hsadramaclub
New Member
First of all, this is my first post so hello to everyone. Second, I am not mechanically minded at all and have no real experience in set construction so please forgive me if I am asking obvious questions or using the wrong terminology for something; I am trying to give myself a crash course in set design and construction but I don't know what I don't know.
I head up a homeschool drama club and our set pieces are typically very simple and straightforward since we don't have a dedicated performance space (last few shows have been in a church sanctuary) let alone any sort of workshop or storage space. However, we are doing The Wizard of Oz this spring and have the opportunity to perform in the very nice theater space of a local school, and we also have two parents who have stepped up to help with set construction. I would love to have a house set piece that can manually revolve during the tornado scene through four teens/adults turning it, but it also needs to come apart into two sections because there is limited wing space. I've attached a drawing of what I'm looking for, and I just want to see if I'm on the right track.
There are a few reasons why this piece cannot have a pivot point:
1.) We are in a rented space and cannot drill anything into the floor
2.) The piece does need to be in different areas of the stage prior to the tornado scene
It seems like zero-throw casters are going to be our best bet, but they are very pricey. We have a local theater group who is willing to lend us their six sets, but I'm not sure how many more we will realistically need. Weight-wise, there will be two high schoolers on the piece while it is being rotated.
I'm also assuming that coffin locks are going to be the best way to attach the two pieces together, but I have never worked with them before. How quickly can they be locked/unlocked?
Thank you in advance for your assistance and kindness.
I head up a homeschool drama club and our set pieces are typically very simple and straightforward since we don't have a dedicated performance space (last few shows have been in a church sanctuary) let alone any sort of workshop or storage space. However, we are doing The Wizard of Oz this spring and have the opportunity to perform in the very nice theater space of a local school, and we also have two parents who have stepped up to help with set construction. I would love to have a house set piece that can manually revolve during the tornado scene through four teens/adults turning it, but it also needs to come apart into two sections because there is limited wing space. I've attached a drawing of what I'm looking for, and I just want to see if I'm on the right track.
There are a few reasons why this piece cannot have a pivot point:
1.) We are in a rented space and cannot drill anything into the floor
2.) The piece does need to be in different areas of the stage prior to the tornado scene
It seems like zero-throw casters are going to be our best bet, but they are very pricey. We have a local theater group who is willing to lend us their six sets, but I'm not sure how many more we will realistically need. Weight-wise, there will be two high schoolers on the piece while it is being rotated.
I'm also assuming that coffin locks are going to be the best way to attach the two pieces together, but I have never worked with them before. How quickly can they be locked/unlocked?
Thank you in advance for your assistance and kindness.