Design Issues and Solutions -

[bdymond2]

Hi everyone. I am a Lighting Manager for the Patchogue-Medford School District, however, I am not a student, I am a graduate and employed by the districts Technology Department. I am currently working on the musical Suessical for the High School, and are having some trouble trying to find out the lighting scheme for the musical. Anyone who may have worked on this once already, or anyone who may know where I can find the Lighting Scheme or Script, please message me back or e-mail me at . I do appreciate it. Thank you.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by bdymond2

Hi everyone. I am a Lighting Manager for the Patchogue-Medford School District, however, I am not a student, I am a graduate and employed by the districts Technology Department. I am currently working on the musical Suessical for the High School, and are having some trouble trying to find out the lighting scheme for the musical. Anyone who may have worked on this once already, or anyone who may know where I can find the Lighting Scheme or Script, please message me back or e-mail me at . I do appreciate it. Thank you.

First of all, welcome to CB!

It is basically CB policy to no hand out designs. There is no ready-made "lighting scheme" for any show, and if there were, it would be very expensive to obtain as you would have to pay royalties to the original designer. As a designer, it is your job to design the show. If you have questions like "How can I achieve XYZ effect?" then we will be of more help.

Suessical is actually a great show to design as you can just make it all up, there is no period or realism that you have to abide by. You have to keep the basic rules of lighting in mind (make sure the actors are visible and such), but you really can be free to play with colors and angles and such.

Listen to the music and think about how it makes you feel, what colors you see, etc. Look at the set and costume designs, and think about how your choices will affect the scenery and costumes.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by icewolf08

... There is no ready-made "lighting scheme" for any show, ...

Imagine how many Lighting, Scenic, Costume, Sound, and Projection designers would be jobless if there were!

See also http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/g...statement.html.

[gafftaper]

What they said...

You also asked where to find the script. The companies that publish musicals keep VERY tight control of scripts. They generally do not sell their scripts. You rent them as part of the package of paying for the rights to perform the musical and they must be returned. The person who booked the rights to perform it will have scripts available about 2 months ahead (maybe earlier, it depends on how long they rented the scripts for).

If the production is a long time off, perhaps the director has a perusal copy of the script that you could read for a few minutes in a room with a copy machine. What else you do in that room is between you, God, and Music Theater International... it's illegal to photo copy the script and I would never advise you to break the law. On the other hand, it's very difficult to do your job without a copy of the script and when you have already paid thousands of dollars for the rights to do a show, the publisher could be a little more flexible about letting the people that need scripts have them. If they catch you they could pull the rights to produce the show and you could be sued.