Cue3Go!

Issue 14, 2023

Techie Tip of the Week

THE TROUBLE WITH WORKLIGHTS

The trouble is…that many a high school theatre is ill equipped with work lights.  In many older theatres they may have been added as an after thought, or sometimes not at all.  For this reason, teachers or others working in the theatre will turn on the whole production lighting system in order to light their classes, rehearsals and set building sessions.  In one theatre where I had been hired to design lights I figured this amount to equal about 44,000 watts of power being used.  In another theatre with a more extensive production lighting system, with no theatre management to stop them from turning on every single production light when working in the theatre, I calculated that they were using about 120,000 watts of power! 

In many newer theatres the situation isn’t much better.  In another theatre I designed at, which had the misfortune to be built in 2008 during the recession, because of budget cuts at the time of installation, work lights were eliminated from the equipment order all together.  There were fluorescent overheads installed 40’ up at the grid, but these were too far away to be of much use, and no one wanted to use them too much because it would be very difficult to replace the lamps once they burned out.  Therefore the classes, rehearsals and set builders turned on most of the production lights in order to be able to see well enough to work in the space. I hate to think how much has been spent in power over the years, just in order to save a bit of money on an initial purchase of necessary equipment.

If you are lucky to be in the position of installing new work lights, the long term financial and functional benefits of LEDs far outweigh any initial costs over other types.

But, no matter what situation you have at your high school theatre, you should develop a policy for the use of the work lights and production lights.  Here is a sample policy I wrote for a high school that had HID lights on the electrics and above the apron of the stage, fluorescent lights on the grid, and a limited amount of production lights programmed into an auto control to provide a few basic production functions.

This editorial is the express opinion of Beth Rand, and is not intended for substitution for professional advice regarding your specific situation or circumstances.

Leveling-Up

Online courses for school theatre teachers and staff

to find out more about the courses please visit:

Theatre Management Training Course

Theatre Management Tutorials

Lighting and Safety Courses

Safety Webinar for Students

Dear Techie,

There’s a local dance studio that uses my theatre for about ten days in June, after school is out.  They help themselves to my supplies and equipment.

I really want to start using a written and signed agreement to continue what has become regular intrusion in the Summer. Do you have any suggestions for any sort of agreement form?  Many thanks in advance.

Intruded Upon

Dear Intruded Upon,

Some questions (rhetorical, for you to consider), and then some thoughts:

Are you expected to be preparing your space for this group?  Who restores everything back to rep after each event is completed?  Who is in charge of safety and risk management for school events? Are you essentially being given the responsibilities of a Theatre Manager?

Do they pay a rental fee to the district to use the space?  If so, does this rental fee cover the pre- and post-management and supervision needed for the event?

Do they use the space on their own? Do you have catwalks they are allowed to access?  Do you have a fly system they are allowed to use? Who site supervises and runs the equipment?  Do students crew the outside event, and if so, who supervises the student crew?  If there is a student crew, are they paid to work outside events?  (If not, this is illegal, as the events are paying the district.)

How many school events do you have in your theatre all year – everything from a school meeting to your musical, and everything in between (concerts, variety shows, etc).  Do they also have free reign and intrude upon the space in the same way? Every time the theatre is used and even just one mic needs to be turned on and the production lights turned up, whether it’s a school event or community event, this counts as an ‘event’. 

These are just some rhetorical questions for you to consider.  If you are running a ‘one person show’, it may be time to talk to your admin about hiring a Theatre Manager. 

The district likely already has a legal agreement that outside events have to sign in order to use the facility, however it’s likely a generic form for any building/classroom in the district.  Be sure to get a copy of that to find out what’s in it.  But – you also need a theatre specific form. Be sure to add some wording about returning everything to ‘rep’, and to bring their own supplies.  Also, regardless of whether you’re there or not, before school ends, require them to come in and have a Production Meeting with you, where you can provide them with even more forms.

For general information about having to manage your theatre, check out the FREE 8 Actions To Level-Up Support and Funding action sheet (see link below).

For what information to include on your form check out the Administrative Systems chapter of High School Theatre Operations.

Submit your Dear Techie questions to [email protected].  

I once appeared in a theatre production about a very popular web programming language.

JavaScript?

No, it was entirely improvised.

​

Submit your Bad Theatre Joke or Funnies to [email protected].

It is PRESETT's mission to provide information to assist in endeavors for safe and functional operations of school theatres. However, PRESETT is not a safety consultant or professional, and any information provided or advocated is not intended to supplement, not supersede, industry safety training. Always consult a theatre safety specialist about your specific situation or circumstances.