WINTER 2000

Volume 11• Number 2

Lighting the gym

A guide to illuminating non-traditional spaces
BY JENNIFER WOMACK AND STEVE NELSON

I f you and your students work in a modern,

well-equipped theatre, lighting is probably as
much a part of a production as any other dramat-
ic element. But if your school theatre program is
limited to mounting plays in multi-purpose spac-
es—most likely a gym or cafeteria—perhaps light-
ing has been an afterthought. It doesn’t have to
be. Even in a large, open room it’s possible to
create simple but effective lighting. In this article,
we’re going to cover all the steps you need to
complete in order to light an open, non-tradition-
al performance space—everything from where to
locate lights, support
DON CORATHERS
your students can do (such as helping to deter-
mine the stage area in your space, and drafting
a set and lighting design plan), unless you have
the training, equipment, and time to do the
lighting setup yourself, renting is definitely your
best option. Here are four reasons why:
1. A rental company offers, in addition to
hardware, the expertise of staff who know the
field and their equipment. They have probably
done numerous lighting setups in high school
gymnasiums and cafeterias. They’re going to
know how to adapt their equipment to your

towers, and power

sources, to cable and
dimmer requirements.
We’ll also cover safety
issues, equipment
costs, what your stu-
dents should and
should not be allowed
to do, and how to deal
with electricians and
rental companies.
The first thing to
understand about using
temporary lighting is
that you’re probably
not going to set it up
by yourself. We’re go-
ing to review all the
things that need to be
done, but the majority
of the tasks will proba-
bly be completed by a
rental company. While
there are certainly
some steps you and
WINTER 2000

Published quarterly by the Educational Theatre Association space and budget.

2. The rental company will likely do a site visit
without charge to help you (and the school mainte-
nance person or electrician) locate the safest and
closest electrical power source for the lights, and do a
walk-around of the gym to determine the best place-
ment for lighting towers, dimmer packs, and the con-
trol board.
3. They can deliver the equipment on the appoint-
ed day and pick it up when the show is over (this is
usually included in the rental price).
4. They can provide an experienced crew to hang
Lighting the gym the lights, run cable, and get the system up and run-
A guide to illuminating non-traditional spaces ning, and perhaps provide learning experiences for
by Jennifer Womack and Steve Nelson your tech students.
Page 1 On this final point, bear in mind that a full set-up
crew provided by the rental company not only would
Curriculum mapping be expensive, but also would deprive you and your
A way to track what you teach tech students of a valuable opportunity to learn about
by Karen Husted temporary lighting. Most lighting rental companies
Page 10 realize that the more they can educate the people
renting their equipment on how it works and how to
Hug a pillow, slug a pillow use it, the more return business they’ll get (see the
Using your body to tell the story cost list on the opposite page for information about
by Bruce Miller buying versus renting lighting instruments). At your
Page 13 initial discussion with a rental firm, explain to the
company representative that you would like someone
Promptbook to supervise your students in the setup, preferably a
A student's guide to watching the play technician who has worked with teenagers before
by Chris J. Railey and is skilled at sharing his or her lighting knowl-
Page 18 edge. Also inquire as to whether or not this same in-
dividual could give you and the students a brief tuto-
News and notes rial on safety, focusing, troubleshooting, and all the
NEA grants, jobs, and more features of the control board supplied. If you’re lucky,
Page 22 perhaps the company will be able to employ some of
your brighter students in future rental gigs. The point
is, just because you and your students are not taking
James Palmarini, editor
full responsibility for lighting the show does not
Laura C. Kelley, assistant editor mean that it can’t be a learning experience. Take ad-
William A. Johnston, art director vantage of the rental firm’s expertise—that’s part of
Kim Graham, graphics assistant
Donald A. Corathers, director of publications
what you’re paying for.
Again, while the steps we’re going to review in-
Published by the Educational Theatre Association clude tasks that you probably won’t do yourself, it’s
Bob Henrichs, president
Phillip W. Moss, vice president
important that you understand all the issues that are
Byron Grant, past president involved so you’ll be an informed consumer who un-
Michael Peitz, executive director derstands the design process, instrument selection,
and technical considerations that come into play
when you’re lighting an open space.
