Front Lighting Without Front Lighting

[NewChris]

My High school is doing a male beauty pageant. We have tech rehearsals starting next week, the show is on April 12. Normally it is at our high school, but this year it is under total renovations so we are doing this at our middle school.

One major issue: they have very little working lighting. They have plenty of strip lights over the stage, 4 lights on each side of the auditorium facing towards the stage. That's it though. No front lighting. There is a cat walk but all the lights are burned out and the custodians will not go up to change the lights and we (HS students) are not allowed up for obvious liability reasons. There is a balcony that is wired for lighting.

The director does not want to rent lights, as the point of this show is a fundraiser. it does not seem a viable option to go without front lights as it becomes a very dark stage. For all other shows lots of lighting and sound equipment is rented, costing thousands of dollars. around 8-sh lights are mounted on the balcony.

One idea I had was to find the HS's old lights and try to hang them on the balcony. Is this a good idea? I have no idea if our adviser will be able to find them in time though.

Any other ideas?

 

[Scenemaster60]

It's certainly a viable option and better than nothing. I could go into a long treatise on how front lighting from a catwalk or FOH electric is a RELATIVELY recent development in the history of stage lighting. You could also take advantage of this and do a "retro" design that used only balcony rail lights, some footlights and the borders. Do you have access to any moveable borders or PAR38 cans that you could use for footlights?

 

[petercav17]

What about setting up some tormentor booms in the house? I obviously don't know your theater or your dimming/control setup, but I have successfully used tormentor booms as frontlight when a high frontal angle was not possible. All you need are a couple pipe bases, some SCH 40 and a couple of sandbags and you're good to go.

As to hanging lights on the balcony, is there a pipe there? If not, I would not hang lights there. Putting lights on floor bases on a balcony is just an accident waiting to happen.

 

[seanandkate]

You can certainly get decent visibility from lights on the side, albeit four might be a little skimpy. You could try to beef that up with some of your school's instruments if dimmer capacity allows. If the fronts are just a lamp issue, could you ask a teacher or friendly custodian at your school to pop over to the middle school for an hour and replace the burned out lamps for you? I imagine that so long as they are board employees, there should be no liability issues. Running new instruments and cable seems like more work than it needs to be.

 

[NewChris]

The balcony has rails that the lights would be attached to. Currently there are no extra lights at the middle school, but I am going to try to get more from the high school. I have my doubts about the lights being changed before the show as at our high school it took the majority of the year to get lights changed and the house lights were not changed until Town Meeting was held and they changed all the bulbs before the meeting! I also heard that the custodians will not go up into the catwalk as they don't feel it's safe. I have a meeting/ rehearsal on Thursday and I'll talk to the custodians to check about getting lights fixed.

 

[theatricalmatt]

The biggest issue seems to be getting adequate maintenance from the school. Allowing that the catwalks may be limited access, there should still be someone -- custodian, technical director, or whomever -- who has the proper training and insurance coverage to access the catwalks, as well as the proper knowledge to change the lamp on the school's different lighting instruments. And, most importantly, has the desire to keep the inventory in the best shape, and the budget to do so.

I would approach one of the school's administrators -- dean, principal or board member -- and instill in them the desire to support the theater. It wouldn't be difficult to get a local rental company (Barbizon, ALPS, High Output) or an independent contract (like myself) to train a custodian or other staff member on the lighting equipment; they could probably do a proper assessment of what other equipment in the space needs to be maintained. Then, try to get a regular schedule (maybe twice every school year as a start) to keep the space up.

 

[petercav17]

The balcony has rails that the lights would be attached to. Currently there are no extra lights at the middle school, but I am going to try to get more from the high school. I have my doubts about the lights being changed before the show as at our high school it took the majority of the year to get lights changed and the house lights were not changed until Town Meeting was held and they changed all the bulbs before the meeting! I also heard that the custodians will not go up into the catwalk as they don't feel it's safe. I have a meeting/ rehearsal on Thursday and I'll talk to the custodians to check about getting lights fixed.

Then yeah, I would go for that over side booms.

It sucks that you guys aren't allowed into the catwalks - At my school(& other schools I work at) we are, and I can't imagine how you guys get anything done.
If the custodians are unsure about the catwalk, could they get to it in a lift? Most schools have some sort of scissor/genie lift, and you might be able to get them to change lamps if they can access the lights that way.
Really, it shouldn't be the janitor's responsibility to maintain the theater, but I guess every school does things differently. I know that in my school, if the janitors did anything the theater would be burnt to the ground the next day

 

[derekleffew]

4 lights on each side of the auditorium facing towards the stage.

So, some sort of Box Boom position? "Legal" for students to access? Any possibility of adding lights here, possibly freeing up circuits with judicious use of two-fer s?

I could go into a long treatise on how front lighting from a catwalk or FOH electric is a RELATIVELY recent development in the history of stage lighting.

I'll second this. Even today there are existing theatres (including almost every Broadway house) without an FOH cove or catwalk, and difficulty in hanging an FOH Truss. Box booms can provide nice, sculptural light, often prefered over a low Balcony Rail position, which tends to flatten the talent and create annoying, distracting shadows all over the backdrop.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned: Are there plans to use a followspot(s) from the top of the balcony? A good, easy way to get frontlight on the talent.

