SCENERY: Sand Onstage

[TrekSM]

Hello,

Thinking about sand onstage for our next production. It will be a large part of the playing space (10' x 9') but not too deep. I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had some insights to working with it. I am curious about the best way to "clean" it and keep it safe and sanitary for the cast. Any tricks to know before we get started? Will we want any special tools, products? Should we anticipate a full replacement halfway through run? Any specific things to look out for?

Thanks so much!


EDIT: Added title tag. - Maribeth

[PSMKay]

I did a show with a floor covered in pine bark mulch. We used a Hudson sprayer full of a blend of witch hazel, eucalyptus oil and water to spritz the floor before and after the show. The oil keeps the dust down, the witch hazel disinfects, and the water just serves as a carrier. As an added bonus, everyone's sinuses were remarkably clear.

[bex]

Just did a show with sand- I second Kay's suggestion to spritz pre-show, even if it's just water- sand in an HVAC controlled space gets really dry really fast, and dry = DUST.

We also laid down carpet backstage around the exits (there were limited entrance/exit points to the sand area from backstage) to minimize the sand getting tracked everywhere, which worked pretty well. We vacuumed the carpets before every show.

We didn't have a very high rate of attrition, surprisingly- we were expecting to have to refill at least once in the 3-week run, but we ended up not needing to at all.

However, as I am now running the next show of the season in that space, there is still sand EV.ERY.WHERE. Lots of sweeping, lots of vacuuming, still a lil bit dusty backstage.

[NomieRae]

I did over hire work on a production that had a sand floor that had to be picked up and MOVED between acts.

They laid down four squares of canvas (some heavy duty stuff) and overlapped the layers in a way with velcro that once the floor was down you could lay the sand on it with little to no spillage onto the floor. To move it, they reversed the order it was laid down and picked up the corners of each individual square and carried it off.

Also agree on carpets everywhere to catch the sand, even a shoe drop off station where they might be able to change into flip flops/slippers might be helpful and keep dressing rooms cleaner.

[PSMKay]

However, as I am now running the next show of the season in that space, there is still sand EV.ERY.WHERE. Lots of sweeping, lots of vacuuming, still a lil bit dusty backstage.

There was a production of Richard II at the Chopin Theatre in 1999 that used a salt-covered floor. (Stories of that floor may well have ascended to infamy at this point.) They were still finding salt under the seats four years later.

[little_owl]

I just saw a play last weekend in which they had the floor, about the size that you mentioned full of sand. I talked to the stage manager about it and they said they needed a lot more sand then you might realize. It looked like there wasn't too much of a problem keeping it not all over the place but I'm sure they will have it around the theatre for a good while after the show is over. One thing though is to keep in mind about sand getting kicked up and in the air, it bothered by eyes a good bit and I wasn't that close to the stage. They used a small layer of it but it still seemed to have the particles of it kicked up so easily.   

[ejsmith3130]

I did a show in college with sand and we didn't have any dust problems with it. We did have a system that kept it from getting everywhere though- We first laid plastic sheeting (a heavy duty plastic drop cloth- I think it took several gaffed together) and then on top of that we laid a masonite floor that we gaffed together and painted brown. The sand was then poured on top of that. We would sweep the outling floor each night and put the sand back on the stage. When we cleaned up the plastic caught all of the excess sand- what we didn't anticipate was the disposal, and the sand was WAY heavier than we thought, so some spilled when we were taking it to the dumpster as it was far away. We used a shop vac to pick up the final sand, and then mopped several times to get rid of the dusty layers that were left behind.

Overall this worked well for us in a flexible black box space with a wood floor, but might not be plausible in all situations.

[Kelasaurus]

I've worked in a space that had a show with sand everywhere in it almost 4 years ago.

We're still finding sand.

[DeeCap]

I agree with what everyone is saying. I just want to add that depending on where the audience sits it might be wise to have a few ushers planted in front of the stage. You wouldn't believe how many patrons would want to go up and grab/take the sand.

[LizzG]

We used a rake to clean up the pile of sand in the middle of our set and make it look pretty.

[leastlikely]

We used granulated cork for our sand. It's less dense, and less scratchy. http://www.marylandcork.com/

[iamchristuffin]

On the note of weight, a playing space of 8m*8m, with a roughly average depth of 8-10cm, used nearly 3.5 tonnes of dry sand! We were in the theatre for three weeks, and on the out, we found that the sand had removed all the varnish from the parquet floor in the auditorium. We were performing in the round, and the transfer simply from the cast and through airborne particles took the whole lot up.

On the subject of dust, PSMKay's suggestion sounds good. We just sprayed water from spray bottles before the cast were called, and again just before house opened.

The entire space was swept two or three times a day, carpet mats were placed at entrances (hoovered twice a day), and the sand was raked before the cast were called, and again at the half.

We also didn't find it necessary to put anything under the sand. The stage floor was painted, and the sand spread out on top.

The final suggestion I have it to ask the company (at all times, except dresses and performances) to bring in a second pair of shoes, and only use their costumes on the sand. Even with the regular raking and cleaning, I was regularly picking little stones and other bits from 'outside'.....

Any other questions, just ask!

HTH,

C

[MatthewShiner]

I did a show with red sand (I've also done two shows with red clay in-field dirt - don't ask).

The sand will get everywhere - you will find it for years in your theater.  It will track home on the crew, the cast.  It's impossible to control.

Load in will be hard - load out will take forever (we eventually had to hire a company that cleans up after sandblasting.)  Safety eyewear and respirators were key.

How to maintain it will depend what you want the look to be.  We wanted a flat surface until people walked on it - so we came up with large squeegees on sticks.

We got playground sand (dyed red - it oddly comes in lots of colors).  It was fine.

One of the big things we had to deal with - although the show was only like 67 minutes, was fatigue during tech - standing and walking on sand takes a lot out of you.  We ended up taking more breaks, and longer breaks (10 minutes every 50 minutes). 

Again, sand got everywhere.

(I remember four years later, replace a piece of the stage to find three inches of sand in a hole.)

And . . . dyed sand transfers dye.  Everyone had pink stuff by the end of the run - blacks can end up with a pink tint.

[bex]

I also did a show with 350lbs of rubber mulch- the kind that looks like bark mulch but is made of recycled tires.

350lbs doesn't sound like that much, until you have to shovel it all into a hole in the stage at intermission with a snow shovel. I had audience members walk up to the edge of the stage and offer to help me. More often though they would just grab a handful, say "Look honey, it's made of rubber!" and then toss it back onto the stage. That always amazed me- the rubber smell was so strong I thought it was obvious we weren't using real mulch, but we actually had a patron complain that it set off her cedar allergies and we should have used the rubber kind. Lady, is your nose broken? Because it smells like the bicycle aisle at Walmart in this theater right now.

I'm sure they're still finding it in that theater, because I'm still finding it in jacket pockets, bags, my tool belt, you name it.

ETA: Rubber mulch is also EXTREMELY difficult to sweep up. Use the stiffest bristle brooms you can find.

[On_Headset]

we actually had a patron complain that it set off her cedar allergies and we should have used the rubber kind. Lady, is your nose broken? Because it smells like the bicycle aisle at Walmart in this theater right now.

These are always fun conversations.

My personal favourite house manager story.

PAX: "The costumes... is that real fur?"
HM: "No, no, we only use faux fur."
PAX: "Fox fur?! That's disgusting! I'm going to be sick!"

She subsequently cancelled her subscription.