Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1977 - 28

The cherry picker crane on stage erecting the new gridiron. Photo courtesy of Grand Opera House, Inc.

plan. There are problems of audience egress during and
after performances - the center aisles at both parquet
and balcony levels tend to produce bottlenecks. At the
present time, because of the unfinished lobby spaces,
there are no officially designated smoking areas which
causes distress to some and pleases others. This problem
will be alleviated when a balcony lounge/bar is completed later this spring. In time, when the necessary funds
can be obtained, the unfinished lobbys and the auditorium will be painted and the other Victorian elements
designed to restore the house - chandeliers and other
period luminaires - will be added.
The stage and its assorted technology suffered from
numerous teething troubles in the opening months. As
Michael Gorman, the Grand's technical director put it,
"every new plant like th is needs a quiet period of at least
three to five weeks before you open. In this time you can
find out what doesn't work and fix it.") The basic devices
functioned well, for the most part. The switchboard
developed some glitches in its computer in the early
weeks. They were caused largely by fine masonry dust
that had inexorably seeped through seams in the plastic
cover that protected the board before it was installed.
Careful cleaning and retuning by the manufacturer cleared
them up.
Almost all of the new lighting instruments were supplied with the wrong type of connector and in several
instances, lens tubes on ellipsoidel spotlights were mixed
up. Again, as the electricians found time to double check,
they corrected these errors.
28

SPRING,1977

The winch driven rigging system developed many problems. First, one of the two motors shorted out. Then
difficulties with the remaining motor surfaced. The keyed
chuck on the motor proved to be very hard to engage and
lock to the winch drive spindle. Several of the winches
were so close together that when one was in motion, its
finned gear surfaces engaged surfaces on an adjacent one,
causing its batten to move in the opposite direction.
The motor drive would bring a pipe down - particularly when loaded - in a fairly short time but it took
much too long to raise a loaded one. In the second place
the motor and winch made so much noise that their use
during performance has been precluded even if one could
work with the slowness of travel when a batten is raised.
One is tempted to ask why a simple single purchase
counterweight system was not specified instead of the
winches. With the latter system, no more than two line
sets can move at the same time. It is possible that the
planners felt that the type of attractions playing the
house would not require movable rigging once a set up
was completed. If so, they have erred on the side of
economy and/or expediency.
Morgan had devised a novel orchestra shell enclosure
and a means for moving it rapidly without mechanical
means or a large crew. He laid out a pattern for a hollow
track on the stage plan that would avoid fouling with any
of the regular battens. Shell segments - a solid panel
covered with black duvetyne on one side and a beige fabric on the other surface - hang from the track on a pivoted hanger. They clear the new stage floor by % inch

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1977