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Chapatti

Peninsula Players Theatre
Scenic Design by Sarah Ross
Photos feature; Penny Slusher & Greg Vinkler

Production Photos

photo credit; Len Villano

Technical Challenges

"Chappati" was originally a radio play later adapted to the stage.  There are no scene breaks so one scene flows quickly into another.  This presented a challenge for coming in and out of Dan's flat.  The design called for a bed to track onstage by no visible means.  Automation isn't something we've done a lot of at Peninsula Players. 

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For this effect, we used a "Dog & Track" system powered by a hand winch I built for a previous production.  Below you can find pictures and drawings used for the effect.

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Platform Schedule with Track
Track Detail w/ Turnaround
This is a hand winch I built from a "Yale Tech Briefs" article for a past production.The rear section of sheaves are adjustable to provide tension on the wire rope.  Under heavier loads, the rope can stretch a little making it harder to move the scenery.  The series of eight sheaves are used to create friction so scenery can be moved easily and not drift when the operator stops cranking.

A Turnaround Sheave allows the wire rope to come from the hand winch and then double back to the winch again with a minimal footprint being taken up by the track.  I designed the track with two channels.  One channel for the "Dog" to move back and forth the other for the cable return.  The wire rope is attached in front and back of the "Dog" to create an endless loop. 

 

The "Dog" (pictured above) is a carrier which has a slot in the middle to receive a piece of flat steel known as a knife which attaches the piece of scenery to the dog.  When the track is covered, a thin slot will be left in the decking so the knife from the scenic unit and the two blades from the dog will keep the movement of the unit in a dedicated line.  The knife needs to be removable in case the scenic pieces needs to be worked on.

Another challenge had to do with the set itself.  The biggest visual element was a series of windows suspended in space with no visible means of support.  I have implemented this look  before but the challenge rests in keeping the windows in line, evenly space and level. 

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While doing some research for an idea I had, I found a specialty piece of hardware that allowed a piece of 1/16" aircraft cable to feed through a clip and clamp in place.  The cable could then continue on to the next window.  The clips were easily adjustable to level out the windows.

Picutred is a "Griplock Hook" clipped into a shackle plate.  Griplock Hooks have a Working Load Limit of 126 lbs

Pictured is a column of windows using this hardware.  Each window was about 10 lbs so all well within load limits of cable and hardware.

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