Clearwing - Blog

Coolidge High School upgrades rigging, drapery, and lighting systems with Clearwing

Written by Jay Baumgardner | July 12, 2023 at 2:48 PM

Coolidge High School called Clearwing out to look at their facility in late 2019.  The stage drapes had already been removed due to their condition and the rigging system was rough.  The building and systems needed some TLC as it was all original equipment from the early 80s.  Clearwing recommended a full-scale replacement of the counterweight rigging system, tracks and drapes.

Clearwing began by demolishing the entire rigging system including the T-track down to the stage wall.  Clearwing contracted iWeiss to manufacturer the entire system and started installing the wall guide as soon as it arrived.  The grid and beams were cleaned and then 224 loft blocks and 32 head blocks were hauled up.  Once the rigging for the counterweight sets was well underway, an H&H Specialties curtain machine and custom curved track were installed for the 28’ tall thrust curtain.  Main valance and grand travelers were dead hung, due to building obstructions, and all the drape panels from Bellatex were suspended.

During the renovation, lighting was discussed to enhance the appearance of the stage to match up with the beautiful new drapes.  A full LED replacement was designed and accepted so demolition started in the electrical room while the other work was ongoing.  A new Eaton electrical panel was ordered and installed by WAV Electric to feed an ETC relay panel for most of the original circuit boxes.  New drop boxes were constructed for over stage to spread out the circuits and provide more flexibility.  Lighting network was run to all fixture locations and ETC LED ColorSource fixtures were installed.