The results of the Google Custom Search below will be from a carefully selected and curated list of theatre-specific references and guides. A majority of these sites will be covered on this blog.
Technical Theatre Reference Search
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HOW TO: Create a Rain Effect on Stage
For this rain effect on stage, the designer wanted a thin curtain of water falling like rain across the entire width of the stage just in front of the upstage wall of the set. This is a classic rain curtain system: holes drilled in a pipe hung above the stage and a trough below the pipe to catch the water after it fell. However, this system overcame 3 obstacles that have challenged me in the past:
- As the pipe fills with water, the rain starts at the holes closest to the source. To solve this, instead of hanging the PVC with the holes at the bottom of the PVC, they along the side, facing downstage. This allows the water to fill the pipe halfway up along the entire length before it can escape any of the holes.
- The sound of the rain completely drowns out the dialogue of the actors. By covering the trough with a fiberglass window screening, this dramatically muffled the sound of the rain hitting the water and trough below.
- The splashing of the rain soaks the deck and nearby scenery. The same window screening used to soften the sound also prevents over-splash. The drops of water are dispersed when they hit the screen.
2amt: The Value of Maintenance
2am Theatre is a great new blog covering, encouraging, and developing some of the best new ideas in theatre. While most of the posts I’ve read so far have been geared towards development, marketing, and community, the site is starting to draw writers from more of a technical theatre background. In today’s latest post, author Jax Steager discusses the importance of maintaining equipment in small theatres with low budgets. This is equally important regardless of the size of your theatre, and some great points are made.
Rose Brand’s Know-How
Started in January of this year, Rose Brand’s Know-How blog has proven to be a site worth following. I am reasonably dubious of manufacturer-run blogs: they are often too self-promoting. In the past eight months, Rose Brand’s site has had a refreshing number of worthwhile posts. While still often self-promoting, it has been a valuable resource for general industry information that can be used in conjunction with any similar products. See below for a run-down of some of my personal favorite posts so far.
- How to Light a Sharkstooth Scrim (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
- How to Specify a Stage Curtain to Obtain a Cost Estimate (Part 1)
- How to Choose Your Flame Retardant (Part 1: Fabrics, Part 2: Wood and Paper Products)
While the latter article is specific to Rose Brand products, it has been useful in navigating the differences between their flame retardancy products.
In between these useful posts, Rose Brand does promote some of their lesser-known products and showcases interesting uses of their products, but it’s worth following for the simple references and guides
Scenic-Shop
At Scenic-Shop, author Mathew D. Jordan blogs about various technical-direction-style solutions mostly from his personal experience. Jordan’s specialties covered in the blog include AutoCAD scripts and commands, Excel formulas, scenic material reviews, and automation solutions. He has been running this blog since May 2008, and recently has been publishing new entries every two weeks or so.
Technical Brief
Yale’s Technical Brief is an excellent publication of some of the best articles written about technical theatre solutions. It is published three times a year as a periodical for a subscription fee of $20 per year. After enough volumes have been published, they are republished into book form as a new volume of Technical Design Solutions for Theatre.
- Volumes 1-10 were published as Technical Design Solutions for Theatre, Volume 1.
- Volumes 11-20 were published as Technical Design Solutions for Theatre, Volume 2.
- Volumes 21-27 have been published, and an index is available on Yale’s Technical Brief site.
Technical Design Solutions for Theatre, Volume 2
Published as the second volume of Technical Briefs series, this book continues to provide classic solutions to common theatre problems.
Technical Design Solutions for Theatre, Volume 1
Originally published by the Yale School of Drama as Technical Briefs, this collection is one of the classic sources for any theatrical problem-solving.
Lifehacker Features a Theatre Workspace
Technology and productivity site Lifehacker features a theatrical lighting and projection design workspace as part of their regular Workspace Show and Tell series. It’s not often that part of our theatre industry gets this kind of mainstream attention. The article doesn’t go into much detail for those familiar with this type of equipment, but a good read nonetheless.
Building a DMX-Arduino Controller
Build a DMX transmitter using the open-source Arduino microcontroller and a DMX shield. The official Arduino:Playground wiki has a great guide to get you started, providing background information on the DMX protocol itself and several code samples. But the key component is the DMX shield that attaches to the Arduino board, and finding a US distributor can be difficult. Tinker.it used to have a link for a US distributor, but it is no longer listed on their site (only for the UK and Europe). The chip pictured above was made by the Zurich University of the Arts’ Interaction Design program.
Has anyone heard of a project using an Arduino as a DMX receiver? I can think of many more theatrical applications for that than for a transmitter, such as the embedding of an arduino-dmx controller in light-duty props or scenery automation so that it can be controlled from a lighting console.