A Guide to Soft Goods

04 Sep 2016

A Guide to the Performance Hall’s Soft Goods

What most people refer to as “curtains” are actually called “soft goods” within the technical theater community. As opposed to “hard goods,” soft goods have the capability to fold. These goods include items such as legs, borders, scrims, full stage blacks, and grand curtains (also referred to as main curtain). The Performance Hall at the University of Chicago has all of these. This section guides you through identifying, hanging, folding, and handling these various soft goods.

Every soft good’s basic components are in relation to how it hangs on stage. A good’s top, bottom, back and front are easily identifiable even when folded. When one of these goods is set up on stage, the top refers to the end near the ceiling, the bottom to the end at the floor, the front refers to the side facing the audience, the back is the side the audience can’t see.

Along the top of the good is a row of lengths of tie line. These tie lines are used to attach it to the pipe. When tying these lines to a batten, use a knot like tying your shoes. First, tie a simple half hitch, or what is commonly known as a single knot. Then, finish with a bow. Never tie a double knot. The ties on every good are all black except for one white tie; the white tie is your center tie.

When hanging a soft good, first determine if it requires fullness or tautness (a loose or a tight look). Our borders and legs usually require fullness whereas our scrim and the full stage black need to be hung taut. Knots should be tight against the batten pipe unless instructed otherwise. Never hang soft goods on a batten where they will be in direct contact with lights. This is a fire hazard. Talk to your supervisor and the visiting production team to determine a compromise.

On the top of the good is a handwritten label, naming the good and giving specifications related to the size of the good. When taking down and folding it, the label must always end up on the outside of the roll so future stagehands can easily identify it. You’ll notice only the Legs and Film Screen Masking curtains have chain at the bottom. The purpose of this chain is to stretch the good down to the stage and keep it from moving if touched.

You should always have a buddy or two helping when folding soft goods. It is possible to fold solo, but it is very, very hard. Before flying-in any soft good, first clear the deck and sweep the floor! We want to keep our curtains looking tidy for a number of good reasons. Never walk on any of the soft goods with shoes.

When flying-in any batten, pull together a ground crew to watch the pipe from stage level. While watching the pipe for possible collisions, your ground crew should also do an initial rough accordion folding of the curtain, making sure the front velour doesn’t accidentally fall forward onto the floor. Do not pull it too hard on the curtains as you fold them; you do not want to put too much stress on the rigging or move the pipe much.

Once the batten has stopped moving, untie the goods and fly the pipe out again so there is nothing in the way while folding. Before you start moving the curtain around and spreading it out to fold, make sure all of the front is always face up and the back is face down. The back is a rougher texture than the velvety front, so it’s easy to tell the difference. It is important that the good rolls only on its back, so as to “save face.”

Lay the first curtain out flat onstage. Each good is folded differently, so have a clear plan on how you will fold each one before you do. Most of our curtains are folded bottom to top (as many times as needed) then rolled from one side to the other, as to fit into the bin, with the information label facing out.

When folding (with your buddy) run one side’s corners to the other side’s corner trying to catch air in between the top and bottom sections. Capturing air also makes folding easier, resulting in less drag and allows you a few moments to fix problem areas with ease. Have a third person catching and realigning the center lines as they will be the biggest problems. Always remember to make sure your lines are even and edges match. Do not forget about the bottom half just because you can’t see it anymore! Each piece should be flat and even. If your fold has overshot the bottom edge, redo the fold.

Legs
Legs are used to create wings. They come in pairs, one hung with fullness on each side of the stage on the same batten. The Performance Hall has four sets of legs. Keep each leg with its buddy.
Hanging Legs

• Prior to hanging legs, determine whether you need pipe extensions in each end of the batten.
• Also, determine how far onstage the legs are needed for the show.
• First tie the onstage and offstage ties where you want them, then tie the center tie line. Now you have 2 identical sections that need their centers tied. Once those are tied, you will have 4 sections that need their centers tied. Continue to tie 50% marks until all ties are evenly spaced and secure.
• When flying the batten out, the person running the rigging console is responsible for gathering a ground crew and ensuring that nothing crashes into the architecture. The ground crew (of at least 2 people) is responsible for watching the pipe and attachments, as well as physically unfolding the legs as they fly. ALWAYS have eyes on both ends of the batten as you fly it out so that you don’t damage the walls, ceiling, the battens or other people on stage.
• If the legs are dirty, stop flying them out and clean them as you go.
• The person at scene control must stop the batten before it reaches its upper limit where it sits in its ceiling pocket. With the extensions in, it will not fit; it must sit below its home. Again, ALWAYS watch the batten as you raise it.
• Fly the legs far enough out so their bottoms sit just barely on the stage.
• Walk up to FOH to double check that they are evenly placed on stage. If they’re not perfectly even or end up covering the speakers, redo them.

