Lasermike
Well-Known Member
And a bit about myself.
When I first began with our Children's Thater group, we were in an old school building. We shared it with 3 or 4 other groups including a local theater, and a local food assistance operation. We lost that building when the city found it too expensive to retrofit. We then moved to a school attached to a church. It's not the best, scheduling is a hassle as not one of the people in charge use the same calendar app and a theater with a giant stained glass window opposite the stage has lighting issues. That and they claimed that they didn't know we didn't have heat over the Christmas break last year. 55° isn't so bad if you are a moving child but for this 61 year old, it's way too cold for indoors.
Our past directing manager was a theater kid going way back and had an in at the local community college. Turns out they have a space that hasn't been used for "10 years" We had a chance to take a tour last week and to say it will be a challenge might be an understatment. It's a dodecagon or 12 sided room with an odd stage layout. Rather than try to describe it, I've done a quick sketch. The room is about 60' across, the center 12agon is about 25' across. Notice the stage is broken into sections? Turns out 1, 2, and 3 are on jack screws. They are currently at 2' above the floor but can be lowered individually and I assume to any height between 2' and floor level. I was told they don't work and to be honest, I'm afraid to test it out since if it gets stuck, it's on us. And all of the walls are painted white.
The is a lighting grid, it's hard to tell if it's wired back to the booth or not, I do know there is a 7 gang box and a 5 gang box on each side low in the wall near the fire doors. Some are either 2 or 3 pole twist lock and others are standard 5-15 receptacles. This is a quote from our LD:
The lighting that I could see hanging in the space, I believe should be adequate to provide good proper illumination for people standing on the "LIFT STAGE" Meaning the roughly circular area of the stage - what we started calling the "12Gon".
It will not light anyone standing upstage or on the sides...
Furthermore - it won't offer much in terms of CHANGES. Its not really adequate to light Beauty and the Beast...
The project as I see it - is to create a practical and versatile rep plot for the space.
The basic infrastructure appears to be in place.
Below is the equipment that I think would be GREAT!
Existing Console, ETC Express
Existing Dimmers , Genesis (36) 1.2k dimmers (is what i THINK we have)
In terms of Lighting Instruments...
I propose a total of:
This list INCLUDES what was hanging in the space.
11 S4 Units
6 S4 Pars
and one IQ unit.
And there were a few units locked in the cage backstage, mostly looked in disrepair.
REGARDLESS of when or whether we can acquire any additional lighting instruments The next step on the lighting project is going to need to be an ELECTRICS CALL to map and trouble shoot the existing system.
I will need at least one day with at least one experienced theatrical electrician to help me create:
After that we can create a plan for the next step.
The grid is made with what I call Unistrut, the lights are hung with a regular strut nut. There is no provision for soft goods other than some scary looking pipe hung from the grid with tie line. That's coming down soon. Rather than curtains, I heard talk of flats so it looks like I'll be busy in the shop fairly soon. As far as sound, there are 4 speakers hanging from the ceiling but we have no idea if there is a board and what kind of amplification there might be. We have a board and amplified speakers so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm looking forward to exploring both the electrical and the mechanical aspects of this space. The crawl space under the stage is filled with treasures. The LD was pretty excited by the top hats made from actual coffee cans. I rather liked to 20' long oars, That and all of the line shafts and gearboxes that make the stage move. I did figure out why the wheelchair access elevator isn't working and plan to repair and then train others to prevent accidents. It's not as well guarded as I'd like but does have a current inspection placard.
Any guesses as to why the odd shape and why the sections can be raised and lowered? My guess is choir, no need for risers if the floor itself moves.
As for myself, I have a very old degree in electronics and currently work as a maintenance technician for one of the larger backing mix companies. My day can be anything from changing oil in a gearbox to editing the PLC logic that controls the automated batch process. I love to fix broken things and teach others how to use them. I am an amateur extra. I spent 6 years in a steel mill as the only electronics tech and 6 years as a maintenance tech in the compact disc industry. I hadn't been in a theater at all that i can remember until my son was in Madagascar. The poor guy building the set was working by himself on a set designed to work both for Madagascar and Urine Town. Silly me asked if he needed help. That was 7 years ago. I'm now variously the TD, the lead carpenter or just sets and am on the board.
