Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

Micbael E. Boyle & Ray Forton

A Curved Handrail of WEP

 

A cross section like that shown in Figure 1 poses no problems for the set builder — as long as it represents a straight piece. But the staircase and handrail that appeared in a Yale Repertory Theatre production of A Play of Giants were not straight: the 5′-wide unit ran through two different curves over its 8′ rise. Thus, we had to find either a way to bend strong but normally straight materials into a compound curve or some sort of casting material that would develop the necessary strength.

FIGURE 1: HANDRAIL SECTION

Discarding the former approach as too time-intensive, we turned to ...