© 2000 by the Educational Theatre Association
TEACHING THEATRE is published quarterly by the Educational Theatre Association, Step one: determine your own and
2343 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219; telephone (513) 421-3900. The Educa-
tional Theatre Association is a national non-profit arts service organization dedicated to your students’ role
the advancement of educational theatre. It is recognized as tax-exempt under Section As we mentioned, using the services of a lighting
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is thus eligible to accept charitable contribu-
tions. rental company can actually be a wonderful learning
Subscriptions: TEACHING THEATRE is published for members of the Educational The- experience for you and your students. It places you
atre Association. A portion of the annual membership fee goes toward a one-year sub-
scription. Library subscriptions are available for $34 per year. and your students in a working situation with a pro-
Change of address: Send old and new address and enclose mailing label. fessional lighting technician. For it to be useful for
Manuscripts: Unsolicited manuscripts should be accompanied by a self-addressed
stamped envelope. everyone, you, as the drama teacher, need to stay in-
2 TEACHING THEATRE volved throughout the whole process. That, at mini-
mum, is your role in creating the lighting. The first
thing you need to figure out—in consultation with
your tech rep from the rental firm—is what your
students can and can’t do. The technician does not
know your students, so he will need you to tell
him who the most and least competent and reliable
workers are and which ones are best suited to cer-
tain jobs. You need to be available to resolve any
building-related issues such as providing keys to
various doors and getting permission to run cables
in different places. You’ll also serve as liaison to
the building maintenance person or electrician
when there are power problems to troubleshoot.
It’s up to you to establish a relationship with the
tech representative and for the two of you to de-
cide how much supervision your students will
need. If he feels that your students need constant
watching, then it’s important that you provide that
kind of support so the tech can get his work done.
And don’t underestimate the value of being present
as an observer or an extra hand—you can learn just
as much as your students during a lighting setup.
So what exactly can your students do? They can
unload the truck. They can place and erect the
lighting towers. They can hang lights, run cable,
circuit lights, focus and gel lights, run the light
board, and strike the show. There are also a few
things that students can’t and should never do.
Those include putting in new outlets, installing
new service or a disconnect box, and hooking up
power to a disconnect box.
If the work we’ve listed sounds menial, you’re
right; it is. Physically lugging around the equip-
ment, setting it up, and fine-tuning it is 90 percent
of lighting work. Doing this kind of “grunt work” is
where everyone has to start, even someone who
eventually wants to be a lighting designer. Working
alongside a professional lighting tech, you and
your students can pick up many tricks of the
trade—everything from what tools you need to
how to coil cable. This time can be as valuable to
future lighting techs as onstage performance time is
to actors.
Step two: design a floor plan
Before you can do a lighting design (and, for that
matter, a set design) you need to calculate your
available stage space. The floor plan needs to es-
tablish area, height, and location of the stage itself
within the gym. (We’ll assume you’re working in a
gym.) The same procedure would apply to any
open multi-purpose space. Your floor plan design
should be done in conjunction with the set design-
er and school building administrators. You also
must figure out seating capacity and location, avail-
ability of power, and access to the space. Once
these things have been clarified, a set design can
be created for the designated stage.
PAYING FOR IT: TWO RENTAL PACKAGES
Here are two different rental packages that will put the same
amount of light onstage using twelve lekos located in the
house. Package A assumes your electrician has established the
existence of four independently breakered 20-amp 110-volt wall
outlets within the space. Package B is for a three-phase discon-
nect box power system (located behind the temporary stage in
the space) that is used exclusively for stage lighting purposes.
Both packages are priced to reflect the same terms: one-week
rental; all equipment delivered and picked up at the stage door;
one supervisory technician for load in, setup, focusing, and
brief instruction session on system use and troubleshooting.
Special thanks to Randy Scheib of Vincent Lighting Systems in
Cincinnati, for his technical advice and help in pricing these
lighting packages.
