PM, RICHARD FINKELSTEIN at rfinkels [at] msn.com wrote: > > So feel free to write the UPI to complain. At the very least they may come > to believe that the public is interested in awards other then newspaper > awards! > > Richard Finkelstein > > ------------------------------ Message-ID: <40F860D5.1000101 [at] fuse.net> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 19:12:21 -0400 From: Stuart Wheaton Subject: Re: Heat survey References: In-Reply-To: usctd [at] columbia.sc wrote: > Hi all, > > I would like to take a survey of how many of you have scene shops that > have no AC, exhaust fans, etc. Of these shops, how many are open in the > summer months? As long as the mortgage is due in the summer, I work in the summer! We are a full professional shop, worse than just being open in the summer, we tend to run more OT in summer. > How hot and humid does it get in the shop during the peak > of summer heat? Cincinnati, Ohio gets hot! 80-95 highs, nasty humidity and smog when the Ohio River Valley traps air around us. > > Do any of you have AC or swamp coolers? That stuff costs money and doesn't build scenery, my boss wouldn't hire one. If paint didn't freeze we might not get much heat! > > Do you mainly do metal work, wood, or both? If you can build scenery out of it, we use it. I weld much of the day, most days. > > Do you have a dust collection system? > The table saw has one, the power miter has a short hose to lead the Aluminum chips into the trash can, the cold saw doesn't make dust. > This has been an issue for me here. We have exhaust fans which do a very > nice job of bringing in more hot air. We can open a garage door on the east and west walls, and have an outward pushing exhaust fan on the east wall up high. Small box fans, air movers, and such, complement the natural airflow. Paint shop has 3 huge roll up doors on east and west walls. We have a water cooler and go through about 60 Gals of water cooler a week. > I would like to outfit the shop > with some form of air cooling as it is quite unbearable during the months > of june-september. As I formulate an argument with the University and the > Department over the next couple years, I would like to have some stats of > what is happening accross the country. I will predict that the shops that have to pay for AC out of profits won't have it, academia will tend to, and the rest will land in and around. Stuart ------------------------------ Message-ID: <40F86330.6080003 [at] fuse.net> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 19:22:24 -0400 From: Stuart Wheaton Subject: Re: beating a dead winch... References: In-Reply-To: Jerry Durand wrote: > One last (I hope) thought popped into my head on the narrow winch idea. > Use a stack-up pulley with a steel tape instead of the Kevlar tape (like > a big tape measure). Rolls up on a very narrow drum, the diameter of > the roll doesn't change a lot from empty to full (if you start with a > decent hub diameter), the tape doesn't burn or melt easily (might be > somewhat more sensitive to fire than a cable due to its thinness), is > cheap, doesn't stretch, is reasonably safe (round sharp edges), and can > have long flex life. You would have to worry about single point of > failure with a tape, I guess you could use two tapes side by side on a > double roller, it still wouldn't have to be very wide. I've seen this done for austrian curtains (rigged by Gerriets?) on the RCCL Radiance class ships. A very slick system for austrians, saves muling and clews, and the load is spread over the whole curtain if one steel tape fails. Stuart ------------------------------ In-Reply-To: References: Message-Id: <9531144A-D7A3-11D8-8A3C-003065D2C502 [at] klad.com> From: Kevin Lee Allen Subject: Re: Awards nominations protest! Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 23:44:19 -0400 and that is? On Jul 16, 2004, at 5:55 PM, Steve Larson wrote: > Of course, we really know why she's > nominated. ----- Kevin Lee Allen Production Designer http://www.klad.com 973.744.6352.voice 201.280.3841.cell klad [at] klad.com =F0 ------------------------------ End of Stagecraft Digest #73 ****************************