Download a PDF - Stage Directions Magazine

Answer Box
|
By Eric Gebhard
A Delicate Staircase
Engineering meets art for a freestanding staircase in the
Guthrie’s production of A Delicate Balance
Engineering
for
the stage
always has its
challenges and
the staircase
for A Delicate
Balance is no
exception. The
task set before
our technical
team was
to construct a
helical staircase.
To further
complicate the
challenge, we
were required
to leave most Braces hold strips of pine for the staircase’s handrail in place.
of the staircase unsupported to the stage floor. This
was to allow for the main dining table of the lavish
upper class residence and became an actor entrance to
and from other parts of the home.
After designing and drafting the staircase, and doing
the calculations to be sure it would strong enough to
support more than enough weight on it, I provided the
carpenters with full-size printouts of the stair treads
and the height of the steps. They took the prints and
applied them to pieces of 3 / 4 ” plywood and cut out the
shapes.
Next, the carpenters cut 1” tube steel (TS) to fit the
plywood cutouts and welded frames the cutouts would
sit on. Then they welded TS cut to the height of the
steps minus the upper and lower frame thickness under
the front edge of the tread frame. This created the 90
degree corner of the front step. This process was repeated
and steps were built on to previous ones. Temporary
support legs were added as the staircase became taller.
The finished staircase
After the staircase
reached its
final height we
then bent four
pieces of TS to the
fit the underside
of the steps. We
tack-welded these
four support ribs,
evenly spaced
from each other,
across the width
of the steps. The
ribs became the
hypotenuse of
the triangle created
by the step
frames.
After the plywood
for the front of each step was added the steel
was covered with ¼” lauan and the treads got a ¼”
masonite top. The last step was to add the decorative
balustrades and a handrail. In order to get the
handrail to follow the multiple curves we decided to
laminate thin strips of pine. The interior pieces had
a dado added to fit around the balustrades and the
top was finished with a one inch round over for actor
comfort and decoration. The final step was to add a
fluted groove to the downstage edge of the railing.
To complete this we took a 3 / 8 ” bowl bit with a router
guide set to the correct depth and followed the curve
of the railing.
With everything complete we sent the unit to the
paint department for a few coats and the finishing
touches.
Eric Gebhard is the Asst. Technical Director at the Guthrie
Theater
Michal Daniel
Carpenters tack-weld structural steel to build a helical staircase for the Guthrie Theater’s production of
A Delicate Balance.
Raye Birk (Tobias) and Candy Buckley (Claire) in the Guthrie production of Edward Albee’s
A Delicate Balance
28 April 2009 • www.stage-directions.com