Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Calling Lighting Gurus!

Message

   Hello All!

I have a question for you. I am opening a new theater bldg and need advice on lighting. 

I know there are lots of variables, but please just give me your best guess with what info I can provide. I just need a starting point.

Ok here goes:  

The stage will be about 20x16 on the floor

This will be a black box with raked seating on 3 sides

The ceiling is about 10-12 feet high

What I need to know is the CHEAPEST way to light this stage. We will not be doing any shows right off that require any fancy lighting.  

Please give me an idea of HOW MANY lights I would need and of what kind.  

I would really appreciate your best guess based only on what I have given (because that is all I know right now about the place and my lighting knowledge is practically NIL! 

I could put this another way as well....we have only $2,500 budget for new lights. What should/could we buy with that as a starter package??

Thanks and I look forward to your responses!!!

Magnolia

Author	Message
magnolia Walk-On Joined: 4/27/11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 7	Topic: Calling Lighting Gurus! Posted: 6/22/11 at 5:29pm
	Hello All! I have a question for you. I am opening a new theater bldg and need advice on lighting. I know there are lots of variables, but please just give me your best guess with what info I can provide. I just need a starting point. Ok here goes: The stage will be about 20x16 on the floor This will be a black box with raked seating on 3 sides The ceiling is about 10-12 feet high What I need to know is the CHEAPEST way to light this stage. We will not be doing any shows right off that require any fancy lighting. Please give me an idea of HOW MANY lights I would need and of what kind. I would really appreciate your best guess based only on what I have given (because that is all I know right now about the place and my lighting knowledge is practically NIL! I could put this another way as well....we have only $2,500 budget for new lights. What should/could we buy with that as a starter package?? Thanks and I look forward to your responses!!! Magnolia

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magnolia Walk-On Joined: 4/27/11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 7	Posted: 6/25/11 at 2:17pm
	No one? No lighting gurus? lol
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David McCall Celebrity Joined: 1/28/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 299	Posted: 6/26/11 at 11:19am
	Here is what I would buy 8 x 6 " Fresnels (500 watts) $1200 2 x 4-packs (small units with 4 dimmers 600 watt dimmers ($300) PCstage or other lighting software plus a free simple computer ($500) Beyond that you need some DMX and power cables and other stuff ($500) This doesn't take into consideration how you mount the lights. Preferred would be a couple pipes or Unistrut hung from the ceiling. Another option would be lighting trees like the DJs use.
	David M
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JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 9/20/11 at 7:03pm
	I can't coment on the number of lamps, as we here work at differing generated power supply values {440 volt 3 phase & 254volt single phase (+/- 5%)} thus you will be dealing with less votage & greater curent pressure thus far higher amperage. {It's not the volts but amps that normally will kill}. However you can use commercial lighting which in most cases are far cheaper than theatre lamps & inverable are easier & cheap to source. If you contact a Lighting supplier or manufacturing company & check out thier damaged stock light fittings bin. Primarily for general coverage you can get away with Flood lighting & only augument the palette with a few Profile (hard edge) & Fresnel (soft edge) lamps. If you have a friendly sparky on hand there, you can make up some of your own flood lamps, out of large empty coffee cans & the like. I did this years ago when I was about 12 years old, with a couple of mates from the (Boy Scout) 'Gang show' & set up our own theatre in a garage at home. But thats all another story! Here in West Australia we need to be a licenced electricain holding at least a restricted electrical licence, prior to working on electrical equipment over 32 Volts.
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
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museav Lead Joined: 11/06/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 38	Posted: 9/22/11 at 7:29am
	Are you asking about what fixtures and instruments to use with an existing dimming system or are you starting with nothing and would need to address power, dimming, control, cabling and the related lights themselves? Expanding on the previous comments, factors such as what power, mounting, dimming and control provisions are in place would be major factors and really need to be identified in order for people to offer appropriate responses.
	Brad W.
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Lights and Sound
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Lights and Sound