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We are conveniently located 10 minutes from the Theater district by subway. We have grown to a company of over 100 people with a floor space of 75,000 square feet. But it's not where we are today that counts. More importantly it's not forgetting where we came from.

Showman was founded in May of 1986. With little fanfare but with a tremendous will to succeed, Showman broke into the scenery business at a time of great change in the entertainment landscape. Theater was, arguably, spawning its first technically sophisticated show in Phantom of the Opera. Corporations were awakening to the thought that a more theatrical approach to launching a product would better serve their goals, and television was expanding past 3 major networks into cable and the dawn of the niche network.

In 1986, the traditional scenic shop was usually dedicated to one discipline; Independent shops mainly did theater or episodic TV, network owned shops mainly constructed soap opera sets, and event companies primarily recycled felt covered flats and carpeted platforms for their clients' product launches. Showman looked at this landscape and decided that diversity was the key to success. Showman was founded on the principle of providing a facility and talent to provide to these diverse industries and still uses it as its guiding vision.

Today's scenery is not just painted flats and drops. Theatrical projects have become more structurally sophisticated necessitating an increased use of steel and aluminum. Showman responded by expanding the shop with equipment: tools to cut, bend, and weld these materials.

With the advent of HDTV, television scenery has quickly developed into a hybrid of scenery and real elements. To keep up with an ever increasing ability of the camera to see clearly what's on the set, Showman now fabricates everything from real working kitchens to on-air working newsrooms. This camera driven reality has allowed Showman to develop an expertise in laminates, stone, glass, and other varying products typically used in commercial building applications.

Over the past 25 years, museums and restaurants have developed environments meant to immerse the customer. Design elements had to be durable so the customer could see and touch the environment they were in. Showman brought their expertise to the table by adopting methods traditionally used in the construction industry. Bringing to bear all the best elements of scenic design and practical construction is something Showman does like no other shop in the country.

 

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