Doing Lighting Design for MTG (Updated)

Original: Jake Gunter ’16

Lightly Updated: Max Beeman ‘20 and Brandon John ‘21

Updated: Estin Van Alstine '24

Introduction

[Still needs to be written…]

A note: This guide is geared mainly toward the intermediate designer working with MTG for the first time, rather than towards complete novices. As such, it does not cover the artistic or conceptual details of lighting design. If you are new to the wonderful world of throwing photons at people’s bodies, and are looking for resources, I suggest reading Stage Lighting for Students, Stage Lighting 101, and  Scene Design and Stage Lighting. (If you don’t want to spend $100 and buy the book, the Shakespeare Ensemble has a copy or two that you can probably borrow.)

Making the plot

The first step is to read through the show and talk to the director about vision and color and artsy things. Keep track of potential specials outside of your basic stage wash that might be needed to make this vision come to life. It can often be helpful to have a Papertech alongside the director and potentially choreographers once most of the show has been blocked/rehearsed so there is a good idea of any large variables in your plot. Once you have a pretty concrete idea of vision, the next step is making the plot. Unless you have prior experience with another drafting program, I’d recommend Vectorworks (which has a free student version). If you need a more in-depth tutorial on Vectorworks/drafting, ask around. Vectorworks templates of Sala and KLT should be available from recent LDs.

When drawing the plot, keep track of your inventory. You have access to a large stock of equipment that belongs to La Sala or KLT (ask a recent LD or TD for the current inventory). You also will have a modest rental budget (bug the producers for an exact number), that can be used to rent fancy things. Typical sources of fancy things include E33 Productions. (If you know any of E33’s Production Managers, many of whom have worked with MTG in the past or may indeed be you, they can give you a sizable rental discount.) When choosing gel colors, you can either look through the MTG gel boxes (located in the back of the office) to see what we have, or you can buy new gels with a portion of your budget.

If you’re working in Sala, you’ll probably want to hang your own house lights — scoops are the fixtures of choice for this. With a traditional audience setup, 6 scoops should cover the desired area fully. Scoops (or PARs) can also be useful for orchestra lights in Sala if the orchestra is behind the curtain backstage.

At this stage, you also will need to decide if you want follow-spots. There are no fixed spot positions in Sala or KLT, but standard practice is to put spots on the furthest south pipe in Sala or on the box booms in KLT (so they can be operated from the audience balconies). Put serious thought into determining whether you want spots — neither Sala nor KLT’s spot positions create particularly flattering angles. Update 09-10-24: E33 also offers moving lights for rental, which can be useful to create follow spots or moving spotlights that are not manually operated. Keep in mind that between cues, these lights will take the shortest path between the starting and ending spot. Generally, we no longer operate manual follow spots.

After you have a plot, you'll present it to the dir-staff and the rest of the design team at a production meeting, and then make changes based on their comments, after which you have a “final” plot. (“Final” is in quotation marks for a reason — things always change during tech week.)

Next, you’ll need a cable plot. A cable plot graphically (or occasionally textually) notates which instruments are cabled to which circuits, and how many / what length of extension cables each instrument needs. Depending on the plot and the space, making a cable plot ranges from “fairly trivial” to “like five-dimensional sudoku”. It’s basically a giant optimization puzzle. Optionally, if you have a Master Electrician or Assistant LD, you can pawn off the task onto one of them — but knowing how to make a cable plot yourself is still a good skill. Usually, any Vectorworks model of the theater space should have locational information about dimmer boxes and other input locations. You may need to ask a previous LD or the TD for any missing information or the electrical load maximums of circuits in the space, which will be important for any daisy-chaining of lights you may have to do.

After the plots are done, you need to generate paperwork. Paperwork generally consists of:

• A couple nice PDF copies of the plot and cable plot, in multiple scales
• An instrument schedule, noting which instruments you need from whom
• A channel schedule, noting which dimmers are patched to which channels on the board
• A dimmer schedule, noting which instruments are circuited to which dimmers
• Note: I like to combine the dimmer schedule and cable plot into one spreadsheet, which I call a “cabling guide”
• A color / gobo schedule, noting how many (and what size) gels and gobos you're using

If your plot has fewer than 75 instruments total, you can use the free version of Lightwright, which is a database software designed specifically for lighting. If you have more than 75 instruments, I recommend just throwing the instrument data (which you can export as a .csv file from Vectorworks) into Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or your spreadsheet program of choice.

Once the plot and paperwork are finished, it’s considered good manners to send the completed PDF files to your lighting crew, along with a schedule/plan for hang and focus (see below).