 

[Jammer]

Not sure if it should be a different thread...similar question from the aspect of mobile set ups...anyone have any creative ideas? When I have the fortunate case to be
able to center mix a good distance back from the stage I have set up truss towers. This works unless you get to far back, then you can't get enough height.
When we side mix I have placed two towers just to the inside or outside of speaker system to act as a Box Boom or Tormentor. Challenge is getting a single
tower to good height and remaining stable, seems 8 - 12 feet okay, even with base plates and sand bags anything higher needs even more weight on the base and still probably not a good idea.
There there was one time at a high school luau/talent show we set up a FOH truss over the center of the dance floor using lifts on each side. Despite warning tape
and cones It became a magnet for people hanging out/on...so won't do that one again.

 

[venuetech]

Have your mother and your friends mother call school board members and ask why the stage fixtures are not working.

 

[NewChris]

We have one follow-spot we will be using form the balcony. It's a Altman 1000Q...

I'll definitely talk to a custodian and see about getting the lights fixed. in my town the janitors work for the town, not the school so that can cause issues.

I had the principal show me around, and he knew a fair amount about the auditorium. The sad part was he / no one else uses the sound board. They just mix from the rack-mounted "mixer" in the back. This is limited to 4 mics. No EQ for individual channels. I think I should be able to get the sound board working.
they also don't use their light board. they just use a panel with like 8 faders that are pre-programmed. Again, I think I will be able to get the board working.

The reason the equipment isn't maintained is that no one ever uses it. it's all too old and in bad condition that every show just rents everything.

The lights on the side are in a Box Boom position so I might try to either move them to get lights across the entire stage or even mount more. Not sure if there is enough room though.

I like the mothers calling the school board. My parents actually know some of them so it might work!

 

[Fountain Of Euph]

Some friendly advice for the OP. I was the first to bring back the house systems (notably the mains and the booth) from disuse in my venue. No maintenance had be preformed in ten years. I have basically had to re-write all of the configuration documents, and replot the space from my own measurements. Its great to use the house system, however as you are already are finding out it can be all consuming and frustrating to change the status quo, even if it's for the better. Make sure you have the support of a teacher or administrator when going after this, it will help prevent you from being seen as a "overreaching meddler".

This being said, this could be a great learning experience for you, and a windfall for the district. Imagine all the money they could save if there house systems were up to spec. Document everything, make the manual that you don't have. Work, and slowly it will start to improve.
On your original question: I use box booms and balcony rail. This allows me to achieve different looks.

 

[NewChris]

So an update:
We had a rehearsal last night to see the acts and set up the equipment. We talked to a custodian who said he would ask the lighting guy for the town about getting the lights fixed. It also turns out that three of the cove lights work out of the 12. He also helped us adjust the side lights so they are now all pointing at the stage. Before some were pointed into the pit.

The spotlight we feel is unsafe to use. I tested it with the principal and it works, but last night when we moved it to a better position, I took a closer look. The insulation on the wire is hard and cracked the entire length. There is a large hole / tear at one point. The light is also very dusty and not very bright. The fan is also very loud. We are looking into renting a light, hopefully fairly cheap. Any suggestions for somewhere? We are located north of Boston Ma.

We had a ton of issues with sound, but it was partially due to not having the right adapters or cords.

I like the idea of trying to get regular maintenance and get it all working and documented, but I doubt it will happen as this is probably the last HS show at the middle school. Next year we will have a brand new High School auditorium. I will try to document what we are doing though to make it easier for future shows.

 

[ScottT]

We are looking into renting a light, hopefully fairly cheap. Any suggestions for somewhere? We are located north of Boston Ma.

ALPS would be my first choice. I've never worked with Port Lighting but they'd be my second choice.

 

[theatricalmatt]

For lighting rentals in the Boston area, you have ALPS and High Output (both south of the city). Port's north of the city, but I don't know if they do followspot rentals.

You might look to partner with another school, and borrow a followspot for the show.

 

[NewChris]

From Port Lighting's website they have followspots. I also contacted the guy who sets up and runs all the rented equipment for other shows. he said that Port was where they rented everything including the spotlight. I am going to contact them on Monday.

 

[NeverAnonymous]

You could repurpose the strips to give nice FL at the corners of the run way... You could also rent or find the fixtures from your HS to use... Just my two cents

 

[Fountain Of Euph]

You seem to have a really good relationship with the administration. It might be good to see if they can reach out to another school to try and form a good working(lending) relationship. If you have nothing worth lending, see if you can come help them out on a hang or strike.

Lots of schools have some old fixtures laying. It wont be brand new S4s, but a par can is better than nothing.

My high school had a good relationship with a local church. We would loan them set pieces and risers and techs in exchange for borrow leds and other stuff like that. It helped that a teacher was on the worship team, but it was good for BOTH parties.

 

[NewChris]

So we are going with renting from Port Lighting. I wanted to get their Pheobus Imarc, but it is being used. They have a Lycian 1275, but I am concerned with it being too bright as our throw of ~100 ft. On their website they also say they have an Altman Luminator. Would it make sense to get that instead? I know it's a lot less bright, but we are trying to get better then an old, dusty, unsafe Altspot.

 

[NeverAnonymous]

So we are going with renting from Port Lighting. I wanted to get their Pheobus Imarc, but it is being used. They have a Lycian 1275, but I am concerned with it being too bright as our throw of ~100 ft. On their website they also say they have an Altman Luminator. Would it make sense to get that instead? I know it's a lot less bright, but we are trying to get better then an old, dusty, unsafe Altspot.

I would use the brighter light at a lower intensity... Better to have more and not need it than to need more and not have it, you know?