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Houston Ballet’s Venetian Contour Curtain, Winches, and Open Platform Automation System
When Curtains Become Choreography: Houston Ballet’s Raymonda
When Houston Ballet developed Stanton Welch’s world premiere of Raymonda, the scenic design called for a grand and elegant Venetian Contour curtain that required precise, repeatable control to achieve a highly choreographed effect. The design featured three individual curtains acting as layered portals progressing upstage, fabricated from platinum-colored Eclipse Satin. Each layer was independently controlled, with motion carefully timed to create a progressive reveal of the stage - a visual effect dependent on accuracy, synchronization, and consistency.
This wasn’t a curtain that simply opened and closed. It was part of the storytelling. Rose Brand manufactured custom curtains, winches and an open platform automation control system to achieve Houston Ballet's objectives as described below.
The Challenge
How do you create complex, coordinated motion across multiple curtain layers, on a tight load-in schedule, without sacrificing the flexibility needed to build and refine cues during rehearsal?
To achieve the intended effect, each curtain layer required:
- Independent control across multiple lift points
- Precise timing between layers to maintain the reveal sequence
- Repeatable, reliable performance from rehearsals through performance
The Solution
Rose Brand and ADC delivered a system built around 30 ConTour™ winches, a compact and reliable spotline winch integrated with Axis1 Open Platform Automation™. Each winch operated as an independent axis, allowing every lift line to be programmed individually. This made it possible to fine-tune the shape and movement of each curtain layer. The result was a system where the curtains do not just move, they performed and reinforced the choreography on stage.
Open Control That Adapts to Production Needs
From the outset, Houston Ballet underscored that control and programming flexibility would be critical. The system was initially configured using ADC’s Axis1 Open Platform Automation System Controllers as a bridge between the Ballet’s existing Creative Conners software environment and the ADC ConTour Winches.
During the build period, that system approach changed to gain greater flexibility and speed during technical rehearsals. The production team chose to program and control the curtain system directly from a GrandMA lighting console, utilizing Axis1 as the bridge between the lighting console and the ADC ConTour Winches. Since Axis1™ is built on an open architecture and can natively interface via Art-Net (the lighting console's communication protocol), it allowed the more flexible and speedy system to be adopted immediately without any:
- Hardware changes
- Additional integration effort
- Downtime
Built for Performance and Longevity
The full system, developed collaboratively across production, engineering, fabrication, and automation teams, was designed not just for a single production, but as a reusable platform for future work. By combining ConTour™ winches with the Axis1 open control platform, Houston Ballet achieved a system that delivered accuracy, flexibility, and repeatability without limiting how the production evolved.
See the System Test of These Gorgeous Venetian Contour Curtains, Winches & Open Platform Automation System:
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Westridge School Upgrades to Safer, Sustainable IFR Stage Curtains
Westridge School in Pasadena recently underwent a campus-wide upgrade of soft goods, including the stage curtains in the historic Fran Norris Scoble Performing Arts Center and Braun Theatre. Rose Brand designed, fabricated, and installed new inherently flame-retardant (IFR) curtains, sustainable fabrics, and acoustical wall treatments to replace the school’s aging cotton drapery. Thanks to the rigging expertise of the Rose Brand West installation team, the project brought new life to the Westridge stages—creating safer, greener, and better-sounding performance environments for students.
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Curtain Design, Specification & Build
Many times customers come to us with a curtain design that's already been developed and then we make their vision come to life. Other times we’re asked to create the vision, designing from scratch. An example of the latter is our main curtain creation for the historic Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore.
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Storing a Large Main Curtain in a Tiny Off-Stage Area
The crowning jewel of the Westminster School in Annandale, VA is its drama department. So when Artistic Concepts was hired to renovate the school’s auditorium, they engaged Rose Brand to manage the development and installation of the main stage and masking curtains. Two critical issues required resolution: How do you store a drawn, 90’ main curtain in the wings, within a terribly confining off-stage area? How do you produce and install two curtains within a budget that can only accommodate one?
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How to Choose a Velour Fabric for Your Main Stage Curtain
Some important considerations in choosing a velour include flame resistance, weight, color, price, in-stock status, pile height, durability, acoustic properties and effect on the environment. See below for a more in-depth discussion of each of these characteristics.
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The Coming Standards for Powered Curtain Machines
Powered Curtain Machines have been around for a century or more. They are used in exhibits, movie theatres, professional venues, and cafetoriums / gymnatoriums the world over! They have (mostly) worked fine for decades and require very little maintenance. Press a button and they run to their limits. Why do we need a standard for these workhorses?
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How to Clean Your Curtains, Cycs & Nettings
Customers often ask us how to clean their curtains, cycs and nettings. While cleaning is important to maintain the look of these products, it also helps to maintain their flame retardancy characteristics. Here are some important considerations when cleaning natural and synthetic fiber products.
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Jacobs Theatre, Restoration of an Historic Broadway Landmark
Built in 1927, The Shubert Organization’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale) has been home to a long list of outstanding productions. The original theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp under the theme of “modern Spanish style.”
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Giving New Life To Old Curtains: How an Artist Recycled Stage Curtains
Rebekah Lazaridis is a multidisciplinary artist who creates mixed media pieces using tattered curtains, bruised platforms and dented flats. In the Fall of 2015 she used recycled Rose Brand curtains to produce her solo exhibit titled “Broken Legs” hosted at The Sheen Center in New York City.
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