I had never actually walked on a Tension Wire Grid before I joined the staff at InterAmerica, although I had heard of them. The first project I was involved with really demonstrated the advantages! It was immediately obvious how access to high locations is greatly improved, along with the feeling of safety and security that one experiences while walking high above the stage floor level. I remembered all those times when other students and I performed some hair rising stunts just to reach a lighting fixture let alone work on one. Whenever a show loaded in and Front of House electrics needed to be hung, re-jelled and/or focused, it was always a hassle to reach them and the lighting positions were relatively fixed so not much creative lighting could be done. It was even more painful when we had to run cable to the light fixtures. At one facility, Barry University, IAstage installed tension wire grid over the thrust, orchestra pit and out over the sixth row of audience seating. Now that's what I call a FOH lighting position. Lights can be positioned anywhere out front. Their lighting flexibility has been increased tremendously. Another great new advantage of the tension wire grid involves the auditorium's sound reinforcement system. Their speaker monitors and the main speaker cluster are located above the grid, out of sight. Like the light passing through the grid, you can blow sound through it too. Far too often I've been to performances that had reinforced sound where the speakers were pointing in all the wrong directions not hitting the audience as they should. That's simply due to the difficult and dangerous task of accessing the speakers for proper focus and adjustment. With a tension wire grid, speakers can be reached anytime for fine tuning or maintenance.

Additionally, UCF has a suspended Pipe Gird in the Black Box theatre. It was always a hassle to do any lighting work because it was not an easy task to get the fixtures or to hang them. The only way to get to the appropriate positions was either to crawl in the grid from one point to the other, use a genie and/or scaffolding. We always had a difficult time finding someone who would fit in the grid. Anyone taller then 5'6" had a real hard time moving around the HVAC ducts and structural supports. However, anyone smaller had a difficult time reaching the actual lighting fixtures with out hanging out of the grid by their feet. With a tension wire grid, anyone at anytime would have been able to get around safely without the fear of falling out. Additionally, the genie and scaffolding use was limited once the scenery was installed, leaving crawling as the only option. If we had a tension wire grid at the Black Box, any of the students and staff would have been able to get around safely, quickly, and more eagerly, without the very real and constant fear of falling. Additionally, the capability of walking from fixture to fixture with hand tools is infinitely safer, instead of tying the tools to your belt, and using your hands to hang on, to prevent falling!

I'm truly excited about the new wire tension grid product and accessories offered by IAstage. I have seen first-hand the benefits in theme parks, experimental theatres, worship spaces, and dozens of other applications. It is truly a great new product, and if more architects and theatre consultants were aware of the safety benefits and operational advantages, they would surely include them in their designs for any theatrical space, especially in educational facilities. Not only is it beneficial to the stage crew, but particularly so for the building maintenance crew, because it provides safe access to the building equipment such as air handling, water valves, alarm systems, and so forth. It is a safer and much more effective way to address all of the comprehensive requirements of a contemporary theatre or performance facility!

Ms. Keiko Kasai, TD, IASI.