High above the Apollo’s stage hangs something almost no theatre in America still has: a working hemp house. Every drop and curtain is flown the way it was done when the building opened in 1914 — by hand, on hemp rope, balanced with sandbags and tied off to wooden belaying pins on the original pinrail. It is one of the last real hemp-rope pinrails left in existence, and it still runs every show.
A stagehand working the rail hauls each line by feel, takes the weight against a sandbag, and locks it off with the same knots crews used a century ago. Look closely at the photos below and you can read the theatre’s recent history right off the woodwork — the crew signs the fly-loft boards with every production.
The rig, up close
The view from the fly floor
The crew’s vantage point, high above a full house. These clips were shot from the fly floor during a live concert on the Apollo stage.
The hemp house is one chapter of a much longer story — walk the whole century on 100 Years of the Apollo. And if you’d like to learn the ropes yourself, the crew is always looking for hands: volunteer backstage.