How to do a Scheck Party
To host an Scheck party, first you need a reasonable amount of space. Someone’s backyard in the city won’t cut it. A rural area, like a farm, is better. Somewhere in the forest is better still. If you have a bunch of people and are gonna make noise, hopefully the neighbors are not close at hand. If they are, then invite them to the party.
As a rule, a Scheck party is not trying to make money. If it was, it wouldn’t be Scheck. But there are costs in having a party, and its best to ask everyone to share. So as to avoid problems, we call them donations. It’s pretty reasonable to ask for $10 per person, and as much as $20-25 for the weekend. Because this is money, it needs to be handled responsibly. Someone needs to have some change on hand, keep the cash in a lock box, etc.
A Scheck party usually happens over at least a couple of days, maybe starting on Thursday night, and ending Sunday. Camping should be encouraged. While it is primarily a social gathering, some entertainment should be planned. This usually involves music, perhaps bands. Often this means sound gear, and if the bands play at night, lighting. Obviously the bands need somewhere to play, and now we need a stage.
It’s pretty easy to cobble together or rent a PA and some lights. A stage is a bit more involved, because it has to safely support a lot of weight. However, there are a lot of options. Keep in mind that any production will involve some work, and some advance preparation. It’s likely that the stage and stuff will need to be setup prior to the first day of the party. Spread out the work, and you’ll have more time to enjoy the party.
1. Lowest costIf there is no budget for a stage, simply find some old carpet ( apartments that are being rehabbed is a good place to get used carpet free), clear an area on the ground, and lay down the rug. A 16 x 20 foot area works okay. If you can dig up an old surplus parachute and hang it from the trees, this makes a canopy. Find someone with a big spot light, like a 500 W PAR, and point it up at the canopy, which will diffuse the light.
Voila! Instant stage. Ask the bands to bring their own PA. Run out some heavy duty extension cords to power the band. 2. Middle costIf you have some money to spend, but not a lot, we came up with a pretty quick and dirty stage design. Find a source of wooden palettes that are in reasonably good shape. For a 16 x 20 stage, you will need about 20 palettes. Then buy or otherwise acquire 10 sheets of 4 x 8 plywood (3/4" preferably). Clear and level the ground for the stage, and layout the palettes with two for each sheet. Attach the plywood to the palettes in a overlapping fashion; that is each sheet of plywood primarily supported by two palettes and overlapping by 6" onto the next two palettes. Nail or zip screw the plywood down to the palettes. Screwing the plywood is easier if you are going to disassemble it later.
If you have to buy the plywood, expect to spend about $25 per sheet, or $250 for 10.
The second part we came up with was a canopy. To cover a 16 x 20 foot stage, a 20 x 20 foot canopy works well. There are several companies that sell canopy kits for making a frame from electrical conduit and using a standard tarp as the cover. I recommend using the 1" EMT conduit, as it has a bit more strength. The conduit, the fittings, tarp and bungees should cost about $250. It will take about four people to setup, but really works well. It provides some real rain protection, and gives a finished look to the stage. The 1" EMT is strong enough to support some light weight lights on it (like PAR 38 spots and floods).
When you get to this scale, plan some budget for sound gear and lights. About $200 bucks each should do it. 3. Higher costIf you want something bigger and more permanent, you can build a stage in a more traditional manner. Start by specifying the size stage you want (typically in 4 foot increments). 16 x 20 is probably the smallest, and 20 x 30 might be the largest, before you get into professional staging. For a permanent structure, the stage can be built in the same manner as a outdoor deck. You may want to consider using pressure treated plywood and boards for their weather and insect resistance. A 16 x 20 deck can cost about $1000 in materials, and take a couple of days to build.
For a canopy, start with 4 x 4 supports at the front and rear of the stage, reaching about 10 to 12 feet above the deck, and secured to the frame. You can either build a traditional truss roof, or if you can find them, use some Aluminum I-beams to support the roof. Corrugated sheet metal or fiberglass panels can be used for roofing. The nice thing about the Aluminum I-beams is that they are strong enough to hang a lot of lights from, to have some real stage lighting.
With a setup like this, you are probably entertaining several hundred people, and the sound and lights need to be scaled up accordingly. Sound gear may be a 1000 W PA, 6 or 8 mikes and a monitor system. Someone who really knows sound will be needed to make this happen.
Similarly, the lighting setup needs to be larger, as there is more stage to cover. You can still use PAR 38s, but use a lot more of them. You might want some specials, such as ellipsoidal, or bigger Pars, or even a follow spot. One of the 1000 W incandescent spots rent for pretty cheap. Remember as you scale up, the power requirements increase. A party like this is not gonna run on a couple of extension cords.