Backstage
Strutting
Published in August 2008 event design | Departments
Entertainment Co., a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based events booking, marketing and production company, asked John Garberson, president of Tempe, Ariz.-based Creative BackStage, to produce a fashion program, set and stage for the Scottsdale Fashion Week runway show. The client asked Creative BackStage to design a creative, eye-catching look that spotlighted the high-end fashion by top designers. The newest looks were to be showcased for three days and three nights on a stage built on the street in downtown Scottsdale.
Among the challenges that Garberson’s team overcame was designing an 84-foot-long runway that could be built overnight and completed before the area shops opened in the morning. The catwalk’s unusual length required impeccable timing of the production.
Additionally, the triangular design of the backdrop for the stage posed its own challenges in preventing light bleed and allowing different colors or light patterns to be displayed at the same time in different triangles.
1 The 20-foot by 20-foot custom truss system, designed by Garberson, was fabricated from Show Solutions 8-inch truss lined with LED pars. The customized triangle spandex built by NV Scenic was framed with a metal frame that inserted into the truss.
2 Lighting the tri spandex was accomplished via MAC 2000 Performance intelligent lights, which have a four-blade framing system that let Creative BackStage frame the spandex with no light bleed through on the truss.
3 The runway was built with Staging Concepts staging. The 8-foot-wide and 84-foot-long catwalk was covered with Rosco Dance Floor portable flooring. This innovation provided the high-gloss runway needed for three days of use.
4 The sound system was an EAW system consisting of several EAW NT29 self-powered loudspeakers, SB1000 high-powered subwoofers and an EAW KF730 line-array system, all of which precisely covered the event site.
5 The truss rig was designed with eight self-climbing truss towers that carried the full load of lighting, sound, video and scenic elements.