SandBox

How to Be a Good Lighting Improvisor

Every improv show at the Hideout has somebody working the lighting booth. That lighting imp (short for "improvisor") probably has more power over the quality of the show than anybody on stage. This page is a guide so that you know what it takes to be a good lighting imp.

Your Friend the Light Board

• Faders

  • The first thing you'll se on the light board are two big rows of gray, rectangular, plastic doodads that you can slide up and down. These are 'faders.'

  • Each of these faders is connected to a light. When the fader is brought down to zero, the light is out. When the fader is turned up to 10, the light is as bright as it will get.

    • At the Hideout, if you up the lights much past 6, the actors will melt, and if you bring them down below 4, we won't be able to get any pictures.

• Bank A & Bank B

  • It's important to notice that there are actually two rows of faders. The top one is 'group A' and the bottom one is 'group B.'

  • Also, there's two separate faders towards the right-hand side of the console. One of them is labeled A, and the one right next to it is labeled B.

    • Note that these two faders go in opposite directions. If you push both of them all the way up, A is at 10 and B is at 0. If you push both all the way to the bottom, then A is at 0 and B is at 10.

  • The 'A' fader determines how much brightness the top row of faders contributes to the light grid. For example, if you have 'A' set to 0, none of the top-row faders will do anything. If you have A set to 10, then a top-row fader set to 10 will make the light as bright as possible.

    • Likewise, of course, for the 'B' fader and the bottom row of faders.

• Flash Buttons

  • On the right-hand side of the light board, there is a separate fader labeled "Flash." Usually this is set to something high, like 8.
  • Beneath each 'main fader' is a so-called "Flash button."
  • When you press the flash button for a light, as long as you hold the button down, that light will be at the level, not of its fader, but of the 'flash fader.'
  • For example: The flash fader is set to 8. The red-light fader is set to 2. The scene's humming along with the red set to 2. You press the red 'flash' button, and the red light goes up to 8, producing a 'flash' of red light. You release the flash button. The red light goes back to 2.
  • This is very handy for producing a 'disco effect.'

• The Blackout Button

  • There is a button towards the right of the console labelled "Blackout."

  • If you press this, all the house and stage lights go out.

    • And, a little red LED next to the blackout button turns on.

  • The lights stay out until you hit the "Blackout" button again.

    • At which point, the little red LED turns off.

Why You Should Show Up Early, and Other Aspects of Imp Operating Procedure

Typically, as a lighting improvisor, you should show up at the same call time as everybody else. There are several reasons for this:

• You need to familiarize yourself with the board -- specifically, you need to figure out which fader goes with which light (and which faders correspond to 'no lights at all').

• It's your job to start the house music

  • House music should be:

    • unobtrusive.
    • loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be overwhelming
    • pleasant and entertaining.
  • To start the house music at the Hideout, put a CD in the CD player (which should be to your left), hit 'repeat' until the 'repeat' light is lit, and all the CD's track numbers are showing, and then bring up the "CD Player" fader on the audio mixing board (which is, again, to your left).
• You should also get and check the mics.
• Turn on the booth's colored light. Turn off its plain incandescent light.

Lighting Offers

Remember: in a good improv show, everybody takes care of everybody else. If you do something crazy on the lights, the players on stage will justify it. Thus, you should do screwy things with the lights whenever you feel like it.

As Sean puts it, if you're not making one gigantic mistake per night, you're not doing your job. Granted, he usually delivers this advice during notes, with a grim look on his face and an intonation reminiscent of "Bad dog. Bad dog." But still, it's sound advice. And really, if you're not going to do crazy shit on the lights, what are you doing there? You might as well stay home and do the dishes.

So feel free to throw in disco lights, do peculiar strobe-y blackouts, turn the whole stage blue for no reason, introduce a window out of nowhere. When you do that, you make the show better, and you keep yourself amused! 1

When to Have a Blackout (and How Much Gin It Takes to Get There)

When you're on lights, you are in control of ending the scene. The most obvious thing to do is watch the director(s), who will 'wave down the lights' when the scene should end. (Players may do this too -- but sometimes you're better off ignoring the players and watching the directors, as far as waving down the lights goes.)

If you don't do that, typically the ground rules are to bring down the lights:

• When the major issue or question of the scene has been resolved. (with a fade)
• When there is a funny 'button' line. (with a blackout)

It's helpful to the players on stage if you don't go to a complete blackout (say, with the blackout button). Say you're on the B faders during a scene. A useful thing to do is to set the A faders to a complete blackout except for a blue light at an intensity of 3 or 4. Then, when you're going to have a blackout, instead use the bank-select faders on your right to go to the A set. Then, punch up B to the brighter level you'd want for hosting and other inter-scene business. Then, bank-select back to B. The A faders can stay at that 'blackout level' through an entire show, and you can keep switching over to it for your blackouts. The idea is that, even during a blackout, you want your performers to be able to walk around on stage successfully without running into anything.

Footnotes

1 Which is really the only important thing, of course.