Package A (powered from existing outlets)
2 crank-lift lighting towers (includes crossbars, eight 6x9 ETC
source 4-type 575w ERS instruments, four 6x12 ETC source
4-type 575w ERS instruments) ..................................... $420
4 four-dimmer 2.4 kw packs ........................................... $180
4 150' cords, 110v outlets to dimmers ............................. $20
1 twelve-channel two-scene preset control board .................. $50
2 50' DMX control cables (dimmers to board) .............. no charge
2 100' DMX control cables (dimmers to board) ........... no charge
2 30' multi cables (dimmers to lights) ............................... $30
12 stage pins (female) to Edison (male) adapters ........... no charge
1 sheet of X02 gel ........................................................... $6
1 sheet of X60 gel ........................................................... $6
labor ....................................................................... $200
Total cost .................................................................... $912
Package B (powered from a three-phase
disconnect box)
2 crank-lift Genie SuperLift with crossbar .......................... $440
1 twelve-dimmer 2.4 kw three-phase portable dimmer rack .. $200
1 25' five-wire Camlok feeder kit, 2 gauge .................. no charge
1 twelve-channel two-scene preset control board ................. $50
1 100' DMX control cables (dimmers to board) ........... no charge
1 100' 12 gauge, Soca multiconductor cable
(dimmers to lights) ..................................................... $35
1 150' 12 gauge, Soca multiconductor cable
(dimmers to lights) ..................................................... $53
2 multiconductor fanouts—male .............................. no charge
2 multiconductor fanouts—female ............................ no charge
8 6x9 1000w ERS instruments, safety cable,
and gel frame .......................................................... $144
4 6x12 1000w ERS instruments, safety cable,
and gel frame ........................................................... $72
1 sheet of X02 gel .......................................................... $6
1 sheet of X60 gel .......................................................... $6
labor ...................................................................... $200
Total cost ................................................................ $1,206
TEACHING THEATRE 3
 After you’ve drafted a set plan, you’re ready to
work on the lights. You’ll need a scaled ground
plan view that shows the stage (with the set drawn
in) within the gym, and a sideview drawing of all
the elements as well. Our example plan includes
three drawings: the gym setup (Figure One above),
a section view (Figure Two on page 5), and the
lighting plan (Figure Three on page 6). Most light-
ing designs are drafted at ½ inch to the foot, but it’s
also possible to work in the much more convenient
¼-inch-to-the-foot scale on this simple design. CAD
4 TEACHING THEATRE (Computer Aided Design) programs are an alterna-
tive drafting approach. One way or another, creating
these drawings is something you can do yourself, and
perhaps assign as a class project or a lesson.
Begin creating the ground plan by dividing the
acting spaces into equal areas, as shown in Figure
One. Using a compass, draw a series of 10-foot diam-
eter circles on the floor plan. (The center of the stage
is almost always the strongest acting position and
should have its own area designation.) A standard
approach would be to take a 24-foot stage space and
divide it into three 10-foot lighting areas that overlap
from stage left to right. Our sample ground plan fea-
tures six areas labeled A through F that have been
drawn to cover a 24-foot-wide by 18-foot-deep act-
ing space. Make sure you overlap your circle areas
so that there are no dark spaces across the stage.
Step three: select and position the
appropriate lighting instruments
With the acting and illumination areas established,
the next step is to pick the right instruments to light
them. In our simple set-up, as shown in Figure
Three, we’ll be providing only front lighting primari-
ly for actor visibility. Each area will be lit by two le-
kos out in the house, one from house right and one
from house left. In our example, that adds up to
twelve lights—two for each of the six acting areas.
(Special accent lighting from the top, sides, and back
is certainly possible, but to keep our example basic,
we’re not going to cover them here. If you want to
imagine what elaborate temporary lighting setups
are like, consider the touring shows mounted by
bands like the Rolling Stones in football stadiums.)
How and where you position your lights will be
based on the limitations of the towers that are avail-
able from your rental company. In this case, we’re
using crankshaft telescoping towers with 6-foot
crossbars that will allow for six lights to be hung per
tower. At minimum, the towers should be able to
manually raise to a height of 24 feet and hold a load
of up to 650 pounds. When the instruments are
hung, each should have a wire rope cable that has
been manufactured to hold the weight of the unit in
case the c-clamp holding it to the crossbar fails. All
electrical cable should be safely secured and strain-
relieved to the crossbar and tower with tie-line or
gaffers tape. Each tower will need approximately 4
square feet of floor space and be positioned to the
actors at an angle of about 45 degrees both vertically
and laterally.
