OOC # 39
Ah, I'm back in one of my less-favorite positions at the park...the voice of pragmatism.
One of the tasks on our to-do list for this year is to repaint the stage. Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, last time they had the stage painted, they also had a clear-coat put over it, theoretically to improve the longevity of the paint (it worked fairly well, but they've been talking about repainting the stage every year since they had that done because, while it looks lovely when it's brand new, that high-gloss finish shows every scuff mark, ding, scrape, peeled-up tape mark, and any one of the dozen or so other ways you can ruin a stage floor finish to EXTREME degrees. There's a reason most theaters don't use gloss paint for their stage floors (it also throws weird light reflections, but that apparently isn't an issue with our lighting designer, although he's the only one I've worked with who's never complained about a shiny stage floor).
Last time, they put up plastic around the stage for the winter, the HVAC guys set up some big forced-air propane furnaces to heat it, and the painters took their time getting it done. The clear-coat was the big problem...it is supposed to be applied and remain at temperatures over 60F so that it can cure properly. There are only three days in the forecast for the next two weeks where the temperature is supposed to get above 60, much less stay there for the length of time the coat needs to cure (at least twelve hours before a recoat, and 24 hours before using the floor, if I recall the directions correctly). So, I have concerns about that, because we don't really have the option of putting up the plastic and heating it the same way...we have lights hanging where they attached the plastic last time. So, we may have to forego the clear-coat (or maybe find a less-durable alternative that's not so fussy about its application conditions...)
The clear-coat, itself, is a problem for more than just that reason, though...since we put a clear-coat over the last layer of paint, that's a different formula from the paint, I'm not sure if the new paint will stick to it without some kind of floor prep...scuff-sanding the floor. And nobody's said anything about that so far (I just sent an email to the entire production team to ask about it and express my concerns...), so we may be stuck with the 'slap it on and pray it sticks' approach. That's how most theaters handle their stage floors...but they also don't generally use a non-acrylic-based 'armor coat' over the paint...they just repaint the floor with a new layer of paint, and the acrylic bonds to the acrylic that was there before.
And on top of that, we're having some renovation work done to the theater, and changing the shape of the upstage wall (it currently angles out toward the audience as you get off-stage and into the wings...the stage was originally just a band-stand, and that was desirable to direct the sound of the band toward the audience, but our producer/director wants to use some magic illusions that won't fit through that off-stage opening, so they need to make it wider, and those walls aren't actually structural, so it's a relatively easy fix...) Except the park's carpenters came down and took all the wood off the stage side of the wall, discovered there was some electrical stuff in there, and put the whole project on hold until the electricians came and removed the wiring so the walls could be demolished. And that meant that, rather than just saying, 'Okay, go work on this other stuff until this is a viable option again," they basically rotated us to the bottom of the priority list. The electricians have been done for most of a week, and the carpenters haven't even come to take a look at what their next step is.
And since this project is going to result in more stage floor, we can't paint until they're done, at least with the on-stage stuff (they could do all that and then work on the rest backstage while we paint, but I'm not holding my breath...)
Now, our deadline to finish the stage floor painting? A week from now. So my email was, basically, "So, are we actually doing any sort of prep work on the floor? And that deadline isn't happening, because the carpenters are nowhere close to done and Mother Nature has decided to have seasonal weather in April this year for a change. So how do you want to proceed?" Theoretically, this was all going to be done by next week, so that the illusions that we were theoretically going to move down to the stage by now could be used on stage for early rehearsals. The illusions are still up in the Opera House (which we use as a combination rehearsal area and workshop space) because we don't want to risk them getting damaged or filled with sawdust when the carpenters are rebuilding the new wall sections. We don't have a stage curtain up yet because we don't want to fill it up with sawdust (or have the carpenters snag it with lumber they're taking out or bringing in). And once they decide they're going to start rehearsing down there, painting the stage isn't going to happen, no matter the temperature (at least, not with the clear-coat they bought.)
So, yeah. I'm just a little stressed about it. I mean, if it doesn't get painted, I'm fine with that. They actually bought all the paint for it last year, thinking they would get the painters to do it then, and it just never worked in the schedule. So I'm okay with sticking the paint back in a corner for another year and taking a more practical approach to it (like heating the space so we can paint it in the middle of winter, when NOBODY is using the stage for anything...) Or maybe getting an acrylic-based clear-coat that doesn't require days to apply and cure (I've used Polycrylic on stage floors before, quite successfully). I mean, not every project requires that you buy one of the most expensive products available to do the job (I'm still trying to figure out who decided we needed that particular clear-coat...)
But, hey...I've made my reservations known. We'll see how they decide to address them. The stage isn't THAT bad, it would be fine waiting another year. The paint, by itself, is pretty durable...I used the leftover paint from last time to paint the halls going into our Seance show, it had hundreds of people walk in and out of there last fall and it held up great, so JUST paint should be viable (especially if they're going to turn this into a yearly/every-other-year kind of thing). There are viable ways to proceed. Just need to have them decide which way they want to go (or not go, as the case may be.)
Anyhow...yeah. Life is good. Nothing to worry about. Right? *grin*