Theater Asbestos

At the turn of the century, many of the country’s cities built magnificent theaters to attract the top Vaudeville troupes and plays to their stages. These theaters were the home of extremely hot lights that were capable of melting make up off a person’s face to the point that special make ups were developed for the stage. Because these lights were so hot, the chance of a fire was not something that was outside of the realm of possibility.

To combat these fires, theaters tried a number of ways to prevent any fire that broke out from reaching the audience or completely destroying the building. The theaters that were built were filled with marble and a large amount of luxury fabrics and exquisite art on the walls. No one, particularly the owners of the theater, wanted to see the theaters, these temples of beauty and art, go up in smoke due to a small fire that started in the scenery and advanced quickly from there. 

As a result of the threat of fire, asbestos and a wide variety of other retardants were employed to insulate parts of the theater and to fire proof other parts. One of the biggest pieces of protection for a theater and the audience that was employed by many theaters was the asbestos curtain. 

Asbestos curtains were, literally, curtains made of asbestos. Asbestos has been used in its cloth-like state since the Greeks starting using it for table cloths that could be tossed in a fire to be cleaned. The curtains also used asbestos in its cloth state. In the event of a fire on stage, the asbestos curtain could be dropped by one of the stage hands. This would seal off the stage from the audience and was supposed to prevent the fire from spreading to the audience.

By confining the fire to the stage, it could be contained and fought more easily since it had less of an area to occupy. Unfortunately, the asbestos curtains could snag on a piece of scenery or a prop and tear. The theater could also snag on a stagehand or actor and tear. There are a variety of ways to tear a curtain, all of which effectively release asbestos fibers into the air of the theater.

While the majority of theater-goers are ok and probably do not need to be worried about asbestos exposure, individuals who worked in the demolition of old theaters or worked backstage of a specific old theater may have reason to be concerned.

Williams Kherkher is a law firm specializing in mesothelioma and asbestos cases as well as ensuring that victims are properly compensated.

Joseph Devine

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