CHAPTER 14

FLATS

FLATS ARE THE most quintessential piece of theatrical scenery and have been around at least since the renaissance period when Serlio and Sabbatini were writing their now famous books. The basic rationale behind building flats is to provide a lightweight structure with a surface that represents a large flat area such as a wall. In earlier times, flats were essentially a large artist’s canvas onto which all decoration such as windows, doors, wallpaper, and sometimes even furniture were painted. Early American stagehands would lash the flats together with ropes to form a room or box set. In the early twentieth century that was a method of constructing stage sets that were inexpensive and easily transported. At that time acting companies ...

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