# Tableau Curtain question



## jcslighting (Mar 1, 2013)

One of the high schools that I TD for is doing a production of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and as an important part of the scenic design the designer and director want to use a true tab curtain. The idea being to 'reveal' only one side of the stage at a time or being able to 'reveal' the whole stage when needed. I have searched the web for rental curtains but either no one knows really what a tab or tableau curtain really is or they just don't have any. Ideally we wanted a shimmery fabric but velour might work too. My question is really twofold: Does anyone know where I could rent one? and Would there be an easy way to rig a rented panel to operate like a tab? In other words are there clips or clamps that one could use to attach temporary rings to the back of a drape? Any help would be greatly appreciated. The budget for this project is about $500 so purchase is out of the ballpark. I got two purchase quotes from sew-what? and rosebrand and both were over $1300. Thanks again for any input or ideas.


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## derekleffew (Mar 1, 2013)

What are dimensions of the proscenium opening, or other framing device? One of the reasons you're having difficulty finding a rental true tableau curtain is that they don't work very well on any but the smallest of stages. I'm assuming Schell Scenic was near the top of your list? 

Further, I'd rethink only opening one half at a time. What does this do to the audience sightline s?

I can't think of any clips or clamps that would not risk damaging rental goods. There can be a lot of force on those rings/attachment points with a heavy fabric.
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## jcslighting (Mar 2, 2013)

Thanks for the quick response! 

The actual proscenium is 18'x44' but the tab will be somewhat upstage and function as more of the set than the house drape. They were thinking about 5' or so upstage and there is a set of legs DS to 
cut the opening down abit plus we always lower trim to about 14'-16' as the grid height is only 32'. So I was thinking 16'x40' but could probably go a bit either way in size. I looked on Shell's website and
they only have blacks, scrims, cycs, etc. no colored drapes. They wanted the tab to be a dark or royal blue color. 

Ditto on the clips or clamps with rental goods. I couldn't think of anything either. 

The sightline issue really isn't a problem as for the one side or the other it would only be used as such for a couple 'multi-location' scenes and the rest of the time would be for basically full stage accent in just the villa scene. It would fly out for the other locations. In a pinch I could use an 18' curtain if need be as 14' would still hide it behind a teaser except in the extreme front of the house.


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## FatherMurphy (Mar 2, 2013)

You might be able to get away with safety pinning a piece of gros-grain tape to the back of a rental drape, with the tab rings sewn to the tape, but as Derek mentioned, there's a lot of stress on the tape, especially the last ring when the drape is fully lifted. If you damage a rental drape, you'll be paying them the value of sewing a new one.

Perhaps two drapes on two adjacent linesets would work? One left, one right? Fly out which ever one is to be open, or both for full stage? It wouldn't be the diagonal travel/swagged look of a true tab, but you'd get the stage separation.


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## kicknargel (Mar 3, 2013)

You can (imperfectly) make a tab curtain without running rings up the back by running the rope both in front and in back. You could attach the rope to the batten at the offstage point, let it run in front of the curtain, go through a ring at the leading edge, then run back to a pulley on the batten very near the dead point. Or make a solid attachment at the leading edge of the drape, and pull both lines, in front and in back. This way the curtain is being "cradled" by the rope, rather than lifted by the rings. There are lots of factors to consider in terms of curtain weight, curtain and rope slipperiness, etc. But it may let you use a rental, with your only attachment being to a hem on the leading edge, and not taking much weight.

I'm sure you're ahead of this, but just in case, or for others: tab curtains work a better with openings that are closer to a square. The theoretical limit is being able to open the curtain to a distance of twice its height, but in practice, with overlap at the opening, and making a nice swag, it's more like 1x- 1.5x.


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