Folding Legs

• Spread the leg out the length of the stage, front side face up.
• Legs are folded over twice (side to side), and then rolled bottom to top.
• Once laid out, check where the label is on the top section. This side will remain on the floor as you fold toward it so it is on the outside when you put the leg away.
• If one edge starts to cone inwards while the other cones out, unroll and reroll.
• Be aware at this point that one side of the good may be thicker than the other. The thicker side should be kept as tight as possible. The other should loosen just enough to keep it even.
• Load the rolled leg into the bin using the help of gravity. Tipping the bin and rolling the good inside will usually be harder than picking the good up and dropping it inside, but can be done if needed.

Borders
Borders are used with legs to complete the proscenium look. They are also used to hide other things hanging in the air, such as lights & other things in the air. They run the width of the stage, but only hang down a few feet from the ceiling. Our borders are also used as a skirt to mask the bottom of the film screen.

The Performance Hall’s borders are stored in the same bins as the legs. Borders would normally be hung 1 pipe downstage of a set of legs, but because our space was designed with some oddities, there’s really only one good place to hang a border and that’s U3. U3 is special because it does not interfere with the lights.
Hanging Borders

• Just as with the legs, use the 50% rule when tying the border to the pipe.
• Fly the batten out all the way, always keeping eyes on it.

Folding Borders

• The border itself is much longer than the width of the stage, so open the downstage panels to allow yourself more room.
• Lay the border out so the center is farther offstage and prepare the first half by spreading it out and laying the onstage side flat.
• Fold this edge to the center line evenly and then pull the border across the stage to give yourself room to repeat the process with the other side.
• Flatten out the unfolded side and fold to the center line
• Now that you have the whole thing fitting on stage, fold the bottom to the top.
• It’s impossible to keep the label on the outside of a border, since we’ve brought both ends to the center, so just keep track of which one you’re working with before rolling and binning it.
• Borders aren’t as easy to lift, but they’re still liftable.

Full Stage Black (FSB)
The full stage black is usually used to cover the upstage wall or to cut the depth of stage in half. In the Performance Hall, it can be hung from U3, U4, U6 and D-Light.
Hanging Full Stage Black

• Unroll the full stage black on the stage.
• Starting at center and working offstage, tie every other tie until you reach the end of the pipe.
• Back at center, pull your knots away from the center, pulling the fabric taut in both directions.
• Stop when the bottom of the FSB rests on the deck of the stage.

Folding Full Stage Black

• Fold the good bottom to top, making sure to catch lots of air.
• Repeat this twice with the new bottom edge you have created, folding the good a total of three times, always bottom to top.
• Roll the good so the label stays on the outside.
• Tip the hamper over and set it on it’s side, roll the good inside, and carefully tip it back up.
• You will need another person to do this, the hamper will now be very heavy.

Scrims (white and black)
The Performance Hall has two scrims, a black scrim and a white scrim. They are stored in the same bin upstage but inside canvas bags to keep them from pilling on each other. Unlike the other soft goods in the Performance Hall, scrims are used aesthetically, to both bounce and transmit light. They are often used in dance pieces, alongside a ground row of strip or cyc lights. They are sometimes used as an alternate upstage projection surface.

Because the scrims are so light, they will need to be bottom-piped once they’re flown out. Bottom pipe can be found in the storage room across from the greenroom. They are the lightweight aluminum pipes that fit together, end to end. When bottom-piping the scrim, make sure the pipe sits in the inner nylon pocket, not the outer fabric pocket.

Scrims are hung and folded in the same manner as the full stage black. When hanging, start in the center and work your way off stage then go back and pull tautness into the fabric. When folding, fold bottom to top 3 times before rolling toward the label.

Hampers
All of the Performance Hall’s soft goods are stored in hampers that live along the upstage wall backstage. Each hamper is labelled according to its contents. The hampers are only just small enough to pass through the upstage corridor and downstage doors to the stage. Be careful when moving them, as their hinges may catch on the architecture. For extra precaution, open panels to get the bins onstage. Determine whether you need to lay the bin on its side before loading or unloading goods. If you do, lay it down with its open lid on the floor. Be aware of the locks! Be extremely careful to not scratch the stage.