You can use simple diagrams to plot the best loca-
tion of the lighting towers in relation to the acting
space and the tower height, as shown in Figures Two
and Three. First you need to determine where the
actors’ faces will be. In our example, we assumed a
5-foot tall actor standing on a stage that’s elevated 3
feet from the gym floor. Thus to establish the correct
distance from the stage to the tower positions, plot a
line on the section view drawing (Figure Two) out
into the house and upward at a 45-degree angle from
a point eight feet above the gym floor in the center
of the downstage acting area. The point where that
line intersects at a distance of 24 feet (the working
height of our towers) is where the tower should go.
The scale drawing shows that’s about 16 feet from
the stage.
To position the towers laterally, draw lines on the
ground plan (Figure Three) from the center of the
downstage acting area out into the house at a 45 de-
gree angle to the centerline. The ideal tower posi-
tions are on those lines, 16 feet from the stage. When
we plotted those points on the ground plan, we de-
termined they were approximately 11 feet on either
side of the centerline. TEACHING THEATRE 5
 While these calculations are helpful, in truth, set-
ting the lights is not rocket science. A skilled and
experienced lighting technician will probably be
able to determine the location of the lights quite
accurately by simply looking at the stage and the
actors’ positions. Ultimately though, it takes a bit of
fine-tuning to get them exactly right. A good rule of
thumb is, the features of an actor’s face will be
highlighted if the height of the lights are raised to
create a 45-degree angle from the tower to the head
of the actor. Positioning the towers approximately
45-degrees from the center of the stage, as they are
in our lighting plan, should provide adequate cover-
age across the front of the actor. Obviously, having
just two tower locations limits the horizontal light-
ing range. But light design always includes compro-
mises. Getting the best look out of the available in-
strument inventory and positions is the mark of a
superior lighting designer.
Once the basic design layout is complete it’s time
to pick the appropriate instruments. You’ll want to
use one tower for warm lighting and one for cool.
Figure Three shows how the dual systems create
area and color separation. Pale blue and amber
gels, for instance, will suggest moonlight or daylight
6 TEACHING THEATRE when mixed at different proportions, or white light
when mixed equally. Whether warm or cool, ellip-
soidal reflector spotlights (ERS), also known as le-
kos, are the best choice for lights being placed in
the front of the house. An ERS will give control of
the beam through shutters that allow you to cut the
light off scenery and adjust the lens. ERS lights are
designated by two numbers. The first number (6 in
Figure Three) is the diameter in inches of the lens
at the front of the instrument. The second number is
the focal distance of the instrument lens. Instru-
ments with shorter, or smaller, focal distances pro-
duce light beams that widen out quickly as they exit
the lens. Longer, or larger, focal distances are char-
acteristic of instruments with narrower beams that
stay more concentrated as they travel greater dis-
tances. So from the same location, a 6x9 would
throw a bigger, less intense circle of light on an ac-
tor than a 6x12.
The placement of the towers will determine the
throw distance from the light to the center of each
acting area. Throw distance affects what size lens is
needed to create the desired diameter of light beam
on the stage. In the section view of our plan, to cre-
ate a 10-foot diameter beam for a throw distance of
20 feet, a 6x9 ERS light would be required. The
manufacturers’ technical data sheets on specific
 POWER OPTIONS
How you provide power to your temporary light-
ing system is one of the first issues you’re going
to have to resolve. Your school electrician, along
with a rep from the rental company, should be
able to figure out what needs to be done. Basical-
ly, they’ll either find enough power in existing
outlets or the electrician will have to install a new
power source specifically tailored to temporary
lighting needs. Below is a summary of what you
need to know about each option.
Option one: using existing outlets
It is possible to power the lights in a small
twelve-instrument setup from 110-volt outlets
around the gymnasium. Four separate 20-amp
wall outlets can power a basic twelve-instrument
setup (see Package A in the cost list sidebar on
page 3). To use existing power, you need to find
outlets that each have their own 20-amp breaker
in the breaker panel because you will need all 80
amps (4 times 20 amps) to power the twelve-light
system. With each 20-amp 110-volt circuit, you
can power three 750-watt instruments (18.5
amps), four 575-watt instruments (18.8 amps) or
just two 1000-watt instruments (16.66 amps). As
the rental package indicates, using the more effi-
cient 575-watt Source 4-type instruments keeps
the power requirements within the range of pow-
er that the wall outlets can supply. Separate ex-
tension cords will be needed to run from each
wall outlet to the four dimmer packs necessary
for the twelve-instrument setup.
