1.
Theatrical scenery
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Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. The history of theatrical scenery is as old as the theatre itself, what we tend to think of as traditional scenery, i. e. By the Shakespearean era, the painted backdrop or theatrical prop was in evidence. However, this means that todays set designers must be much more careful. Our more modern notion of scenery, which dates back to the 19th century, finds its origins in the spectacle of opera buffa. Its elaborate settings were appropriated by the straight, or dramatic, theatre, through their use in comic operettas, burlesques, pantomimes and the like. Everything came together in the 1980s and 1990s and, continuing to today, until there is no established style of scenic production, modern stagecraft has grown so complex as to require the highly specialized skills of hundreds of artists and craftspeople to mount a single production. The construction of scenery is frequently one of the most time-consuming tasks when preparing for a show. As a result, many theatres have a place for storing scenery so that it can be used for multiple shows, since future shows typically are not known far in advance, theatres will often construct stock scenery that can be easily adapted to fit a variety of shows. Common stock scenery types include, Curtains Flats Platforms Scenery wagons Production sets Scenic design Set construction Scenography
2.
Theatre
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The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence, the specific place of the performance is also named by the word theatre as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον, itself from θεάομαι. Modern theatre, broadly defined, includes performances of plays and musical theatre, there are connections between theatre and the art forms of ballet, opera and various other forms. The city-state of Athens is where western theatre originated, participation in the city-states many festivals—and mandatory attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member in particular—was an important part of citizenship. The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture, Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play, the origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle, the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honoured Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10, the stage consisted of a dancing floor, dressing room and scene-building area. Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics, the actors wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE, no tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institution alised in competitions held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus. As contestants in the City Dionysias competition playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays, the performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE, official records begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. More than 130 years later, the philosopher Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in the oldest surviving work of dramatic theory—his Poetics, Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the surviving plays of Aristophanes. New Comedy is known primarily from the papyrus fragments of Menander. Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster. In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyrs themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal companions, often engaging in drunken revelry
3.
Stage (theatre)
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In theatre and performing arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance of productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a point for the members of the audience. As an architectural feature, the stage may consist of a platform or series of platforms, in some cases, these may be temporary or adjustable but in theaters and other buildings devoted to such productions, the stage is often a permanent feature. There are several types of stages that vary as to the usage, the most common form found in the West is the proscenium stage. In this type, the audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians. Thrust stages may be similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the space so that the audience is located on three sides. In theatre in the round, the audience is located on all four sides of the stage, the fourth type of stage incorporates created and found stages which may be constructed specifically for a performance or may involve a space that is adapted as a stage. Since the Italian Renaissance, the most common used in the West has been the proscenium stage which may also be referred to as a picture frame stage. The primary feature is an opening known as the proscenium arch through which the audience views the performance. The audience directly faces the stage—which is typically raised several feet above front row audience level—and views only one side of the scene and this one side is commonly known as the invisible fourth wall of the scene. The proscenium arch evolved from the proskenium in Ancient Greek theaters and this was the space in front of the skênê or backdrop where the actors actually played. Stage floors were raked upward slightly from front to back in order to contribute to the illusion and also to make actors more visible to audiences. Subsequently, audience seating was raked, and balconies were added to give audiences a fuller view, by the end of the 19th century most stages had level floors, and much of the audience looked down on, rather than up to, the stage. The competition among royals to produce elegant and elaborate entertainments fueled and financed the expansion of European court theatres, the proscenium—which often was extremely decorative in the manner of a triumphal arch—framed the prospective picture. A wood grid above the stage supported pulleys from which wooden battens, the weight of heavy pieces was counterbalanced by sandbags. This system required the creation of a stage house or loft that was usually as high or higher than the proscenium itself. Theatres using these systems, which are manually operated by stage hands, are known as hemp houses. They have been supplanted by counterweight fly systems
4.
