Sayen said:
Whoa...I just realized that in my facility, there is no way for the audience to turn lights on, should the emergency arise.
The audience doesn't need to have access, you just need to have a way to turn the
house lights on that can be accessed by a
system that isn't the lighting
console. This could be a panic
button, key station, whatever.
The general public having the ability to turn the
house lights on (and off) isn't the best of thoughts, since they wouldn't limit themselves to emergencies. Every
house lighting
system I've ever installed has had a keyswitch in the booth that locks out the wall stations that the public can reach, so that mischievous three-year-olds and tired ushers leaning against the wall panel don't cause the
house lights to blink on and off during the performance.
I'm a fan of dual control of
house lights, both through the
console and stand-alone. You can
build the houselights into the showif you want, but if the
console dies, you still have control of the
house (Also, it lets you edit cues live during rehearsal breaks, without having to remember to
drop the
house each time you hit 'record'). Generally, I put a single push station at every door that people customarily use to
pass through the
house, with larger stations backstage and in the booth, with the walkthrough
preset being enough light to vacuum, hold class, rehearse the church choir, and any other common no-crew-present usage.