Projects & Installations

TESTIMONIAL → Belfry Theatre

Scenework We were renovating a 100 year-old Baptist church. It had been in use as a theatre for some time but needed to be brought up to modern day standards. We started at the foundation and worked up to the roof. The front of house lighting positions were dead hung from rafters and only accessible by rolling scaffolding in between the seats. This was slow, cumbersome and damaging to the seats every time we focused.

I had a real design issue. I wanted to have catwalks to increase efficiency and safety. I could not bear to watch it take 3 technicians, an hour to focus a light. The ceiling of this beautiful old building was all tongue-in-groove cedar with no way to cut alcoves into it. The roof truss system was a series of 50', 18" x 18" clear old growth fir beams.

I had been working with Ron Foley of SCENEWORK on designing our new dimming and circuit distribution. I had already worked with Ron on a number of other projects in the past and I really enjoyed his willingness and ability to find creative answers. Ron and I began talking about how we might approach this challenge. This was clearly going to be a custom job of some sort. In short order, we had a concept. Ron proposed that we create a series of U-shaped hangers, take them up through to the roof joists and create a custom catwalk from schedule 60 pipe and scaffold clamps.

We had the concept engineered and worked with the architect to ensure the fit, look and safety. Ron came out to The Belfry for installation. As with any retrofit of this nature, on-site adjustment and creativity is essential. Ron came up with a scheme to access the catwalk from the balcony without requiring a ladder.

Sightlines from the upper balcony were going to make this even more complicated than we thought. We were going to end up with a maximum of 4' clearance from the catwalk deck to the ceiling. The catwalk was in fact a very comfortable cat-crawl. Handrails were added using a series of schedule 40 pipe and clamp fittings.

Installation took a few days. It went together quickly, like piecing together a giant meccano set. After the initial installation of the main supports (the U-brackets), each piece of pipe was custom cut and installed. The concept had been well thought out and the end product was an instant hit with the technicians, the architect and of course production management.

This project would not have happened without the ingenuity of Ron Foley and Scenework. The end result speaks for itself.

Bruce Halliday
Production Manager/Technical Director
The Belfry Theatre
Victoria BC

Note:
Mr. Halliday is now the General Manager of The Port Theatre in Nanaimo BC