Week 7: How to Mask a Set

Start with your empty theater and your Lineset Schedule, noting the available pipes and any obstructions or difficulties in the space:

 STEP ONE: Starting downstage, add a set of Legs and a Border to set the opening of the space, if you are portalling in from the proscenium opening. Always put Borders DS of Legs, so you will hide the lineset that the Legs are hanging on using the border. Do this in both your Ground Plan and your Centerline Section.  Note the placement of these soft goods in your Lineset Schedule:

STEP TWO: After laying out your first set of Legs and Borders, use the extreme sightlines to determine the placement of the Hanging Electric to hide behind the first border in your Centerline Section.  Similarly, use extreme sightlines to determine the placement of a Boom to hide behind your first set of legs in your Ground Plan. Note the placement of the Electric in your Lineset Schedule:

STEP THREE: Use the Extreme Sightlines in your Ground Plan to determine the placement of your next set of Legs US.  Your next border will hang immediately downstage of these Legs. Transfer the Location of your new Legs and Borders to your Centerline Section. Use the Extreme Sightlines in your Section to check to make sure the placements you determined from your Ground Plan work.  Sometimes, depending on the set, you need to determine the Legs first.  In other situations, you need to determine the borders first. Note the placement of these soft goods in your Lineset Schedule:

STEP FOUR: Repeat step two, placing a new electric and a new boom upstage of your new Legs and Border. Note the placement of this Electric in your Lineset Schedule:

STEP FIVE: Repeat steps three and four, placing a new set of Legs, a new Border, a new Electric and a new Boom upstage of your new Legs and Border.

STEP SIX: Repeat this process upstage as needed until your set and the space is fully masked to the back wall or to your US Drop Package:

STEP SEVEN: Add any drops as needed.  A typical drop package might include a Scrim, a Cyclorama, a Bounce Drop, as well as an Electric and a Groundrow to light the Bounce Drop:

STEP EIGHT: Trim your Sightlines so that they don’t overwhelm the drawing: