rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft

Kenny Greenberg wrote in
news:016nj3t7o7pcu9ssh2jce3f21kbq1j9pfp@ :

> As for cost, it's hand fabricated glasswork. Yet I have had
> many instances where my bid was lower than the LED imitation
> and neon was able to accomplish tight and graceful shapes that
> were not possible with other look-alikes.

This echoes the point I made earlier about one of those neon
substitutes. It broke when we tried to bend it into the shape we
needed, even though we carefully followed every direction.

And I have flown actual neon, and I concur with Kenny; if you
plan it out, you shouldn't have a problem.

The budget realities of regional repertory theater make the cost
of neon prohibitive; Broadway and national tours can make the
investment because they have hundreds of performances to make
back their investment, if not thousands of performances.

Most regional houses only have a couple of dozen shows at most to
recoup their costs.

One way to get by this is to get several theaters together to co-
produce a play. The theaters need to have similar programming
and budgets, but be far enough apart geographically that they're
not stealing each other's audiences. Ballet and Opera companies
do this frequently; it's the only way they can underwrite lavish,
multi-million-dollar productions.

--
}:-) Christopher Jahn
{:-( /

Bonzo the Demon Dog from Hell with Handlebars for Ears.