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  • 1.  REP Plot

    Posted 09-14-2022 08:08
    Good morning,

    Question for the group.

    Once you close a show, during strike, do you return your lighting to the rep plot? I have heard many different opinions. I always go to the rep plot. Yes you may spend extra time after a close but here are my thoughts.

    1) You have the space and will not have to compete with other events while trying to get back in there to work.
    2) You don't waste the time for the next show to get things back in order.
    3) You always start with the basics and add from there. 

    Just interested in your thoughts.

    ------------------------------
    Crit Fisher
    Lighting/Sound Designer
    New Albany High School
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  • 2.  RE: REP Plot

    Posted 09-15-2022 07:01
    First, I am not a Educator but would like to toss out what I see being a Supplier/Integrator.

    There are some schools...

    Once the system is installed and the lights are placed and focused, that will never touch the fixtures again until the lamps are out or the fixture fails.

    This may be due to multiple reasons:

    * Teachers and Students in some cases are not allowed to use ladders or lifts at the school.
    * Teachers are not Tech focused in their background at the schools and there is no other support available.
    * Some facilities will make maintenance or the IT department responsible for focusing the fixtures, and this is not a priority on their list compared to day to day issues.
    * Teachers do not have the time when they are a single person program and educator for alternate subjects.
    * Many other reasons I may not know or understand.

    Some programs are able to operate as a College, Community or Professional venue...

    These typically I see moving and resetting lighting at the space.

    * They have a dedicated tech program or staff person.
    * They are a program that utilizes the space for more than just the school events.
    * They are able to contract with persons to perform lighting designs for individual productions.

    Neither way is wrong as long as performances can be presented, sometimes they take the time in a different manner at the front or end of the event, but none the less they are time for someone for setting or restoring.

    There is no reason to be ashamed to respond to this thread with how you do this function, we are all introducing students to the world of theater, our examples inspire and challenge them to jump in to help and sometimes learn on their own to make the best theater possible.

    This in high school is what inspired me, in a single person program that had some help from the woods shop class, I was forced to push my self to learn stage construction and painting, help with costuming and props and to figure out lighting with no true instruction. I instilled a confidence that I could learn or do anything.

    ------------------------------
    Jerry Onik
    V.P. Theatrical Supplies and Equipment
    Heartland Scenic Studio
    NE
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: REP Plot

    Posted 09-15-2022 08:10
    I would prefer to go back to the house hang at the end of every production. But I must rely on others to complete that task and it does not happen very often.

    --
    Mark A. Zimmerman
    Theatre Director,

    The Akron School for the Arts
    Firestone Community Learning Center
    470 Castle Blvd
    Akron, Ohio 44313

    330-761-3275

    FirestoneTheatre.com


    Board Member, Ohio Educational Theatre Association
    NE Ohio Area Representative
    Workshop Committee
    Displays/Vendors Committee





    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: REP Plot

    Posted 09-15-2022 10:48
    I do the same, and for the same reasons as you gave!  

    Now to get my kids in the habit of doing that!  I never thought about doing it during strike but it could work!

    ------------------------------
    Raymond Palasz
    Auditorium Director/Director of Theatre
    Munster High School
    IN
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: REP Plot

    Posted 09-15-2022 14:34

    Yes!  I agree, always restore to rep.  Otherwise what is a rep plot for.   :-)   If you don't restore to rep, or don't have a rep plot (which you soon won't if you don't restore to rep each time), as I say in my book, The High School Theatre Lighting Rep Plot:  "The band teacher complains that the drama teacher is always leaving the lighting system set up wrong, and the drama teacher complains that the band teacher is always leaving the lighting system set up with no color. The choir teacher stays out of the fray because he doesn't know how to operate the lighting system at all. The outside events that rent the theatre are frustrated by the amount of time it takes them to figure out how the lighting system is set up while they are paying for the rental at an hourly rate."  Rep plots are peace keepers!

    Also, the one of the points of a rep plot is that it should work for a variety of events.  The rep shouldn't really have to be adjusted much, other than adding specials, and changing gel colors (if you still do). (Although you do hear of designers that will come in and change the whole lighting plot for a play.  But even if they do want to do that, they should always restore it to rep.)

    Also, also, I would usually schedule the rep plot restore the day after strike.  That way you can have the stage to yourself, and don't have to worry about 'stage going dark' while people are using power tools and so on.

    Rep on!



    ------------------------------
    Beth Rand, EBMS
    Educational Lighting Designer
    School Theatre Operations Specialist
    District Auditorium Specialist for SVVSD


    RandCDLLC@gmail.com
    Westminster, CO

    www.PRESETT.org
    Tech theatre books
    Free downloads
    NEW: TECHIE T-SHIRT SHOP!
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: REP Plot

    Posted 09-15-2022 20:47
    We actually never touch our rep plot (aside from maintenance!).  The reason for this is that up until dress week, we will have multiple events happening in any one of our theatres even while a production is being mounted.  We have large stage aprons, so 90% or more of those "other" events are able to happen with the main drape closed at times when rehearsals aren't happening anyways, so there is no negative impact to the production.  Our fixture inventory is large enough that our production plot can fit around the rep plot and, as I do all of our lighting design, I plan my designs around (and often use) the rep plot anyways.  I'll admit that having a large quantity of automated units aids in this.  

    Fixtures are hung and struck by our theatre staff as well as our student crews, and we do the full tech strike the Monday following the closing performance.  Strike day is a day that I essentially close the theatre and we bump out the entire show (set, tech, etc.) on that one day, often for another event Tuesday morning!

    So, to get back to your question, as we host multiple events every day, regardless of whether or not we are putting up a drama/musical or concert, I always leave the rep plot in place, but during strike, will always take away the production-specific plot in preparation for the next show.

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    ----------------------------------------
    John Black
    Theatre Manager
    Seoul Foreign School
    ----------------------------------------
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    Original Message


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