My company got a new AD who hates our current Nutcracker set. The company (whom I have been with for just over a year now) has been renting this set for as long as anyone can remember, and it has basically be grandfathered-in tha we rent and use it every year. Well that's about to change because the AD hates it, not to mention the years of abuse it has taken along with being a rental set for longer than anyone can remember has taken its toll on the condition of the pieces.
The board declined the request to have a new one designed and built, so we're sticking to the same budget but looking for a different rental set that the AD likes that we can rent in place of the one he doesn't like.
I've been to kenmark, grosh, backdrops beautiful and every other drop rental site I could find, but in general, while the AD likes many of the Act I drops, but he does not like any of the Act II drops.
I've been calling around to ballet companies in the region and just outside of it, that do not have Nutcracker run dates that coincide with ours, to see what renting their sets will cost, if they're available and if they will rent them. So far, I'm S.O.L. The companies are either expanding their runs and the dates conflict, don't rent their sets, don't own their sets either, or their sets are primarily hard sets and would eat my budget in shipping alone.
Does anyone have any leads on companies I could call (Ballet or Set Rental) to try to find a Nutcracker set to rent for this Dec. 2014 (specific dates are Dec. 6th to deliver and Dec. 15th to ship back). Or any advice on how to refine my searches to make my pursuit more productive?
Thanks in advance!