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Old Stage Rigging
Removed
August 17, 2008
Sandbags and scenery pipes were hanging on rotting
ropes
One of the most important features of a theater is the area
over the stage, known as the fly loft. In the Hanover
Theater, the proscenium (the decorative arch that frames the
stage) is around 22 feet high, but the actual ceiling above the
stage
 is over 50 high. This extra space is known as the
fly loft and it is the space where we can "hide" all of our
lights, scenery and special effects. The "ceiling" of the
fly loft (known as the grid) is actually an open lattice, which
is strong enough to walk on, supported by I-beams . Under
the grid there are pipes which run the width of the stage.
Each pipe is held up by ropes which run up to pulleys that are
attached to the I-beams on the grid. From the pulleys, the
ropes for each pipe run together to one side of the stage where
they go through another set of pulleys which send the ropes back
down to the stage. At the stage floor, the ropes for each
pipe are tied off to a heavy wooden beam (the "pin rail").
To move a pipe (and the scenery that is attached to it) the
stage cr ew simply pulls on the rope and the pipe is lifted up
into the fly loft and out of sight. When a piece of
scenery is too heavy for the stage crew to easily lift, sandbags
are attached to the ropes to help balance the load. This
type of system is often called a "hemp system" (after the kind
of rope used) and has been in use for at least 150 years.
The Hanover Theater was originally built with 30 sets
of pipes (or linesets), however only 4 complete linesets
remained when we acquired the theater. Over the years, the
other ones were probably removed since they were not needed for
showing movies. The linesets that were left had been
used to hold up the curtains at the front of the stage and the
movie screen. Up until the late 1980's the type of rope
that was used in most systems was made from plant fibers (often
called hemp or manila rope). While the rope is relatively
strong and cheap, it suffers from the weakness that it slowly
decays (rots) over time and eventually will break (often without
warning). While chemical additives can be used to extend
the life of the rope, most experts agree that the lifespan
of this type of rope is around 20 years. Given that the theater sat
unused for 21 years as a warehouse it was safe to say that the
ropes were definitely past their safe useable lifespan and that
they had to be removed from service.
With repairs to the ladder to the grid completed (Backstage
Ladder Repaired) we were able to climb up to grid and answer
one of the big questions - will it hold? The grid in
modern theaters is made from steel, but in 1928 they used wood.
And while it is true that the grid is built and supported in
basically the same way a floor is, there's just something
un-nerving about walking on an 80 year old wooden structure,
over 50 feet above the floor. It turned out that the grid
appears to be in excellent condition (and very dusty) with no
signs of rot or deterioration (although we will always require
workers to wear safety harnesses while on it).
While on the grid we also examined and documented the
existing rigging system. This system (along with the
wooden grid) will be replaced as part of the restoration (Major Stage
Equipment Donation).
It was interesting to learn that while the theater was built
with 30 evenly spaced linesets (one every foot), they had been
rearranged so that there were no linesets over the back half of
the stage (even the pulleys were gone) and some ad ditional
ones had been squeezed in near the front of the stage (probably
for curtains around the movie screen). In preparation for
the removal of the existing linesets, we attached 6 steel cables
to the I-beams which support the grid. These cables would
be used to support and lower the existing linesets as they were
removed.
The actual removal of the existing linesets wasn't very
exciting, just really dirty as each pipe was coated with a thick
layer of dust. Basically, a lineset would be attached to
pulleys on the steel cables that were added to the grid and
lifted up a few feet so that the old ropes were no longer
supporting the pipe. The ropes were then untied and the
pipe was lowered to the stage and disassembled. The old
ropes were removed by pulling on the end that was attached to
the pinrail until they simply fell t o
the stage (and into waiting trash cans). One interesting
find during the process of clearing out the old rigging we found
several small sandbags that had been hanging overhead. These
sandbags had been hastily attached to ropes with twine which by
now had deteriorated. While these sandbags were small,
they definitely would have packed a punch had they fallen. |
