I have basic knowledge in lighting. I've had no real training but have worked with many local theater companies outside of my high school in lighting and I've recently been hired in the lighting department for Krannert (the theater complex at UIUC) where I'll be attending to study lighting next year.
Unfortunately the teacher who gave this assignment doesn't know anything about lighting past wanting insane concepts that are way beyond possible to accomplish with the
current lighting rig and instruments we have.
That being said, this was an assignment to make up for a Drama Class which is a prerequisite to the Acting Class that a Senior needed to make up so that she could take the Acting Class.
The actual assignment had questions about it regarding multiple different types of lights including
ellipsoidal. That's why I was so confused by the question about the "Shakespeare Lights"... After my Google search I pretty much came to the conclusion that it's just a brand of
ellipsoidal which is why I came here to ask. Unfortunately I'm the most qualified person in ALL things tech at my high school including our "tech director."
If anybody happens to have an idea of some sort of crash course that I can help direct students and production staff to so that they can become somewhat more knowledgeable about the basics of lighting and really anything else, it would be much appreciated. It's very difficult as an
amateur designer with a bad rig to try and accommodate the director's every whim without them having a real understanding of the true capability of our
system.