An existing set of 220-volt single phase outlets
could also be used to power the lights. Gym facil-
ities often have dryers (used for drying uniforms)
that are run off 30- to 50-amp single-phase 220-
volt outlets. Each 30-amp 220-volt circuit can be
split up into two 30-amp 110-volt circuits, enough
to handle twelve 575-watt instruments (4.8 amps
each or 57.6 amps for twelve), eight 750-watt in-
struments (6.2 amps each or 56.25 amps for nine),
or seven 1000-watt instruments (8.33 amps each
or 58.3 amps for seven). This is enough power to
light the six instruments hung on one lighting
tower and more. The lighting rental company will
have extension cords that they can plug into the
lighting instruments include diagrams that show the
beam diameter and intensity at given throw dis-
tances. A good general reference is Robert C.
Mumm’s Photometrics Handbook (second edition,
Broadway Books, 1997), which lists the light inten-
sity and beam diameter for given throw distances of
many different types of lighting instruments (See the
reference list on page 9 for other useful texts.)
220-volt outlet to run to the dimmers.
You could also use a combination of 110-volt
and 220-volt—two separate 20-amp 110-volt wall
outlets to power dimmers for one tower, and one
30-amp 220-volt outlet to power a dimmer pack
for the other tower.
In any case, when using existing outlets, it is
not enough to determine that each outlet you are
using is independently breakered at the required
amperage. You (along with your maintenance
person or electrician) also need to make sure that
nothing other than your lights is drawing power
through those breakers during the entire produc-
tion schedule.
Option two: creating a dedicated source
The first thing to remember about creating a new
power source is that it is work that can only be
done by a certified electrician and with the ap-
proval of the school administration. The electri-
cian must first determine if there is extra power
available in the building. If an extra 50 to 100
amps is available, the electrician will establish a
properly grounded power source to be used ex-
clusively for the lighting. He’ll also install a tem-
porary lighting disconnect box featuring a 50-or
100-amp breaker in a separate panel. A perma-
nent set of short single wire cables with Camlok
connectors, or “tails,” projecting out of the discon-
nect box will usually be included in the installa-
tion. The single-wire feeder cables running to the
dimmers will plug into these connectors.
An important feature of any disconnect panel is
a switch on the outside of the box that can lock
the power in the off position with a padlock. That
way, when connections are being made into the
tails, or when the power from the box is not be-
ing used, you can be certain that the power will
not be flipped on by accident. Only personnel
from the lighting rental company or a professional
electrician should make the connections to the
tails or disconnect them. The amount of power
made available, the exact connectors on the tails,
and the safest location for the switch should be
determined in consultation with the lighting rental
company.
In our sample lighting design, you’ll notice that
just two kinds of ellipsoidal spotlights are used—
6x9s to go from each tower to the center and near off-
stage acting areas, and 6x12s to throw the longer dis-
tance to the far off-stage acting areas from each tower.
A word or two about instrument wattage: ERS in-
struments can vary widely in how much power they
require. Recent advances in lighting technology have TEACHING THEATRE 7
 produced instruments that put out more light with kind of existing power sources will work to meet
less power. A few years ago, the average 6-inch ERS your lighting needs and, if none can be found, what
contained a 1000-watt bulb. Today ERSs put out the kind of new power sources can be installed that will
same amount of light with only 750 or even 575 work with rental lighting equipment (see the power
watts. This can be options sidebar on page 7). If your electrician finds,
quite important, at minimum, four 20-amp wall outlets on isolated
RUNNING CABLES SAFELY because reducing breakers, or a couple of nearby 30- to 50-amp 220-
Every building is different, but in every the total wattage volt outlets, you probably have sufficient power to
open-space lighting venue, bulky electrical of the instruments run a twelve-light system like the one outlined here.
