Holloway John Ramsey - Illustrated theatre production guide

ILLUSTRATED THEATRE PRODUCTION GUIDE

Illustrated Theatre Production Guide delivers a step-by-step approach to the most prevalent and established theatre production practices, focusing on essential issues related to the construction of wooden, fabric, plastic, and metal scenery used on the stage. A must-have resource for both the community theatre worker who must be a jack of all trades and the student who needs to learn the fundamentals on his or her own, it covers the necessities in great detail, without bogging you down. Offering techniques and best-practice methods from an experienced industry expert, it will allow you to create a foundation on which to build a successful and resourceful career behind the scenes in theatre production.

This third edition has been completely restructured to more effectively lead you through the basics of stagecraft. Through detailed lessons and hundreds of drawings, author John Holloway offers you solutions to the problems that youll face every day in a production, from rigging to knot tying. New to this edition are guides to jobs in theatre, construction documentation, and video projection methods, with expanded information on Thrust Theatres, lighting, and audio and video practices.

John Holloway is a Full Professor in the Theatre Department of the University of Kentucky where he has taught for 31 years. He is an on-going freelancer involved in designing, engineering, and constructing stage scenery for television and theatre. He worked as stagehand and Technical Director for over 30 years, and has built scenery for over 300 plays, television shows, commercials, operas, and trade shows. He is a longstanding member of the professional stagehands union, IATSE, and served as the president of Local 346 for many years. He toured with the national touring companies of Grand Hotel (Tony Award winner, 1989), The Will Rogers Follies, and Camelot. He also works as a rigger and spot operator for rock concerts.

ILLUSTRATED THEATRE PRODUCTION GUIDE

THIRD EDITION

JOHN HOLLOWAY

First published 2002 by Focal Press

This edition published 2014

by Focal Press

70 Blanchard Road, Suite 402, Burlington, MA 01803

and by Focal Press

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Focal Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2014 Taylor & Francis

The right of John R. Holloway to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Holloway, John, 1954

Illustrated theatre production guide/John Holloway. Third edition.

pages cm

1. Stage management. 2. TheatersStage-setting and scenery. I. Title.

PN2085.H64 2014

792.0232dc23

2013050360

ISBN: 978-0-415-71752-6 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-78144-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-87129-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Adobe Garamond and Frutiger

by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK

Additional materials are available on the companion website at www.focalpress.com/cw/holloway.

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CONTENTS

F IFTEEN YEARS AGO this book began life as a shop cookbook that had lots of information about the techniques for building wooden scenery that Id learned over decades of doing just that. At the same time I worked as an IATSE stagehand. Sometimes I did that on tour with Broadway musicals, and sometimes through IATSE Local 346 in Lexington, Kentucky. Working in commercial theatre was quite a learning experience. If you want to know how to build scenery that functions well in the backstage environment, it really helps to spend some time under the blue lights backstage, and even more time moving scenery in and out of trucks. I had a great time doing all of that, it was so much fun.

Since then Ive spent my time designing more, and learning about new technologies. The scope of the book has changed to something much more inclusive about theatre production in general, which the title always promised, and now fulfills. I still dont know all that much about building costumes, but have learned a huge amount about electronics and computers and projectors. Im very proud of how inclusive the book has become. It is now divided into five sections that cover different aspects of working in theatre production. Check out the chapters Jobs in Theatre and Construction Documents. They are brand new additions to this edition, although the need should have been obvious. Indeed it was to several reviewers who guided the process of planning this edition, and Im glad to include those topics.

I need to thank several people who have helped with this edition. Charles Calvert of the University of Charleston who read many of the chapters and added his viewpoint as a former NYC designer. Charlie loaned me several drawings to use in the book. The very scholarly Michael O. Sanders of Transylvania University who was also a reader who had very intriguing comments. Jeromy Hopgood of Eastern Michigan University, who helped with a previous edition, and is an expert in using QLab. Daniel Brodie is a Broadway projections designer. His master classes at NYU gave me a much more formal view of projections. That area is really booming right now, and the technology is changing rapidly. I had been working with projected video for about ten years, but didnt get the big picture before attending his class. John Fergusson is a brother stagehand in IATSE Local 346, a member of the band Apples in Stereo, and sound mix guy extraordinaire. Of course I need to thank my colleagues Tony Hardin and Zak Stribling who contributed their ideas to the process. Last but not least, I would like to thank Patty Holloway for reading every word of the book from the viewpoint of an outsider, and letting me know when my explanations needed work.