A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO STAGE LIGHTING

moved upstage. Once the ladder completed each elec-

tric and moved upstage, the vinyl would immediately

be installed in the freshly abandoned area.

Although I agreed in principle to this installation

method, I was uncertain how I was going to accu-

rately complete the focus session. Since the initial

installation of the vinyl was to begin at the down-

stage edge of the stage, no apron stripes would remain

uncovered. As each panel of vinyl was installed,

another series of reference marks would be perma-

nently obscured. Since I had no assistance, there was

no one available who could replace the spike marks

onto the vinyl as they were being covered. There was

no time to interrupt the focus session while I wildly

ran about with a measuring tape. How could focus

be accurately performed without spike marks on the

deck of the stage?

After some thought, I devised a plan. Since the

focus points on the stage required triangulation any-

way, I decided to extend the distance between the

spike marks and the focus points. I went into the first

row of the house, and sighted the locations of the

apron stripes and the quarter lines to their matching

locations in the first row of seats. At each location,

I placed large strips of colored marking tape on the

seat backs facing the stage. Presumably I’d be able

to see these marks while standing upstage during the

focus session. I then went to a location offstage of

the planned edge of the vinyl floor. After laying out

the measuring tape from plaster line running straight

upstage, I duplicated the spike marks that had

initially been placed on centerline, placing a second

set of marks offstage in the wings. Since there were

a variety of focus points for the different systems,

I attached matching pieces of the colored tape on

the light plot, so that while focusing, I would know

which color referred to what zone. Finally, I rolled a

rover offstage, plugged it into the wall, and focused it

onto the new spike marks, so that they could be seen

in the darkness during the focus.

The offstage spike marks functioned splendidly,

and the focus session proceeded without hesitation or

confusion on my part. The only hitch in the proceed-

ings was when the props man noticed that someone

had stuck a bunch of colored tape onto the front row

of the audience seating, and began tearing the tape

off before the focus was complete.

Tales from the Road:

Spike Marks Without Walls

We were loading the electrics in for the show. The

scenery truck containing the walls and ground cloth

hadn’t yet appeared. After the overhead electrics were

up, plugged, and ready to focus, phone calls were

made to find the scenery truck. It soon became clear

that no one, including the dispatcher, had any clue as

to the whereabouts of the scenery truck. Without a

set, how could the focus be performed? We threw our

hands in the air, proclaimed nothing could be focused

(since it would all have to be redone once the scen-

ery was in place), and proceeded to wait. And wait.

As time wore on without the scenery truck’s arrival,

we started becoming concerned, since it was becom-

ing apparent that whenever the set did arrive, there

would be little time between the assembly of the set

and the technical rehearsal. As the clock continued

to tick, our concern grew to dread. The technical

rehearsal was now in doubt. When (or if) the scenery

showed up, there would barely be time to set it up

and allow the performers to see the layout prior to

the performance, much less focus the lighting. In an

act of self-preservation, a plan was devised.

Together with the carpentry department, the set’s

location on the stage was defined. A groundplan was

used to tape out the wall’s locations on the stage.

Since the stage would (eventually) be covered by the

show’s ground cloth, there was no concern about

spiking the stage with small discrete pieces of tape;

the walls became entire strips of tape. While this pro-

cess was being completed, gallows humor suggested

that, if nothing else, the performers could enact their

blocking within the confines of the spike tape. The

true test of their mime training, we decided, would

be “walking up the stairs” stage right. After the tape

on the stage traced the location of the walls in the

groundplan, the points where tape crossed (the inter-

section of walls) were labeled with a large number,

and the groundplan of the stage was ready for focus.

While the stage was being taped, four long pieces

of 1 × 4 were located, all of which measured taller

than the highest wall. These were broadly marked in

1-foot increments on both sides of the wood. Once

these “walls” had been taped, the focus session began:

four stagehands, each carrying one of the spiked pieces

of wood, were assigned the roles of “wall intersec-

tions.” They were directed to one of the large num-

bers marked on the stage (where two walls would

meet) or other various locations to become “walls,”

“windows,” or “doors.” After they were directed to

the proper location, the proper instrument would be

turned on, pointed to the appropriate focus point,

and the focusing electrician could accurately execute

all of the required shutter cuts on the “walls.” The

number of directions required to position the “walls”

during this time made the focus session sound like

anextendedsquaredance:“Dan,youmovetowall

point 3, Sabrina, swing around behind him to wall

point 5.” Although it took a little longer, in time the