A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO STAGE LIGHTING

When the lighting designer sees a single channel

by itself reading at a level of Full and can’t remem-

ber what it is, or why it’s currently turned on, this

format of the cheat sheet provides a more com-

plete explanation. If channel 118 is appearing on

the screen at Full with no other channel intensities

around it, the cheat sheet will inform the lighting

designer that it’s the shinbuster on the 4th boom

stage right. Since the shinbuster’s focus has no light

hitting the floor, that explains why the designer

can’t see it. And if the performer isn’t in the 4th

wing, the shinbuster has nothing to do with the rest

of the light cue. Channel 118 can be turned off for

this cue and re-recorded.

THE CUE MASTER

The third document required to create light cues is the

first core document created in the first stage of the light-

ing design, the cue master. Whether Post-it’s stuffed into

a score, dance track sheets covered with scribbles, doo-

dles on a script, or printed-out spreadsheets, this docu-

ment provides the lighting designer with the language

of the show, and an updated record of the placement,

speed, and purpose of each lighting change. No matter

how messed up this document may become during the

technical rehearsal process, the cue master needs to be

constantly updated to somehow reflect on paper what’s

being produced as light cues or changes on the stage.

The cue master is also often used to communi-

cate preliminary cue placement to the stage manager.

In most cases, the stage manager wants this infor-

mation recorded in his or her call book prior to the

first technical rehearsal. Otherwise, more time may

be spent in that first tech determining cue place-

ment rather than figuring out how to make them run

smoothly. Presuming the lighting designer and the

stage manager are two different people, the appear-

ance or structure of the cue master may need to be

coordinated. Time constraints may be such that a

meeting between the two prior to the first tech to

discuss cue placement may not be possible. If the

cue placement is recorded by the lighting designer

in some format that can be passed on to the stage

manager, the cues can be placed into the call book

without the lighting designer’s direct participation.

Coordinating the cue master’s format can reduce the

amount of discussion necessary between the pair to

transfer the information.

In the best of times, both folks will already know

the general placement of many cues, since with luck

they’ve watched run-through rehearsals together. In

that situation, if a discussion about the timing or place-

ment for a particular sequence in the show can’t take

place until the technical rehearsals begin, it won’t be a

major source of concern. When that doesn’t take place,

the stage manager may instead only get the designer’s

cue master the night before the tech to transfer num-

bers into the call book. While far from ideal, at least

some cue numbers and a sense of their placement can

still be sketched in before the long days of tech. If noth-

ing else, it’s still better than when the entire produc-

tion team assembles at the production table for the first

tech, and the stage manager asks: “So what number do

I call to bring up the preset?”

The Spreadsheet Cue Master

Figure 9.5 is the expanded spreadsheet cue master

for the opening scene of Hokey, version 5. While each

cue may still not yet be named, a general description

of each change or beat in the scene continues to be

notated and updated. Each cue is listed on a single

row with additional rows in between, giving extra

space to still write in additional information. Some

designers think it wise to triple space the cue master

during initial light cue level setting sessions and tech-

nical rehearsals, when productions are particularly

volatile or liquid. Rows will be eliminated in later

versions, once the show settles down.

For multi-scene productions, the first column

has changed from “Act” to “PG,” short for page.

For opera, an extra column could be added for

the score’s measure number. “SC” was eliminated;

“Section” remains, as the knowledge about the piece

has increased. The cue number and counts are now

much more filled in, and what was “Song,” “Folk,”

“Notes,” and “Block,” has now been converted and

expanded into “On,” “For,” and “Action.” The “on”

column indicates the moment at which the stage

manager says “the magic word.” The “for” column

indicates why the cue is happening. The “action”

column gives a brief description of what lights actu-

ally move in each cue. At this point the cue master is

based on meetings and descriptions. Many informa-

tional or descriptive points are still included that cur-

rently don’t have a lighting change assigned to them.

During run-throughs or the tech process, the points

may be eliminated from the list, but at this point,

they’re still useful to provide a sequential description

of the stage action, until it becomes more familiar to

everyone connected with the show.

This version of the cue master now includes

two new columns sketching preliminary thoughts

about followspots. While these cues aren’t definite,

they provide the lighting designer with an initial

idea about when the spots will be used. Including

this information is the lighting designer’s preference.

While some designers don’t want to include spots on