Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997 - 73

Sylvia J. Hillyard Pannell

Stage Rigging Handbook
Second Edition
by Jay O. Glerum. Southern Illinois University Press,
Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois. 1997
ISBN 0-8093-1744-3. 23 I pages, 202 illustrations, $24.95
The second edition of Jay Glerum's Stage Rigging Handbook
should be purchased, read, and then take up permanent residence on your bookshelf somewhere between Robert Edmund
Jones' Dramatic Imagination and Paul Carter's Backstage
Handbook. Then go through it every year as a refresher
course in the mandatory maintenance and operational procedures for your theatre's rigging system. Amust for all designers and stage technicians, tltis book details the most complex
of stage macltines-overhead rigging. The second edition differs greatly from the first and is particularly enhanced by additional information and site photos compiled by the author
from ltis many master classes and system inspections done
since the publication of the first edition (1987).
As with the first edition, Glerum's outline format steers
the reader through the complexities and details of each of the
main overhead rigging systems. This format also allows the
book to function as a quick reference any time a new rigging
challenge is faced. The book now opens with a new and helpful section devoted to understanding engineering definitions
such as force, load, tension, and vector analysis. sing uncomplicated line drawings, known as Free Body Diagrams, Glerum
provides numerous sanlple problems to illustrate important
engineering concepts. Ever the teacher, he does this by explaining how a simple machine works-like a child's seesaw
for instance-then applies the analogy to a more complex
stage rigging sinlation. The beauty of this new section is that it
gives the reader enough background to understand basic
stl11ctural engineeling and enough "expertise" to know when to
call in a trained engineer. When an engineeling challenge looms,
tilese definitions and practical examples prepare tile reader to ask
tile right questions that will lead to a safe solution.
An expanded second chapter on block and tackle rigging
now serves as the first overview of a rigging system. Because of
this early analysis of system components and a complete explanation of mechanical advantage, the rigging systems detailed later in the book become easier to understand. Glerum
continues with a look at hemp, single purchase, double purchase, and motorized systems. Each individual member is fully
illustrated, relationships between components are explained,
and maintenance concerns are raised. Above all, safe use
practices are articulated and emphasized.
An overriding concern for safety is an especially important aspect of the book. Safety issues are dealt with in a nononsense way without scare tactics. For example, in chapter
two when speaking about friction, Glerum warns, "In real life,
ignoring friction is like ignoring the wind in a hurricane."

Editor

Later he writes, "Take time to care for the
rope. Replacing rope is expensive. Replacing a life is impossible." Glerum's
years of experience as both stage hand
and teacher lend credibility and weight to
ltis counsel, and because of the breadth of
this expelience, he is able to inlpress upon
tile reader an appropliate level of safety for
nearly every contingency; yet tile safety tips
are so well embedded in the text that
rarely does one realize that he/she is being admonished to "be careful out there."
Over 200 photos and line draWings
illustrate the rigging systems described, making even complex
ideas clear with tltis combi~ation of line drawings and photos.
Athree-page glossary of terms and a selected bibliography of
books and catalogs round out the text. The glossary seems
rather short and could easily be expanded in the next edition
so that all the essential terms are concisely defined. Anoticeable omission from tile glossary is many of the engineering
terms used in chapter one; inclusion of these terms would
have been helpful to the non-profeSSional reader.
Overall the text is easy to grasp and a quick read. Its
unique organization, a useful outline, supports the title that
this is a handbook; as such, it should become dog eared in no
time. In this age of recycling one ntight ask what to do with an
old first edition. Consider sending it to your old ltigh school
principal who is responsible for that gymatorium-or
cafeterium-where you first did tech work. Highlight all the
inspection recommendations Glerum makes, and hope for the
best. Stage rigging is a complex machine which must be well
maintained and hazard free, and reading the Stage Rigging
Handbook and appl)~ng its principles will indeed make the
world of the theatre safer for all.

~~~M<.~Jay O. Glerum

Mark Shanda, Associate ProfessorlTechnical Director
The Ohio State niversity
Mark Sbanda is co-alltbor witb Dennis Dol'll oftbe book, Drafting
for the Theatre, wbicb is also plIblisbed by SfU Press.

Backstage Handbook
An Illustrated Almanac of Technical
Information, Third Edition
by Paul Carter. illustrations by George Chiang.
Broadway Press, Louisville, KY 1994
ISBN 0-911747-29-X, 310 pp. $15.00, softbound.
Every so often a book comes along wltich is so
transparently useful that its imporlance seems obvious. Such is the case with Paul Carter's Backstage
Handbook. Tltis third edition (assembled after
TD&T

ALL

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997