Again, it depends on what look you want. If you have just one light for each area we will assume that it is coming from pretty much straight on. To anyone looking at an actor in that area straight on, they will look pretty normal, but the guy 15 feet to the left is going to see some shadows along the side of the actor's
face as well as from the actor's nose and eyes. The use of 2 lights, even of the same color, from different angles can help fill in these shadows. This is very helpful for making general lighting look "natural".
But it sounds like you may have a shortage of instruments?
You could just stick with the
9 light setup you have now using warm, or:
here are a couple of options
A. Hang one warm
instrument for each area and one cool
instrument for each area. Total of 18 lights. Pros: more color choice for your front light. Cons: could produce undesirable shadows on actors.
B: Hang 2 warm instruments for each area, using more of a
McCandless** method. Total of 18 lights. Pros: better overall coverage and fewer shadows. Cons: less color choice
C:
Punt the warm and cool idea and pick a color that will work for either: most likely a lavendar (possibly R51?). Pros: less things to think about. Cons: is a compromise on look
D: if you have enough instruments, take option B and add a duplicate set of lights, but with cool gels. This will give you the most flexibility, but may not be feasible due to the number of lights available, the number of circuits available, or the amount of space in your front lighting positons. Total of 36 lights (I said it was a lot) Pros: Most color choice. Cons: most setup and most instruments.
**A lot of designers (NOT ALL), especially for box sets like it sounds yours is, fully utilize, or take ideas from the
McCandless method of lighting. There is more information here:
McCandless Method - ControlBooth While it is a proven and good method (and not a bad thing to learn starting off), it is not the only way to light a
stage.