black box theatre power

[MOONLIGHTING]

Hey kids.
Just fishing for advise.
One of the theatres I work at is a basic 99 seat studio theatre in a converted basement. Currently the inherited dimmer set up is 7 Lightronic AS-42D dimmer packs. These offer 4 channels of 1200w each, however, as there are only 8 seperate 20 amp. outlets, all of these packs are twofered into one outlet each, reducing them to 600w per channel.
Now having a theatre in the round with 8'6 ceilings presents plenty of challenges, and the lighting requires accepting, shall we say, very stylized looks.
So I'm looking for any ways to expand the number of fixtures we can use.
The current inventory is an assortment of 6" fres, 4 Par64s, 6x9s and a few 6x16s. I should mention the space is rented and the owners won't allow any invasive electrical upgrades. Oh yeah, and they have very limited budget. Because of the confinded space, noise is a very big factor, so scrollers are out, even if we could afford them. i am looking into two moving mirrors from Meteor.
Any fixtures must be dimmable.
Thanks in advance......
Mike

 

[ricc0luke]

Cheap and easy solution-
Go out and get your self 12/3 or 10/3 extension cords.

If you want to get a little more into it-
You said it was a converted basement. Is the breaker/fuse box still down there somewhere nearby? If it is, just have an electrician come in and add a few more breakers going to a few outlets around the room. And one thing I have learned is that always as the entire company if a relative or really good friend is an electrician. Maybe they will only charge material then. Plus give them an add in the program.

 

[cutlunch]

See if you can find some old batten lights. They should use normal bulbs which means they won't load the dimmers to much. If the ceillings only 8' 6" then they should put quite a bit of light on the stage. Try for 4 circuit battens if you can. This way you can have a red,blue, green wash setup but also have a white (or skin tone) wash as well. You could even just put a warm wash and a cool wash into them and use this as your area lighting saving the other gear for specials.

By the way, roughly how big is the acting area?

 

[MOONLIGHTING]

Thanks so far guys.
ricc0luke- we have plenty of cable, I hope you weren't suggesting buying extension cords at a hardware store, whih are not rated for pro use.
Also, adding more outlets falls into the "invasive electrical work" catagory.
The panel is the old socket fuse type.
cutlunch- Not sure what "batten lights" are. I suppose you mean some type of strip lights, like R40s that are mainly used as a ground row for cyc lighting. Not a bad idea if I can get some used ones in need of repare. The "electrics" are on unistrut, and any strip light would take up a bunch of realistate, but perhaps I could space them out with other fixtures between.
Stage is wedge about 20' in front, 40' in back and 20' deep.
-Mike

 

[ricc0luke]

No, buying extension cords at a hardware store is a bad idea, but buying load rated cable there and making your own isn't.

 

[ship]

I was wondering why you were calling older guys like Craig from ProSound-Lighting "kids". Might want to edit it out of your posting there or you might not get a lot of response from them. Posting in more than one place on a question like this very wise to pool the ideas from.

It's recommended on this post like this and on all posts. Even if you have an idea from adding more breakers to strip lights that you post them rather than stay in lurker mode. From the most minor a mouse with a squeek of even a kernel of idea sometimes comes the greatest of thoughts and discussions.

Should be an interesting cross forum discussion. Hope it gets a wide range of advice to choose from. For those interested in following what other's will be responding check out: http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/33628/407/?SQ=68ffb8af330cd5d46a37a5a6c6733f6e