[icewolf08]

allthings, it isn't that I don't agree with what you are saying, but I wouldn't even try to fix a cue gone awry without the SM's approval first. Why? Because in the heat of the moment if you key in the fix just a little wrong you can be hosed. I have done it before, where lights came up in the complete wrong color and the SM asked me to fix it, and in the slim seconds I had, I probably had a "fat fingered moment" where something else got captured and then didn't go out in the next blackout. And this was with the blessing of the SM.

I have run hundreds of shows, and I know what I am doing. I am a good programmer, but sometimes mistakes happen, and frankly I would rather have a blown lamp than an extra fixture track through a blackout. Sure, you have to pay attention and you have to know how and when to reset a moving light if it gets stuck such that it will be unobtrusive to the audience, but I would still get an OK from the SM first. Usually (though not always) the cast is smart enough that if they are truly standing in the dark they will take a few steps over into the light. Most plots have three or four different systems focused to each area, so unless the actor is only in a single special, if one lamp goes out you just aren't in that bad shape that you need to be turning on more lights.