Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
There is a variety of historic scenery tucked away in the attic at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado. When the building was renovated, the stage was enlarged, and all of the original wings and shutters were carefully tucked away above the auditorium ceiling. This attic space was also once home to a few hotel rooms, divided by a central sky hall that allowed natural light for each room.
Over the decades, the walls dividing each hotel room were removed and the third floor became home to abandoned artifacts, including theatre scenery, drop rollers, and much more. By the way, it is quite a climb to the attic, over 70 steps in all. This climb, combined with an altitude of 10,000 feet, certainly separates the locals from the flatlanders, like me.
On the attic wall adjacent to the stage and above the proscenium arch is a loft. Well, not quite a “loft,” as there are no floorboards, just joists. We threw down a few planks to walk on.
In this space are some additional wings, rolls, and shutters placed high above. I started my second day in the attic loft. This involved climbing up a wooden ladder with my camera, balancing my way across a few boards, and contorting myself to photograph a few dust-encrusted wings and shutters.
In the meantime, the crew started to clean and remove some of the wings from the attic wall above the proscenium arch. Several flats had been cut down and nailed into the wall above the proscenium arch; no idea why this happened at all. The careful removal of 10’ wings involved detaching the ladder that led to the loft and grid, as it partially covered one wing. A team of three then carefully carried each wing down the winding staircase to the stage.
Meanwhile, plans for the lowering all other stage scenery commenced in earnest. The majority of pieces range from 5’ x 16’ to 12’ x 16’ – sizes too large to carry down the staircase. These pieces were lowered directly from the attic by way of about fifteen feet above the pin rail. By the end of the day, seventeen scenic pieces were lowered with this method. Although there were a few rough starts, some frightening moments, and a couple panicked cries, each piece made it safely to the stage floor. By the end of the day, we established a system, and everything worked like clockwork.
Tomorrow we will set up two of the scenes before lowering more. Due to size, we are saving the shutters for last, focusing on interior sets these first few days. Despite the hard work, it was a wonderful experience and a fantastic group of people to work with. My sincere thanks go out to Carl, Mary Ann, Tammy, Greg, Kan, Curt, Michael, Jane, and Bruce; such an outstanding group of individuals.
To be continued…
