Small Stage Sets on Tour


Book Description

Text and illustrations provide instruction on how to build, transport, set up, and use portable stage sets, describing various theatre types, and including discussion of stage construction in churches, schools, and other spaces.







Mechanical Design for the Stage


Book Description

Scenic effects involving rotating turntables, tracking stage wagons, and the vertical movement of curtains and painted drops have become common in both Broadway and Regional theatre productions. The machines that drive these effects range from small pneumatic cylinders pushing loads of a few pounds an inch or two, to 40 horsepower winches running multi-ton scenery at speeds 6 feet per second or more. Usually this machinery is designed by theatre technicians specifically for a particular show's effect. Compared to general industry, this design process is short, often only a few days long, it is done by one person, design teams are rare, and it is done in the absence of reference material specifically addressing the issues involved. The main goal of this book is to remedy this last situation. Mechanical Design for the Stage will be a reference for you that will: * provide the basic engineering formulas needed to predict the forces, torques, speeds, and power required by a given move * give a technician a design process to follow which will direct their work from general concepts to specific detail as a design evolves, and * show many examples of traditional stage machinery designs. The book's emphasis will be on following standard engineering design and construction practices, and developing machines that are functional, efficient to build, easily maintained, and safe to use.







Kiss Alive Forever


Book Description

Provides overviews of each tour, road crew interviews, opening act listings, and index of all of the band's songs, and more than 200 photos chronicling their concert history. Original.




The Stage Manager's Toolkit


Book Description

The Stage Manager’s Toolkit provides a comprehensive account of the role of the stage manager for live theatre with a focus on both written and verbal communication best practices. The book outlines the duties of the stage manager and assistant stage manager throughout a production, discussing not only what to do but why. The book identifies communication objectives for each phase of production, paperwork to be created, and the necessary questions to be answered in order to ensure success. This book was written for Stage Management courses in Theatre programs and for the working professional.




Make Space


Book Description

"If you are determined to encourage creativity and provide a collaborative environment that will bring out the best in people, you will want this book by your side at all times." —Bill Moggridge, Director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum "Make Space is an articulate account about the importance of space; how we think about it, build it and thrive in it." —James P. Hackett, President and CEO, Steelcase An inspiring guidebook filled with ways to alter space to fuel creative work and foster collaboration. Based on the work at the Stanford University d.school and its Environments Collaborative Initiative, Make Space is a tool that shows how space can be intentionally manipulated to ignite creativity. Appropriate for designers charged with creating new spaces or anyone interested in revamping an existing space, this guide offers novel and non-obvious strategies for changing surroundings specifically to enhance the ways in which teams and individuals communicate, work, play--and innovate. Inside are: Tools--tips on how to build everything from furniture, to wall treatments, and rigging Situations--scenarios, and layouts for sparking creative activities Insights--bite-sized lessons designed to shortcut your learning curve Space Studies--candid stories with lessons on creating spaces for making, learning, imagining, and connecting Design Template--a framework for understanding, planning, and building collaborative environments Make Space is a new and dynamic resource for activating creativity, communication and innovation across institutions, corporations, teams, and schools alike. Filled with tips and instructions that can be approached from a wide variety of angles, Make Space is a ready resource for empowering anyone to take control of an environment.




Voices from the Small Stage


Book Description

Performing live music in front of an audience is fun and rewarding. These stories give the reader a "behind-the-scenes" look at what we think it ultimately takes to become a popular and successful local musician—and why we enjoy music. In this compilation of memoirs and narratives, several musicians talk about their backgrounds, their motivations, their aspirations, and their successful and not-so-successful experiences. Think of it. Musicians are performing in your town, somewhere, probably right now, as you read this. Country bands, rock groups, jazz ensembles, community bands, solo acts, duets– they’re all good and they all love interaction with friends and fans. Live music is such a great part of the American experience. “Voices from the Small Stage” reveals our part in local music history.




Stage Lighting Design


Book Description

"Stage Lighting Design" covers the complete history, theory and - above all - practice of lighting design. It contains 450 black and white half tones, 60 colour photos and innumerable diagrams, lighting plots etc. "Stage Lighting Design" is arranged in four sections: Design: the basic principles, illustrated with reference to specific productions; History: a brief survey of the historical development of stage lighting; Life: interviews with 14 other lighting designers, plus notes on Pilbrow's own career; and Mechanics: a vast section dealing with all the technical data today's designer will need.




Creative and Successful Set Designs


Book Description

Filled with dozens of photos, illustrations, and technical diagrams, Todd Muffatti’s Creative and Successful High School Set Design guides theatre teachers through the preparation and design steps necessary to build an appropriate and effective stage set. Using his 40-year career as a professional set designer and university professor, Muffatti shares tips from his creative process and offers practical ideas about how to approach and accomplish imaginative set designs for high school theatre. Creative and Successful High School Set Design discusses the spatial relationship of the auditorium and stage, the factors to be considered when choosing a script, and the research necessary to arrive at a proper visual metaphor for a production. Muffatti covers many design style options and creative approaches that don’t require extensive building expertise, large amounts of time, or great expense. He shows how a small stock of basic scenery can be used to creatively serve multiple set designs with minimal additions. Muffatti outlines the skills involved in the design process — from sketching and drafting, to set dressing and model building — and provides illustrations to offer further guidance. Creative and Successful High School Set Design instills in high school drama teachers the imaginative, practical, and safe set designing habits that will help lift their students’ dramatic performances to their highest levels of achievement.