Michael
When I first began with our Children's Thater group, we were in an old school building. We shared it with 3 or 4 other groups including a local theater, and a local food assistance operation. We lost that building when the city found it too expensive to retrofit. We then moved to a school attached to a church. It's not the best, scheduling is a hassle as not one of the people in charge use the same calendar app and a theater with a giant stained glass window opposite the stage has lighting issues. That and they claimed that they didn't know we didn't have heat over the Christmas break last year. 55° isn't so bad if you are a moving child but for this 61 year old, it's way too cold for indoors.
Our past directing manager was a theater kid going way back and had an in at the local community college. Turns out they have a space that hasn't been used for "10 years" We had a chance to take a tour last week and to say it will be a challenge might be an understatment. It's a dodecagon or 12 sided room with an odd stage layout. Rather than try to describe it, I've done a quick sketch. The room is about 60' across, the center 12agon is about 25' across. Notice the stage is broken into sections? Turns out 1, 2, and 3 are on jack screws. They are currently at 2' above the floor but can be lowered individually and I assume to any height between 2' and floor level. I was told they don't work and to be honest, I'm afraid to test it out since if it gets stuck, it's on us. And all of the walls are painted white.
The is a lighting grid, it's hard to tell if it's wired back to the booth or not, I do know there is a 7 gang box and a 5 gang box on each side low in the wall near the fire doors. Some are either 2 or 3 pole twist lock and others are standard 5-15 receptacles. This is a quote from our LD:
The lighting that I could see hanging in the space, I believe should be adequate to provide good proper illumination for people standing on the "LIFT STAGE" Meaning the roughly circular area of the stage - what we started calling the "12Gon".
It will not light anyone standing upstage or on the sides...
Furthermore - it won't offer much in terms of CHANGES. Its not really adequate to light Beauty and the Beast...
The project as I see it - is to create a practical and versatile rep plot for the space.
The basic infrastructure appears to be in place.
Below is the equipment that I think would be GREAT!
Existing Console, ETC Express
Existing Dimmers , Genesis (36) 1.2k dimmers (is what i THINK we have)
In terms of Lighting Instruments...
I propose a total of:
- 48 575w Source Four ERS units
- 15 575w Source Four PAR units
- This would expand the existing 6 down lights to 15
- 10 LED BACK LIGHTS
- This I am hoping will a way we can use the to LED Units I believe that HMT already owns.
- 8 (TBD LED Units) to color the Hard Flats - that don’t currently exist - but if they are made, it would be appropriate to light them.
This list INCLUDES what was hanging in the space.
11 S4 Units
6 S4 Pars
and one IQ unit.
And there were a few units locked in the cage backstage, mostly looked in disrepair.
REGARDLESS of when or whether we can acquire any additional lighting instruments The next step on the lighting project is going to need to be an ELECTRICS CALL to map and trouble shoot the existing system.
I will need at least one day with at least one experienced theatrical electrician to help me create:
After that we can create a plan for the next step.
The grid is made with what I call Unistrut, the lights are hung with a regular strut nut. There is no provision for soft goods other than some scary looking pipe hung from the grid with tie line. That's coming down soon. Rather than curtains, I heard talk of flats so it looks like I'll be busy in the shop fairly soon. As far as sound, there are 4 speakers hanging from the ceiling but we have no idea if there is a board and what kind of amplification there might be. We have a board and amplified speakers so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm looking forward to exploring both the electrical and the mechanical aspects of this space. The crawl space under the stage is filled with treasures. The LD was pretty excited by the top hats made from actual coffee cans. I rather liked to 20' long oars, That and all of the line shafts and gearboxes that make the stage move. I did figure out why the wheelchair access elevator isn't working and plan to repair and then train others to prevent accidents. It's not as well guarded as I'd like but does have a current inspection placard.
Any guesses as to why the odd shape and why the sections can be raised and lowered? My guess is choir, no need for risers if the floor itself moves.
As for myself, I have a very old degree in electronics and currently work as a maintenance technician for one of the larger backing mix companies. My day can be anything from changing oil in a gearbox to editing the PLC logic that controls the automated batch process. I love to fix broken things and teach others how to use them. I am an amateur extra. I spent 6 years in a steel mill as the only electronics tech and 6 years as a maintenance tech in the compact disc industry. I hadn't been in a theater at all that i can remember until my son was in Madagascar. The poor guy building the set was working by himself on a set designed to work both for Madagascar and Urine Town. Silly me asked if he needed help. That was 7 years ago. I'm now variously the TD, the lead carpenter or just sets and am on the board.
Michael
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