Design Hiding a Footlight

[Tyler Herron]

So I have some ideas but I want to see what you guys think. I'm designing lights for Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson. For those familiar with the play I'm thinking about the vision scene (Act 1 Scene 4).

What I'm going for is a strong footlight on Loomis (the guy having the vision) and some top, back, and generally steeper light for Bynum (the guy "controlling" the vision).

What I'm looking for with the footlight though is for it to be hidden. With the blocking the light (which I'm thinking maybe a bare bulb, short nose PAR, MR16 or other) would need to be somewhere near center or slightly off to the right.

There won't really be anything on the front of the stage scenery-wise to hide the light in.

I know that's a little vague but I'd be curious to see what you guys have in mind.

 

[Footer]

Piece of black luan usually works. Chorus line used to use a motorized rig to do this... But... Big budget and such.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[MarshallPope]

A jumbo coffee can with one side cut out and painted black is always a quick and easy footlight cover if you don't mind seeing it. For MR16s and the like, I've had good luck just using a little gaff or blacktak skirt. Depending on the intensity you need, a music stand light comes pre-masked.
I suppose if it really needs to be low-profile, you could just stick a convex mirror on the edge of the stage and shutter down to it from FOH.

 

[Les]

You can get fancy and cut the masking in to the shape of a seashell (or similar) if you want to go for that vintage look. Put a dummy model on the other side to make it look symmetrical.

 

[carproelsofly]

Could you mount it horizontally off the DS edge? The coffee can or some other barrier if needed to separate it from audience members?

 

[Justin_Bennett]

If it doesn't affect circulation in the first row, you could build something in front of the stage to hide the light. The top could be flush with stage level so that you don't have something sticking up into the stage picture for the rest of the show. This might look like a little column bump-out that goes all the way to the floor, or just a small box fastened to the lip of the stage.