A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

Create the Preliminaries and Send out the Shop Order

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locations and elements that, to produce a lighting sec-

tion will essentially be a retrace of the scenic section

and a redundant waste of paper. While that may be

true, it doesn’t necessarily include accurate illustra-

tions of beam pool overlaps or approaching angles of

light. I believe it’s always wise for the lighting designer

to take the time and double-check the angles drawn

on sections for beam spread and focus range. Here’s

why:

Years ago I was involved in a Broadway pro-

duction called A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick

Stewart.Itwasaonemanshow,andPatrickplayed

over thirty-five roles in each performance. We had

originally produced the effort at the Richard Rogers

Theatre, and the show was going to be remounted at

the Broadhurst Theatre. The show was an official hit,

and the plan was to merely reproduce the show in

every way. The same scenery, the same lighting instru-

ments, focused to the same areas—we intended to use

the light cues on the disk on the same type of light-

ing console that had used the year before. Both the-

atres were Broadway houses, and both had the same

lighting positions. Taking the time to draft a lighting

section was a waste of time and effort.

Or so we thought. We hung the same lighting

package and the schedule was going along smoothly.

Only when we turned on the lights on the FOH truss

did we notice that the pools of area light seem a little

smaller. After some checking we determined that the

FOH truss position at the Broadhurst was approxi-

mately5′-0″ closer to the plaster line than the same

lighting position in the Rodgers. The solution at this

time-constrained moment was to fly the truss out to

a higher trim. Taking this action allowed the pools of

light from the instruments to get large enough so that

they provided adequate area coverage. Solved that

problem, right?

Wrong. During the technical rehearsal, we dis-

covered that the frontlight angle was now so high

no light struck Mr. Stewart’s eyelids. The shadows

underPatrick’seyesweresopronouncedthat,when

he looked straight to the back of the orchestra seat-

ing, there were black holes where his eyes should

have been. As an actor, one of his main tools for

communicating, his eyes, was lost.

Our first preview was that night. Our course

was set. As they were clearing the tech table from

thehouse,oursuggestiontoPatrickwastoplaythe

entire show a “little higher.” That is, angle his head

back so that he was looking straight up a little higher

to the first row of the mezzanine, rather than the

back of the house.

After the show we met in his dressing room, and

Patrick commented that he was beginning to get a

crick in his neck from angling his head back for the

entire show. We noted this discomfort and considered

thefactthatwehadasoldout5weekrunfeaturing

this one world-class performer, who now was feel-

ing discomfort for our oversight. After meeting with

the producer, jumping on our swords, and making

some late night phone calls to people at home, we

came in the next morning with the crew. New instru-

ments with larger beam spreads arrived at the the-

atre, and we proceeded to re-hang the entire position,

re-trim it to a lower height, re-focus it, and allowed

Mr. Stewart to give his performances without any

further neck adjustment.

Had we paid more attention and taken the time

to draw a section, we would have seen the difference

in the distance to the Broadhurst’s FOH position,

and presumably would have changed the instrumen-

tation. That would have then avoided the additional

cost, the inconvenience to Mr. Stewart, and the loss of

confidence from the producer. My lesson was that, no

matter how silly or time consuming it may seem at the

time, always create or check the section for lighting.

It’s become one of my own personal Golden Rules.

The Preliminary Section: Basic Drawing

The preliminary section is created in three steps.

Using all available information, horizontal and verti-

cal coordinates are drawn, double-checked, and then

joined to create the scaled drawing. For clarity, the

illustrations will show these lines properly spaced in

the three steps to quickly create the overall picture.

Step 1: Draft the Rough Outlines

The left-hand side of Figure5.1 shows the horizon-

tal placement of the vertical lines that will be used to

create the preliminary section of the Hybrid Theatre.

Draw the first vertical line and define that as plaster

line, one-half of sectional zero-zero. Now draw the

left-hand column of lines or tic marks relative to that

line (negative to the algebraic left). When completed,

those vertical lines will resemble Figure5.2A.

Next, the horizontal lines will be added. The

right-hand column of Figure 5.1 lists the vertical

placement of the horizontal lines. Draw the first

line and define that as the stage, the other half of

sectional zero-zero. Now draw the next two lines

below the stage (negative to the algebraic “under”

or below), and the rest of the lines above the stage.

When completed, those added lines resemble Figure

5.2B. Now some quick drafting and a little artistic

license will clean this up.

•Thelinesareshortened,joined,andshadedto

show the preliminary shape of the architecture.