Theatre Lighting Technicians
Created | Updated Mar 1, 2002
Lighting technicians (or "Techies", see Guide Entry "Theatre Technicians") are usually comprised of those Techies who are responsible, modest people with a death wish. They not only deal with electricity on a regular basis, but also suspend themselves on catwalks (or "grids" to the initiated), in cherry pickers and by rope at heights that would kill the average actor. Often times in educational settings, the instruments, circuits and patch panels are older than the school's foundations, and seem to have lost their grounding wires in a strange epidemic which only attacks those things which the techie has to work with at least three times a day (knee deep in water).
The tools of the trade (by which you can tell the seriousness of any electrician) are the crescent wrench, Mini-Maglite (often with exchanged parts from fellow techies so that you get the multi-color effect...a great way to learn the politics of a crew you've never worked with before--find out who has pieces of their Maglite), some kind of knife (usually a Leatherman tool or some sort of impressive/intimidating-looking pocket knife), and leather gloves (optional).
There is a hierarchy here, as in everything else. Actually, there are two--the illusional hierarchy, and the actual hierarchy. The illusional goes like this: Director, Lighting Designer (L.D.), Master Electrician (M.E.), Electricians (i.e. grunts) and Interns (peons). The Director is *supposed* to have the final say over all design elements in a production, but there are plenty of ways to get around this, as any L.D. or M.E. worth their crescent wrench and Maglite knows. Next come the L.D. (Lighting Designer), who is responsible for creating a design that is compatable with the overall Production Design Concept. They make up the Light Plot, which is a map of sorts, telling the grunts where to put which type of instrument, and what color gel it will have. They also have to come up with the hook-up sheet (a summary of how many of what type of instrument will be needed). There may be an Assistant Lighting Designer who does whatever the L.D. tells them to. Next is the M.E., who has to get all the instruments needed, and supervises the grunts hanging and focusing the instruments. They record which circuits are being used by which instruments, and add this information on the plot. The worker bees at the bottom are the electricians. They crawl about on the grid/in a cherry picker/suspend themselves from insane heights to hang and focus the instruments where the L.D. tells them to.
In the real hierarchy, however, the M.E. and L.D. run the (electrical) show, because in most cases, the director doesn't know a 6x9 from a 2x4. If the L.D. and M.E. are friendly, than the Light Hang ought to be a smooth, invigorating experience. If they are not friendly, however, it will be the most hellish three days of your life.
Lighting Techies are also usually adept carpenters, as well. This tradition began in most light techies started out as scenic workers, but gravitated to light as the industry got more and more exciting. Once established, however, it became a matter of survival, as it is a good idea to fix anything on the set that gets damaged by objects falling from the grid before the Scenic Designer and Master Carpenter find out on Monday.
The tools of the trade (by which you can tell the seriousness of any electrician) are the crescent wrench, Mini-Maglite (often with exchanged parts from fellow techies so that you get the multi-color effect...a great way to learn the politics of a crew you've never worked with before--find out who has pieces of their Maglite), some kind of knife (usually a Leatherman tool or some sort of impressive/intimidating-looking pocket knife), and leather gloves (optional).
There is a hierarchy here, as in everything else. Actually, there are two--the illusional hierarchy, and the actual hierarchy. The illusional goes like this: Director, Lighting Designer (L.D.), Master Electrician (M.E.), Electricians (i.e. grunts) and Interns (peons). The Director is *supposed* to have the final say over all design elements in a production, but there are plenty of ways to get around this, as any L.D. or M.E. worth their crescent wrench and Maglite knows. Next come the L.D. (Lighting Designer), who is responsible for creating a design that is compatable with the overall Production Design Concept. They make up the Light Plot, which is a map of sorts, telling the grunts where to put which type of instrument, and what color gel it will have. They also have to come up with the hook-up sheet (a summary of how many of what type of instrument will be needed). There may be an Assistant Lighting Designer who does whatever the L.D. tells them to. Next is the M.E., who has to get all the instruments needed, and supervises the grunts hanging and focusing the instruments. They record which circuits are being used by which instruments, and add this information on the plot. The worker bees at the bottom are the electricians. They crawl about on the grid/in a cherry picker/suspend themselves from insane heights to hang and focus the instruments where the L.D. tells them to.
In the real hierarchy, however, the M.E. and L.D. run the (electrical) show, because in most cases, the director doesn't know a 6x9 from a 2x4. If the L.D. and M.E. are friendly, than the Light Hang ought to be a smooth, invigorating experience. If they are not friendly, however, it will be the most hellish three days of your life.
Lighting Techies are also usually adept carpenters, as well. This tradition began in most light techies started out as scenic workers, but gravitated to light as the industry got more and more exciting. Once established, however, it became a matter of survival, as it is a good idea to fix anything on the set that gets damaged by objects falling from the grid before the Scenic Designer and Master Carpenter find out on Monday.
