CMU School of Drama


Sunday, September 14, 2008

Fire Curtain Fabric Gets NYC Approval

Stage-directions: "It might not have happened in a New York minute, but J.R. Clancy, Inc. said its curtains made with ZetexPlus fabric, a product of Newtex Industries, Inc., have been approved for use in proscenium theatres in and around Manhattan by the New York City Department of Buildings’ Report of Materials and Equipment Acceptance Division (MEA)."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that this was a huge landmark for this company, seeing as though they were approved everywhere except NYC. I don't know a whole lot about fire curtains, but from what I read it sounds like this brand offers a new and improved method of fire curtain.

Derek said...

Wow! I was under the understanding that NYC had to use a deluge system because of past experiences. This could greatly simplify theaters and construction of spaces in NY. I know that when they made the Kennedy Center, the deluge system cut a huge part of the design and eats a lot of space.

Aaron S said...

Being from California I always just took the CA code as being a state approval. I find it funny to read that it is pretty much a nationally accepted standard. Leave it to NY to be difficult. Shouldn't the center of the US theater industry be the first to accept and approve new technology, not the last.

aquacompass said...

This news is sort of amusing to me given that I've seen Zetek is just about every theater I've worked in -- I wouldn't have ever imagined that it wouldn't be employed on Broadway. Zetek is such a useful and seemingly reliable material, I wonder what exactly stalled it from being accepted in NYC. Whatever the case, this means big bucks for Clancy in the near future as Broadway houses have their drapes replaced and re-furnished. Not to say that I think Clancy is especially hurting -- they are one of the biggest rigging manufactures and installers in our industry.

Anonymous said...

This was good for JR Clancy. They are recognized nationally, and now NYC has finally gotten on the bandwagon. It will definitely be more convenient for the theatres I would think.

Anonymous said...

Whats also kind of cool is that you can buy boarders of Zetex Plus fabric from clancy as well. Say you got a piece of scenery right next to an elecctric that's just putting off heat left and right that is damaging in someway to your scenery. Through that baby in there and get heat barrier between.

Also could be cool if it works for pyro applications. If you shooting some pyro straight down, toss that between your scenery in the air and the pyro as extra burn protection.