Show dictionary · Production Management
Pipe and Drape
Also: drape · P&D
Pipe and drape is the modular masking system of live events: weighted steel bases, vertical uprights, telescoping horizontal crossbars, and fabric panels hung between them. It builds trade show booths, backdrops, camera masking, and temporary walls in minutes, with no tools and no rigging.
In practice
The system’s genius is adjustability: uprights extend (commonly 8 to 16 feet and beyond), crossbars telescope to fit any span, and drape panels slide on freely, so the same case of hardware becomes a booth wall today and a ballroom backdrop tomorrow. Velour reads rich and blocks light; banjo cloth is the cheap flame-rated standard of exhibit halls.
Every department leans on it: audio hides amp world behind it, video masks camera crossovers, producers build instant green rooms in convention-center concrete. The load math is simple but real; drape gets heavy fast, and tall uprights need the bigger bases and sometimes ballast that the rental house will quote.
How you’ll hear it
"Run sixteen feet of black pipe and drape behind the band so the loading door disappears."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.