Fly system
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Systems are typically designed to fly components between clear view of the audience and out of view, into the large opening, fly loft, above the stage. Fly systems are used in conjunction with other theatre systems, such as scenery wagons, stage lifts and stage turntables. Theatrical rigging is most prevalent in proscenium theatres with stage houses designed specifically to handle the significant dead, building, occupational safety, and fire codes limit the types and quantity of rigging permitted in a theatre based on stage configuration. Theatrical rigging standards are developed and maintained by such as USITT. The line set is the machine of a typical fly system. The function of a line set is to fly a slender beam known as a batten by hoisting it with lift lines. By hanging scenery, lighting, or other equipment to a batten, a batten is said to be flying in when it is being lowered toward the stage, and flying out when it is being raised into the fly space. Battens may be just a few feet in length or may extend from one wing of the stage to the other, a batten is suspended from above by at least two lift lines, but long battens may require six or more lift lines. In manual rigging, a line set’s lift lines support weights opposite their connections to the batten in order to balance the weight of the batten and whatever it carries. The lift lines are reeved through a series of pulleys, known as blocks, an operating line allows riggers on the fly crew to raise and lower the batten. Automated rigging sometimes uses weights to help balance line set loads in a similar to manual counterweight rigging. Otherwise it relies solely on the power of an electric hoist to fly a line set. Together, a series of line sets regularly spaced up and down stage, commonly at 6 in,8 in, or 9 in centers. Theatrical rigging systems are made up of hemp, counterweight and/or automated line sets able to serve various functions, Line sets are typically general purpose in function, meaning they can perform any number of functions which vary depending upon the requirements of a particular theatre production. For example, a general purpose line set can usually be quickly transformed into a drapery or scenery line set, when a line set has a predetermined, relatively permanent, function it is known as a dedicated line set. Line sets are sometimes dedicated to particular draperies, such as the curtain and main border that mask the proscenium opening. Scenery line set In many stage productions, theatrical scenery is mounted to line sets in order to be flown in, for example, painted soft and hard flats and are commonly used to depict settings. Also, three-dimensional sets may be flown, Electrical line set Electrical line sets, commonly called electrics, are used to suspend and control lighting instruments and, in many cases, microphones and special effects equipment as well
5.
Elevator
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An elevator or lift is a type of vertical transportation that moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel, or other structure. Elevators are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables or counterweight systems like a hoist, in agriculture and manufacturing, an elevator is any type of conveyor device used to lift materials in a continuous stream into bins or silos. Several types exist, such as the chain and bucket elevator, grain auger screw conveyor using the principle of Archimedes screw, or the chain, languages other than English may have loanwords based on either elevator or lift. Because of wheelchair access laws, elevators are often a requirement in new multistory buildings. The earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, some sources from later historical periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope powered by hand or by animals. In 1000, the Book of Secrets by al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of a lifting device. In the 17th century the prototypes of elevators were located in the buildings of England. Louis XV of France had a flying chair built for one of his mistresses at the Chateau de Versailles in 1743. Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists or winders, the invention of a system based on the screw drive was perhaps the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw drive elevator was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in Winter Palace in 1793, several years later another of Kulibins elevators was installed in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. The development of elevators was led by the need for movement of raw materials including coal, the technology developed by these industries and the introduction of steel beam construction worked together to provide the passenger and freight elevators in use today. Starting in the mines, by the mid-19th century elevators were operated with steam power and were used for moving goods in bulk in mines and factories. It elevated paying customers to a height in the center of London. Early, crude steam-driven elevators were refined in the decade, – in 1835 an innovative elevator called the Teagle was developed by the company Frost. The elevator was belt-driven and used a counterweight for extra power, the hydraulic crane was invented by Sir William Armstrong in 1846, primarily for use at the Tyneside docks for loading cargo. These quickly supplanted the steam driven elevators, exploiting Pascals law. A water pump supplied a variable level of pressure to a plunger encased inside a vertical cylinder. Counterweights and balances were used to increase the lifting power of the apparatus
6.
Hinge
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A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about an axis of rotation. Hinges may be made of material or of moving components. In biology, many joints function as hinges like the elbow joint, there are many types of door hinges. The main types include, Spring hinge which is a hinge made to provide assistance in the closing or the opening of the hinge leaves. A spring is a component of a hinge, that force to secure a hinge closed or keep a hinge opened. Barrel hinge which is a sectional barrel secured by a pivot, pivot hinges which pivot in openings in the floor and the top of the door frame. Also referred to as a double-acting floor hinge and this type is found in ancient dry stone buildings and rarely in old wooden buildings. These are also called haar-hung doors and they are a low cost alternative for use light weight doors. Butt/Mortise hinges usually in threes or fours, which are inset into the door, most residential hinges found in the U. S. are made of steel, although mortise hinges for exterior doors are often made of brass or stainless steel to prevent corrosion. Case hinges Case hinges are similar to a butt hinge however usually more of a nature most commonly used in suitcases, briefcases. Continuous hinges, or piano hinges This type of hinge is also known as a piano hinge and it runs the entire length of the door, panel, or box. Continuous hinges are manufactured with or without holes and these hinges also come in various thicknesses, pin diameters, and knuckle lengths. Concealed hinges Used for furniture doors and they are made of two parts, One part is the hinge cup and the arm, the other part is the mounting plate. Also called cup hinge, or Euro hinge, as they were developed in Europe, most such concealed hinges offer the advantage of full in situ adjustability for standoff distance from the cabinet face as well as pitch and roll by means of two screws on each hinge. Butterfly hinges, or Parliament Hinges These were known as dovetail hinges from the 17th century onwards and can be found on old desks and cabinets from about 1670 until the 18th century. The form of these hinges varied slightly between manufacturers, and their size ranged from the large for heavy doors to the tiniest decorative hinge for use on jewellery boxes. Many hinges of this type were exported to America to support the home trades limited supply and they are still found to be both fairly cheap and decorative, especially on small items
7.
