Part 4 of an 8-part series on the COUNTERWEIGHT SYSTEM, which will be posted every other week.
(Tip: Even if you don’t have a counterweight system in your theatre, your vocational students will probably work with them in college or in the real world, so a ‘theory’ lesson is always a good idea!)
IMPORTANT: Minors should never re-weight unless under the direct (ie: paying attention) supervision of a competent (ie: trained) adult.
As the name suggests, the system relies on counterweighting (or balancing) objects, like on a seesaw. Every time you change the load on a batten, by adding or removing sets, drapes or lights, you have to similarly adjust the load on the arbor (that is, the assembly of plates and rods that carries the counterweights), by adding or removing metal bricks (aka: pig irons).
Not only does this balancing have to happen, but it also has to happen in a specific order. You always need to keep the majority of weight on the stage, so that nothing comes crashing from above—not that you would allow someone to be underneath a batten when you’re reweighting! When you add weight, you load the sets, drapes or lights first; when you remove weight, you unload the arbor first.
You can learn more from the Entertainment Technician Certification Program for stage rigging (www.etcp.plasa.org). You should also arrange annual training sessions with local certified riggers. Regardless, you should always have a standard loading policy and protocol.
Likewise, no protocol will be useful if the scenery has not been attached properly to the battens. The specific techniques for attaching set pieces to pipes are beyond the scope of this lesson. If you don’t understand how to use rigging hardware, hire a certified rigger. USITT’s Rigging Safety Initiative (www.usitt.org/rsi) and local riggers can provide professional assistance and training.
Remember, students should never attach rigging to scenery without supervision from a trained supervisor.