Additionally, you will need this paperwork to be completed in order to be reviewed with EHS, CAC, and your technical director a few weeks before the show. Check in with your TD to figure out when this meeting will occur. 

Creating cues on paper

Before put in, it is very helpful to go through a copy of the script and annotate locations for cues you want and descriptions of the looks you aim to achieve. Though of course things will change once you get to programming, having a clear concrete plan can save you hours at board putting in your cues. Any sort of PDF annotator such as Adobe, Zotero, or Notability will get the job done just fine. If you prefer, annotating a physical copy of the script may be possible, though it's important to check with the producer or stage manager for rules regarding this annotation. Generally, pencil is fine given it can be erased. 

Hang and focus

Put-in (the day when we hang and focus everything) will likely be the most stressful single day of the entire production process for you, as LD. Get plenty of sleep, and stay hydrated, etc.!

Normally, I like to try to get into space on the night before put-in in order to test and inventory instruments. MTG’s Fall shows are a bit of a special case, because our put-in begins about five hours after strike for the previous show — as such, it can behoove you to coordinate with the Shakespeare Ensemble’s LD about leaving certain fixtures hung.

On the day of put-in itself, arrive (and tell your crew to arrive) at 7:00 AM, which is the earliest we can get into the space. You’ll need to call CAC (dial 617-253-1500 and ask to speak to “the CAC manager on duty”) when you arrive to get the space unlocked. Make sure to also get the instrument storage area unlocked — in KLT, this is the electrics closet; in Sala, it is space dock.

When planning hang and focus, the limiting factor is the number of “tall things” on which you can put your workers.

In Sala, you have two main "tall things" — a mobile elevated working platform called SkyJack (drivable scissor lift) and a genie lift (moveable but NOT drivable lift). Genie can hold only one person, and Skyjack can hold two (plus 2-3 lighting instruments). Keep in mind that ALL lighting crew operating Skyjack and Genie will need training organized by CAC/EHS in advance. These are usually arranged once per year, so it can be helpful to keep a list of people you know who are trained to use the equipment that is required for Sala hangs.

In KLT, you have Genie, Skyjack, plus three ladders. One of the ladders is shorter than the other two and is best left to working downstage of the proscenium. SkyJack and Genie are not allowed to be driven downstage of the proscenium due to the hollow stage. The other two ladders are necessary for hanging all lights over the audience.

During hang, keep in mind that your energy is best used coordinating other crew members, not lifting and hanging instruments yourself. You’ll be doing a lot of yelling to people on the other side of the room. Generally, the best division of crew in Sala has 2 people on Skyjack, 1 person in genie, and the rest (minimum of 2) acting as a “ground crew” to transport lights or move/set up Genie. In KLT, things are a bit more variable. Ladders are easier to move than genie, but more of a pain-in-the-ass. However, ladders are the only equipment that can be used upstage of the proscenium - keep this in mind for hanging organization. Each ladder will need 2 people (one hanging and one footing for safety).

Also note that KLT’s first electric — the pipe known as “Sun” — can be manually flown in and out via a crank winch backstage left.

It’s important to keep your crew’s morale high during put-in, because it’s a long day with a lot of physical labor. Good ways to ensure crew morale include providing coffee and doughnuts in the morning, and either providing lunch in the afternoon or allowing the team to take a 30–45 minute lunch break.

Beware that you'll lose the actor members of your crew around 6:30 PM or 7 PM for rehearsal. At that point, you can either keep working alone (particularly if you want to do something like setting up / patching the console) or you can close up and head home for the day. It's very possible that you won't finish everything in one day. Aim to get through all of hang and cabling on Sunday, but then poll your crew about their Monday availability and find a good time (before Monday’s rehearsal!) to do focus. It’s also a lot easier to get things done Sunday evening if you have crew members who aren’t also actors.

Beware also that you’ll be working alongside the sets crew. You have from 7 AM until around 11 AM or noon usually, and after that the set crew arrives and starts putting wood in inconvenient places and making loud noises with power tools. It is in your best interest to hang, cable, and focus early (regardless of your overall plan) any instruments that will be hard or impossible to access (i.e., not below normal flat stage) once the set is in place. This is much more of an issue in Sala than in KLT, since KLT’s ladders can be adjusted to straddle modest height differences, and also since set designers love to build giant platforms in Sala.

Generally, I find the best way to go about things in Sala is to hang every instrument (and while hanging, cable instruments with <20-foot cable runs), then cable every instrument with longer cable runs, then focus every instrument. Make your cable plot with an eye to efficiency here, and give as many instruments as possible short cable runs. KLT has many more circuits than Sala, so you will find that long cable runs are generally less common in KLT.