cables will run through the audience to the allows you to use If not, an electrician will have to install a separately
lighting towers. Each cable needs to be run more lights with a breakered distribution box to be used solely for tem-
and covered in such a way that it does not limited amount of porary stage lighting. Though the cost for this kind of
pose a trip hazard to the actors or the audi- power and there- electrical work can be considerable, you’ll only have
ence and does not cross or block any fire fore do a better to do it once. Plus you’re likely to have capability of
exit doors. Safety codes require that good, job lighting your powering more than just twelve lights for future set-
clear exits be maintained in every public as- stage and your ac- ups. This is certainly not work you’re going to be do-
sembly area in case there is an emergency tors. ing yourself, but as mentioned earlier, you need to be
that requires a quick evacuation. A tempo- If you’re work- an informed consumer. Otherwise, when an electrician
rary theatre setup is no exception. Here are ing with a reliable starts fiddling around with your gym’s wiring, how are
some helpful hints about running cables: rental company, you going to know if he knows what he is doing?
1. Whenever possible, run cables along selecting instru-
the walls of the room. Do not run them on ments is pretty Step five: determine dimmer and
the floor across an exit door. Instead, route straightforward. control board needs
the cable up and over the door. Secure all They’ll have a lim- Dimmers control the amount of current going to the
cables with gaffers tape. ited selection and lighting instruments, which adjusts the intensity of
2. Do not run cables up an aisle. Rather, the tech data on the light coming out of the instruments. Dimmers are
run the cable in from the side and between each. Their famil- configured to operate loads between 1,200 and 6,000
the legs of the seats. iarity with the in- watts and are usually set up for smaller rental pur-
3. When cables do cross an aisle or audi- struments will poses in packs of four to twelve. Ideally, the dimmer
ence walkway, securely tape them to the make it easy for packs should be placed backstage in an area that al-
floor or cover them with a cable ramp. the rental techni- lows for adequate ventilation space and where cool-
In regard to what electrical work you can cians to match the ing fan noise will be minimal. However, if multiple
do yourself: if the connection to the power instrument beam dimmer packs are being used due to plugging into
involves anything more than hooking up a size, wattage, and several existing outlets around the gym, locating the
standard Edison or range plug into an outlet, light intensity to dimmer packs at the base of the lighting towers may
have the lighting rental tech or the building the throw distanc- prove to be the most convenient choice.
electrician do it. And always remember to: es in your gym The division of the stage space into individual ar-
• Keep the power off until all the cables design. eas allows separate area and color control. Therefore,
are strung and the lights are hung and each instrument ought to be assigned a dimmer and
plugged in. Step four: each dimmer, a control channel. This would, for in-
• Make sure the power is off before be- contact an stance, allow you to light the entire stage with just a
ginning the strike. electrician and blue wash or to individually emphasize a downstage
• Turn off the power to the system be- establish your or center area. In the Figure Three lighting design,
tween shows and lock the disconnect panel power needs assigning each light a dimmer would require twelve
switch in the off position. If you are working Once you start dimmers. A twelve-channel control board would al-
with existing 110-volt wall or 220-volt out- considering electri- low independent control of each light.
lets, turn off the breakers and tape them off. cal needs, it’s time
Tag them as drama production lights so to involve the Step six: establish cable needs
someone opening the breaker panel will not school administra- and placement
accidentally turn them on. Always do it tor (who will ulti- The first thing to know about cable—and lights for
yourself—this should not be a student re- mately need to that matter—is this: the power to the circuits should
sponsibility. Lock the breaker panel. approve and au- always be turned off when you’re setting them up.
thorize any modifi- We can’t overstate this as a point of safety, even
cations to the though it might seem obvious. (See the sidebar at left
building) and bring in a certified electrician to deter- for safety tips on how to run cable.)
mine if adequate power is available in the room. You’ll probably need up to three different kinds of
You should also contact a representative of the light- cables to power and control your system: single con-
8 TEACHING THEATRE ing rental company. He or she will understand what ductor feeder, stage cable, and low-voltage control
cables. Which cables you’ll need depends upon
where your power is coming from: 110-volt wall out-
let, 220-volt outlet, or power distribution panel. Each
light must be connected to a dimmer via a stage ca-
ble—either a single or within a multiconductor that
includes several lines. The control cables are used
exclusively to connect the lighting controls to the
dimmers. If you’re using the 110-volt room outlets
and/or the 220-volt plugs, appropriately rated heavy
duty extension cords are required. Rent these from
the rental company. They will have (or can easily
make up) correctly rated cords with the appropriate
connectors at each end. Feeder cables run from the
disconnect panel to the dimmers. Depending upon
how many phases are being used at the panel, up to
five individual feeder cables may be needed.