Brake
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A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion. Most brakes commonly use friction between two surfaces pressed together to convert the energy of the moving object into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example, regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, Brakes are generally applied to rotating axles or wheels, but may also take other forms such as the surface of a moving fluid. In practice, fast vehicles usually have significant air drag, almost all wheeled vehicles have a brake of some sort. Even baggage carts and shopping carts may have them for use on a moving ramp, most fixed-wing aircraft are fitted with wheel brakes on the undercarriage. Some aircraft also feature air brakes designed to reduce their speed in flight, notable examples include gliders and some World War II-era aircraft, primarily some fighter aircraft and many dive bombers of the era. These allow the aircraft to maintain a speed in a steep descent. The Saab B17 dive bomber and Vought F4U Corsair fighter used the deployed undercarriage as an air brake, Friction brakes on automobiles store braking heat in the drum brake or disc brake while braking then conduct it to the air gradually. When traveling downhill some vehicles can use their engines to brake, when the brake pedal of a modern vehicle with hydraulic brakes is pushed against the master cylinder, ultimately a piston pushes the brake pad against the brake disc which slows the wheel down. On the brake drum it is similar as the cylinder pushes the brake shoes against the drum which also slows the wheel down, Brakes may be broadly described as using friction, pumping, or electromagnetics. Typically the term brake is used to mean pad/shoe brakes and excludes hydrodynamic brakes. Friction brakes are often rotating devices with a pad and a rotating wear surface. Other brake configurations are used, but less often, a drum brake is a vehicle brake in which the friction is caused by a set of brake shoes that press against the inner surface of a rotating drum. The drum is connected to the rotating roadwheel hub, drum brakes generally can be found on older car and truck models. However, because of their low production cost, drum brake setups are also installed on the rear of some low-cost newer vehicles, compared to modern disc brakes, drum brakes wear out faster due to their tendency to overheat
8.
Theater drapes and stage curtains
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Theater drapes and stage curtains are large pieces of cloth that are designed to mask backstage areas of a theater from spectators. Theater drapes represent a portion of any productions soft goods, a category includes any cloth-based element of the stage or scenery. Proscenium stages use a variety of drapes than arena or thrust stages. In proscenium theaters, drapes are typically suspended from battens that are controlled by a fly system. The front curtain, which is called a grand drape, act curtain, house curtain, house drape, main drape, main rag, or, in the UK, tabs, hangs downstage. It is typically opened and closed during performances to reveal or conceal the stage, there are several types of front curtains, which may consist of a single section or two sections, of fabric that may be pleated or flat. Depending on the type, front curtains may travel horizontally or vertically, in the case of front curtains that travel vertically, some types gather near the top of the proscenium when opened, while others are raised into the fly space above the stage. Hard teasers and tormentors are flat, horizontal and vertical pieces that are located just upstage of the grand drape, together, one hard teaser and a pair of tormentors are frequently used to form a reduced-size false proscenium within the frame of the actual theater proscenium. Hard teasers and tormentors are typically covered with plywood, which in turn is covered with dark colored. The teaser is usually flown from a dedicated batten so that its height can be adjusted so as to optimize its masking of the flies. In the UK this teaser is usually referred to as the House Header, in some productions, a show portal is used in place of a false proscenium. This is a frame for the stage which also serves to mask backstage areas, just as a teaser. Legs are tall, narrow stage drapes that are used to mask the wings on either side of the stage. Borders, are wide, short draperies that span the width of the stage, legs and borders are typically made from a heavy, light-absorbing material similar to that of other stage drapes. Typically, a set of two legs, one on side of the stage, and one border, is used to form a complete masking frame around the stage. Several such sets of legs and borders are typically employed at varying distances upstage from the proscenium, travelers are curtains onstage which can open and close. Drapes that hang at the sides of the perpendicular to the proscenium opening to mask the wings are known as Tabs. In the UK, these curtains have other names, often Up & Downers, a scrim, sometimes gauze, is a curtain made of an open-weave fabric that appears opaque when lit from the front, but transparent when a person or object behind the curtain is lit
9.