It’s entirely possible to be hands-off during hang if you have a competent and eager Master Electrician. During focus, however, you’re the boss. Focus requires a minimum of two crew members: you (the LD), and someone to focus the fixture — it works better with a third person (to stand on the stage so you know how your light looks on actual people) and a fourth (to fetch gels and help the focus-er move around, or to board-op if you prefer to be mobile). A general game plan during focus is:

• Focuser loosens fixture. If applicable, the focuser pulls out the shutters and focuses the beam to a hard edge so you can more easily see the beam.
• You direct the focuser to the general focus point of the fixture, after which knobs and bolts are locked down.
• You direct shutter cuts, barrel position, and (if applicable) zoom or lens axis, in order to get the desired beam.
• You instruct the focuser to place a gel and/or gobo in the fixture, and move on.

Tech week

This is the fun part! You’ll be writing cues and programming them into the board. It’s up to you whether you want to write cues during the day on Monday, or live, during the run, Monday evening. Either way, you’ll want to be mostly programmed by Tuesday night, and pretty much fully programmed by Wednesday night. Prepare to spend hours in the space programming outside of rehearsals, unless you are comfortable programming in blind.

Cues you might forget to program

• A warmup/instrument check cue. This usually takes the form of a cue that brings every fixture up to 100% over about 5 minutes of fade time, then drops them back down to 20% or 30%. This accomplishes a few things:
• It warms up the lamps gradually
• It puts higher-than-normal stress on the filaments, so that, if one is close to blowing out, it blows out during warmup instead of during the show, giving you time to fix it.
• It allows you to go on stage and visually check that every fixture is working.
  Trigger your warmup cue around 1 hour to curtain, so you have time to replace any burned-out lamps.
• A preshow cue. This can be as simple as “house lights on, stage dark” or as complicated and atmospheric as you want.
• A house-to-half cue. This lowers the house lights from the preshow cue, in order to let the audience know that the show’s about to start.
• An intermission cue. Same function as preshow, but during intermission.
• A house-to-half cue after intermission.
• A conductor cross cue. It’s an MTG tradition that the conductor crosses the stage and takes a bow at the end of intermission, right before the start of the second act. Usually, you’ll want a spotlight (or two) on the conductor. Check with the SM or conductor to ascertain if a conductor cross is actually happening.

Tech Night

The first day (Monday) of tech week is what MTG calls tech night. This run is the only time when we’re allowed to stop the run for technical issues. Normally this takes the form of a botched scene change or something of that nature, but it’s also entirely possible that you’ll need to call a hold in order to tell the director “hey — that [actor / set piece / prop] wasn’t in the place where I focused a light for it!” One thing that we can’t do is call a hold each time we need to program a cue. (This causes actors and dir-staff to become cranky.) Touch up your cues during the run, or (if you didn’t program ahead of time) touch them up during Tuesday day time, to get ready for…

Orchestra Night

Tuesday is orchestra night, when we have actors and orchestra together in the space for the first time. Tonight, only the music directors are allowed to call holds (unless there is a life-threatening technical glitch of some sort). 

First Dress

Wednesday is first dress, where the actors run with costumes for the first time. You want a complete cue list, ideally fully programmed besides small adjustments by now. Hand off your cue list to the stage manager for calling cues. If you want a Stage Manager to run lights during shows, first dress is usually the best time to hand off the show to them fully, after which you can sit in the audience and take notes on cues you might want to touch up. 

Final Dress

Thursday is final dress. Final dress is run completely under “show conditions” (that is, no holds except for the aforementioned life-threatening circumstances, actors aren’t allowed to hang out in the audience, etc.) and we usually invite a photographer from The Tech or Technique to take photos of the show. 

Performances

Performances are run (ideally) pretty much just like final dress. If you’re not running your cues for shows, then you should use your house seat and actually come admire your work! If you are running lights for shows, then just show up reasonably before curtain time in order to do an instrument check and make sure everything is in good working order before the show begins.

Strike

Immediately after the last show, we launch into strike. Just like put-in, strike will go much smoother if you hash out a plan ahead of time. Your plan for strike will depend heavily on the plot, but in general, it’s approximately the reverse of your put-in plan.

Strike is all-hands-on-deck, and generally much more frantic than put-in. In order to help speed things along, you are allowed (and encouraged!) to get members of other crews (particularly sets) to help roll curtains/scrim or coil cables.

There are a couple main things to keep in mind during strike. First, make sure you know who owns each piece of equipment you strike, so you can return everything to its rightful owner. Second, remember that the sets crew will need time to strike the set before you can strike the lighting instruments over the stage. Make sure that every instrument and cable in the air is down by the end of strike. Restore the rep plot with the proper gels and focusing if the show is in KLT.