Each lighting instrument is connected to a dim-
mer. While it is possible to connect more than one
instrument to a dimmer, our sample setup designates
only only one dimmer per instrument. Therefore,
there will be only one cable running from each in-
strument to a dimmer, for a total of twelve individual
cable runs, or six to each tower. Multiconductor
stage cable such as Socapex is the simplest way to
run many power lines in a single, bundled cord.
Each Socapex multicable includes six individual cir-
cuits, so only one cable needs to be routed to each
tower to power up all six instruments. This would be
the ideal setup for dimmers located behind the stage.
The control cable connects the dimmers to the
light board. Because the board needs to be posi-
tioned out in the house to allow the operator to see
what’s happening on stage, the cable will need to be
several hundred feet long to connect the backstage
dimmers to the control board. If the dimmer packs
are located in several locations (at the bottom of
each tower, for instance), you’ll need a control cable
to the board for each of them.
This probably sounds like a lot of cable, and it is.
But it’s simple to figure out what you will need. Just
go back to the plan view of the gym, locate all the
important elements on it, draw in your cable runs,
and measure them. Two things to keep in mind: ca-
bles run vertically up the towers (this won’t show on
the plan view) and cables can’t run in a direct line
(they need to go over audience exits, along walls,
and across audience walkways perpendicularly).
One more thing to remember about lighting a
temporary space: we’ve suggested a basic sequence
of steps here, but in reality, it is a dynamic process
that involves a lot of variables. If you change any
single element of a lighting plan—the number of in-
struments, dimmer locations, power amount or
source, stage size or location, and so on—you will
change everything in the mix. What’s more, you can
greatly alter the cost of your rental package or what
you’re actually getting for your dollar by making mi-
nor changes in your design. Trust your rental com-
pany to help you work through all your options—
what is possible and what is not, what you can af-
ford and what you can’t. They can figure out, among
other things, how long you can rent the equipment
for. With excellent planning, it’s possible to get a rig
like the one in our example up in a day and be re-
hearsing in the evening. On the conservative side,
you should plan to have the rig up for a couple of
days, so any problems can be resolved and the cues
are set and running smoothly before the perfor-
mance. Assuming you’re doing two or three days of
shows, you will probably want to rent the setup for
at least a week.
The installation of temporary lighting does not
have to dominate your production time, nor do you
have to make it a second-rate element of the show.
Once you have established your power source, set
up an arrangement with a reliable rental firm, and
learned the basics of lighting open spaces, lighting
will become as integral a part of your productions as
blocking or costumes.
Jennifer Womack is a freelance lighting designer who
lives and works in Seattle. Steve Nelson is the techni-
cal theatre editor for the Educational Theatre Associ-
ation publications.
RESOURCES
If you can’t find a lighting rental company in
your area, contact the Entertainment Services
and Technology Association (ESTA) at 875
Sixth Avenue, Suite 2302, New York, NY
10002, or call (212) 244-1505, or visit their
website at www.esta.org and check out the
member directory listed by state. Under dealers
you should find the lighting rental companies
that are closest to you.
Here are four books that offer useful infor-
mation; the first three provide a good founda-
tion in light design and technical knowledge.
Designing with Light: An Introduction to
Stage Lighting, by J. Michael Gillette (fourth
edition), Mayfield Publishing Company, 1999.
Scene Design and Stage Lighting, by W.
Oren Parker and R. Craig Wolf (seventh edi-
tion), Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1996.
Stage Lighting Revealed: A Design and Exe-
cution Handbook, by Glen Cunningham, Bet-
terway Books, 1993.
Concert Lighting Techniques, Art, and Busi-
ness, by James Moody (second edition), Focal
Press, 1997. This text covers temporary lighting
on a large scale. The author reviews the basics
of lighting design, specialized equipment, and
the technical processes involved in touring a
show in different kinds of venues.
TEACHING THEATRE 9