Stage lighting
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Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of lighting instruments are used in this discipline. In addition to lighting, modern stage lighting can also include special effects, such as lasers. People who work on stage lighting are commonly referred to as lighting technicians, the personnel needed to install, operate, and control the equipment also cross over into these different areas of stage lighting applications. The earliest known form of lighting was during the early Grecian theatres. They would build their theatres facing east to west so that in the afternoon they could perform plays and have the natural sunlight hit the actors, natural light continued to be utilized when playhouses were built with a large circular opening at the top of the theatre. Early Modern English theatres were roofless, allowing light to be utilized for lighting the stage. As theatres moved indoors, artificial lighting became a necessity and it was developed as theatres, at an unknown date, candlelight was introduced which brought more developments to theatrical lighting across Europe. While Oliver Cromwell was ruling Britain, all production was suspended in 1642. During this theatrical famine, great developments were being made in theatres on the European mainland, Charles II, who would later become King Charles II witnessed Italian theatrical methods and brought them back to England when he came to power. New playhouses were built in England and their large sizes called for more elaborate lighting, English theatres during this time used dipped candles to light chandeliers and sconces. Dipped candles were made by dipping a wick into hot wax repeatedly to create a cylindrical candle, candles needed frequent trimming and relighting regardless of what was happening on-stage because they dripped hot grease on both the audience and actors. Chandeliers also blocked the view of some patrons, there were two different types of Restoration theatres in England, Restoration commercial theatres and Restoration court theatres. Commercial theatres tended to be conservative in their lighting, for economic reasons. Court theatres could afford to use most of the Continental innovations in their productions, two main court theatres, built between 1660 and 1665, were the Cockpit Theatre and the Hall Theatre. Chandeliers and sconces seemed to be the primary lighting sources here but other developments were being made, by the 1670s, the Hall Theatre started using footlights, and between 1670 and 1689 they used candles or lamps. It can be noted that by the end of the 17th century, French, there is not much written on theatrical lighting in England at the end of the 17th century and from the little information historians do have, not much changed by the middle of the 18th century. Gas lighting hit the English stage in the early 1800s beginning with the Drury Lane, in the 1820s, a new type of artificial illumination was developed
10.
Stage lighting accessories
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Stage lighting accessories are components manufactured for conventional stage lighting instruments. Most conventional fixtures are designed to accept a number of different accessories designed to assist in the modification of the output and these accessories are intended to either provide relatively common functionality not originally provided in a fixture, or to extend the versatility of a lighting instrument by introducing features. Other accessories have been designed to overcome limitations or difficulties some fixtures present in specific applications. Barn doors, or occasionally a set of doors, are an attachment fitted to the front of a Fresnel lantern, a type of lantern used in films, television. The attachment has the appearance of a set of barn doors. Barn doors are mounted with a ring that fits inside of the color gel slot on the instrument, because of this, barn doors have a gel slot built into them, so the light can still be colored. Depending on the size and local practices, barn doors may be attached to the pipe or the instrument with their own safety cable, Barn doors are generally not used with profile or ellipsoidal reflector spotlights such as the Source Four because they have internal shutters which work more effectively. Barn doors are not effective at shaping the light of a PAR lights, a top hat, also known as a stove pipe or snoot, is a device used in theatrical lighting to shield the audiences eyes from the direct source of the light. It is shaped like a top hat with a hole in the top, the cylinder allows light to pass through but takes away the glint of a lighting instrument facing the audience. It also reduces flare created by the light, which is useful when the unit is hung near the proscenium or other objects that the designer does not want to light. There are also half-hats or eyelashes, which function in a similar manner but have only half the cylinder, and short hats, top hats are manufactured for most modern-day lighting instruments with gel frames of varying sizes. Gel extenders are similar to top hats in appearance, being a tube placed over the end of a lighting fixture, unlike top hats, however, gel extenders have a colour frame holder built into the end to allow color gel to be mounted. Gel extenders are available in a conical shape which does not constrict the beam of light output from the fixture at all. A colour frame or gel frame is a piece of folded material, made from metal or cardboard. Colour frames are placed directly outside the fixture, immediately in front of lens assembly, most fixtures include an integrated holder for the frame. Some accessories designed to mount in the gel frame holder, such as Barn Doors and this increases sharpness of the light by reducing the effect of imperfect lenses. Doughnuts are designed to fit into the colour frame holder directly outside the fixture, because they are typically thin, doughnuts can often be placed in the same slot as a gel frame. Doughnuts are typically used in fixtures in order to sharpen the beam when a template is in place
