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$100,000
Stage Equipment Donation
April 12, 2008
Quick action saved a stage rigging and electrical
system from being scrapped.
In the late 1980's the Arabia Chapter of the Shriners in
Houston, Texas area built a theater to use for their meetings
and events as well as for rental to the general public.
The theater was very well equipped with a state of the art
counterweight fly system (the equipment that allows hanging
scenery, lights and curtains to hang from the roof on cables and
be almost effortlessly moved up and down) from H&H Specialties
and a modern lighting system. While the Shriners had 50
years remaining on their lease, the landlord wanted to build
condos on the property and evicted them. In February of
2008 the Shriners auctioned the contents of the theater, right
down to the last doorknob. The stage equipment was
purchased by a salvage company who removed it all and then sold
off the lighting fixtures, lighting dimmers and other small
equipment. They were left with the rigging system and most
of the electrical distribution system, which they saw as a giant
collection of scrap metal. Before it could be sent to the
junkyard, a generous organization intervened and purchased the
entire system and donated it to be re-installed in the Hanover
Theater. There was just one catch, it had to be moved
right away and it weighed over 20 tons.
The folks in Texas took care of loading (it took an entire
tractor trailer and was pushing the weight limit) but we had to
figure out how to unload it. We had two problems - we
don't own a forklift, and even if we did, it's almost impossible
to get a full size tractor trailer to the theater's loading
dock. The only option was to unload the tractor trailer
somewhere else and move the equipment to the theater in smaller
trucks, but where? Fortunately, Rick at M&J Surplus on
Factory Street came to our rescue and volunteered his time and
equipment to unload everything, sort it out in the parking lot
and re-load it onto rental trucks.
Since the salvage company in Texas was planning on scrapping
the system, they didn't inventory it and we didn't know exactly
what we were getting. We had been told that the parts
included some of a fly system and electrical parts. It
took a few days to sort through everything and when we were done
we couldn't believe what an incredible donation this was.
We received an almost complete fly system including over 250
loft blocks (or pulleys), 53 arbors (weight racks), 6 tons of
counterweights and other parts. We also received over 150
pieces of steel pipe that hold scenery and lights and all of the
ropes and cables that go with the system (due to the age of the
ropes and cables we won't re-use them for safety reasons).
The big surprise for us was that the donation also included 120
feet of connector strip, which is the metal trough that lighting
equipment plugs into - almost enough to do the entire stage!
Since the system wasn't complete we will have to purchase a
number of components which may cost as much as $50,000, but if
we had to purchase all of the donated equipment, it would cost
well over $100,000 so we're very happy!! And a special
thanks to M&J Surplus for unloading the donation - we couldn't
have done it without them!
-Stage Equipment
Update--
April 18, 2008
The organization that donated the system has been talking
with the salvage company and some of the missing components of
the fly system are still in the old theater. The salvage
company didn't have any employees who were comfortable with
working 50 feet above the stage (hanging from a rope) so they
couldn't remove these components. It looks like there's a
chance that we may be able to send a crew down to Texas and
remove the rest of the system - we'll keep our fingers crossed!!
Building owner allows removal of remaining Stage Equipment
May 6, 2008
Dave's going to Texas to hang from a rope while the
bulldozers wait!
In April we received a donation of an almost
complete counterweight fly system from a theater that will be
demolished to make way for condos The donor of the system
(who purchased it from a salvage company)
was able to negotiate with the salvage company and the
building's owner to allow us access to remove the remaining
parts of the system. We have been told that the aluminum
components (which would cost over $13,000 today) have been
removed and sold as scrap, but that the 'headblocks' (or master
pulleys) are still there. We were planning to purchase new
headblocks at a cost of over $25,000 so this is another
incredible donation!! Hanover Theater's General Manager
Dave Leske will be driving to Houston, Texas to remove the
headblocks and any other remaining components of the system.
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