Teacher and Default Tech Director

[thelatinist]

About four years ago I inherited the position of tech director at a small boarding school with only a little high school theater tech to recommend me. As the most technologically savvy member of the faculty, I was the default choice when the previous tech director left. Since then I've been learning on the job and reading voraciously, trying to get up to speed.

About our theater:

Built eight years ago in an existing space, but professionally designed.
Smallish stage with hardly any wings to speak of.
Moveable seating.
Piping above the house for theater in the round.

Lighting:

Strand C21 Dimmer Rack with 96 20-amp channels, single processor
10 Coemar 250-Watt moving heads (4 spot, 6 wash) useful mostly for lighting effects at school dances, etc.
Compulite VectorOrange lighting console
Altman Shakespeares, 8" Fresnels, and (shudder) StarPars

Sound:

Crown amps
JBL speakers
Sure Beta mics
6 Sennheiser wireless belt packs
2 Sennheiser handhelds
24-channel mixer
JBL PA
JBL 48-band GE
JBL digital effects rack that we've never used because of buzz

I've got great student techies and an excellent student stage manager.

I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting, but those are the basics.

ETA: Oh, and a Clear-Com wired intercom.

 

[josh88]

where abouts in connecticut are you? or what school? I'm in a similarly aged facility at a boarding school in rhode island, if I can help let me know. Welcome to the booth, we're a pretty helpful group.

 

[gafftaper]

Welcome to The Booth! You'll find a wide variety of pros, educators, volunteers, and students all hanging out here eager to help you and to hear what you have to share in return. Don't forget about the Wiki. It's got over 3,000 definitions in it!

Smallish stage with hardly any wings to speak of.
Moveable seating.
Piping above the house for theater in the round.

Sounds like a black box to me. Is the "stage" the floor?

 

[thelatinist]

Sounds like a black box to me. Is the "stage" the floor?

No, we have separate stage raised about 2' with apron, proscenium arch, a velvet main curtain, blacks, and a cyc behind a traveler. But the stage is only 25'x25' with the SL wing about 10' and SR wing only about 2' with two exits opening directly into the greenroom.

 

[lwinters630]

Do you have fly space?
How many pipes?
Is it a fixed grid system? or do you have FOH positions with 1st, 2nd, 3rd electrics?

What is it that you are doing in the space and what would like to do?

 

[thelatinist]

Do you have fly space?
How many pipes?
Is it a fixed grid system? or do you have FOH positions with 1st, 2nd, 3rd electrics?

What is it that you are doing in the space and what would like to do?

No fly space. We have three pipes about 14' above the stage, plus one pipe behind the cyc. Over the stage we have one fixed strip of 10 channels running parallel to DS pipe, plus five moveable 6-channel pipe-mount boxes.

Our house has a peaked ceiling with the peak running perpendicular to the stage, and we have a grid for in-the-round that matches that peak, with five pipes running perpendicular to the stage at three different heights above the floor (pipes 1+5 at about 12', 2+4 at 18', 3 at 22') and pipes running parallel to the stage on a slant. One FOH pipe hung separately, about 20 feet above the floor. In the house we have nine moveable 6-channel boxes.

That's a total of 94 channels (1-18 for FOH, 19-59 on-stage, 61-94 for the round) plus 2 channels for our house lights.

We put on two plays each year, sometimes on-stage, sometimes in the round. Right now we're staging "Of Mice and Men" in a three-quarter thrust. We also host concerts and assemblies and occasional guest theater troupes. In the summer we have opened the theater up for local theater groups.

I'm not sure what else I'd like to do in the space. One thing I've been searching for is a way to make effective use of the 20 Altman StarPars we've got. They strike me as singularly un-useful instruments, at least in such a small space; they're almost impossible for us to use without spilling all over our cyc and/or audience. I think I'd trade them all for another half-dozen ERS.

 

[josh88]

One thing I've been searching for is a way to make effective use of the 20 Altman StarPars we've got. They strike me as singularly un-useful instruments, at least in such a small space; they're almost impossible for us to use without spilling all over our cyc and/or audience. I think I'd trade them all for another half-dozen ERS.

Do you have barndoors/tophats for them? Those would help control the spill and focus the light in one area a little better. Might be something worth looking into.

 

[thelatinist]

where abouts in connecticut are you? or what school? I'm in a similarly aged facility at a boarding school in rhode island, if I can help let me know. Welcome to the booth, we're a pretty helpful group.

We're in western CT -- Litchfield County. Very small boarding school for bright boys who've struggled in other school environments. Small classes, lots of support and structure. And a big part of our mission to provide them opportunities for success outside of the classroom, so we put a lot of effort into things like theater and sports.

Do you have barndoors/tophats for them? Those would help control the spill and focus the light in one area a little better. Might be something worth looking into.

Actually, I've got a couple of tophats on order right now. We'll see how effective they are.