A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

The Light Cue Level Setting Session and Technical Rehearsals

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time to make the light cues and make sure that, if

nothing else, each scene has a base cue to get the

show into the dry techs or the technical rehearsals.

When the lighting cues are created, the lighting

designer attempts to simultaneously play the roles of

artist, programmer, and time manager. On the artistic

level, he or she needs to quickly transform the mental

images into concrete lighting states that achieve the

objectives of light, reinforce the production concept,

provide focus, and emotionally underscore the action

onstage. At the same time, the lighting designer is a

mechanic, understanding how to quickly assemble

those looks by speaking the proper console language

to the operator in order to construct the cue. Finally,

along with the stage manager, the lighting designer

has to keep an eye on the clock to be certain that

some form of primary light cues for the show are

created and recorded before the scheduled light cue

level setting time runs out.

General Cueing Concepts

Although the light cues and their step-by-step con-

struction are unique for every show, a number of gen-

eral cue concepts and the methods used to quickly

create them are consistent for many productions.

At almost every moment in almost every theatri-

cal presentation, the action on the stage is directed to

an area of particular focus. It may be the entire stage,

one whole side of the stage, or it could be a very tiny

isolated area. In the course of almost every produc-

tion, this stage focus shifts between different loca-

tions. One of the primary purposes of each light cue

in a production, then, is to telegraph these focus shifts

to the audience, and thereby reinforce the stage focus.

Since the eye is subconsciously drawn to the bright-

est point on a stage, one basic property of light that

is used to direct the stage focus is intensity. Although

the other properties of light play as much of a role in

each lighting design, the purpose for each light cue is

often initially constructed with that in mind; the area

of focus, in that light cue, is brighter than the rest of

the stage.

From that perspective, every light cue can be con-

structed based on contrast. A light cue can be built

up, by adding a brighter area of focus to a compara-

bly dim surrounding, or a light cue can be built down,

from a bright focus to a comparably lower intensity.

Most light cues are usually constructed using one of

these two methods.

Built-up light cues are constructed by first acti-

vating channels at lower intensities, and then adding

channels at brighter intensities to establish the points

of stage focus. Light cues for large group scenes often

illustrate this method. The general washes are layered

in first, to ensure visibility on the stage. Then brighter

intensities are added, to highlight the lead perform-

ers or otherwise direct the stage focus. Built down

light cues reverse that method. The bright focus of the

light cue is activated first, followed by adding washes

or specials in lower intensities to illuminate the sur-

rounding environment. This method is often used to

create light cues for highly focused or isolated scenes.

Not only is it important for the designer to under-

stand the focus of each light cue, it’s also technically

important to compare the contrast of that look with

the light cues that precede and follow it. Cues con-

structed without being compared to their “neigh-

bors” may not be as visually successful when viewed

in sequence during the production.

In some cases, light changes indicated on the cue

master just don’t have enough information filled in to

their rows. While it may seem that a change is needed

or justified, the lighting designer may ultimately be

unable to figure out what the change needs to be.

These are the cues that are often the easiest ones to

skip or cut. If you’re unable to figure out what visually

needs to change in the cue, then maybe that moment

in the show doesn’t need a cue there in the first place.

Tech rehearsals will provide clarity and either the cue

will make sense or be eliminated altogether.

General Cueing Tactics

From a mechanical point of view, time allocated to a

cueing session should be spent viewing and discussing

completed looks, rather than watching the lighting

designer trying to decide how they should appear or

how to construct them. Each look has been predeter-

mined in the lighting designer’s mind prior to the cue-

ing session, using some form of the cue master. What’s

left is then to tactically plan in advance how to con-

struct each cue as rapidly as possible. Some designers

pre-write recipes on the cue master directing which

groups to quickly activate to achieve the basic look.

Other designers pre-write base cues in off-line editing

programs in order to have something loaded in the

console before the session begins. Once the cue has

been constructed, it can then be viewed, discussed,

and modified (and often is) by the rest of the collab-

orative team. The point is to reduce the amount of

time that everyone has to wait before the next cue

can be viewed.

Even with pre-written information, one obvious

tactic to speed up the light cue construction process is

to use handles to paint the broad strokes. This is one

primary reason to program the infrastructure cues,

groups, or submasters. Another not-so-obvious tactic

is to recognize when the same number of keystrokes

have been made more than once. Type them in the