[SML] house light control systems recommendations needed

Fri Dec 5 23:41:36 UTC 2014

It has a lot to do with job training, chain-of-command, and
communications. Also, perhaps, audience training. UK audiences are not
in the habit of leaving a performance until the house lights have come
up, and operators will not ususally bring up the house lights until
the applause shows signs of dying down.

The 'chain-of-command' can be difficult to establish, sometimes. The
House Manager, or a trusted deputy, should be in the auditorium while
there is an audience present. The two most likely scenarios are a
backstage fire and a bomb threat. In the first case, the SM will drop
in the fire curtain, which will provide an unambiguous signal to the
duty house manager to evacuate. This implies full house lights, as
does the second.

>From what you say, it appears that some House Managers are not trained
to know and exercise their responsibilities. his is a BAD THIng, but
is not your responsibility. But, if they do not know that their prime
responsibility is to ensure an orderly evacuation of the audience in
an emergency, they have no business doing that job. I sympathise with
you when you have met those who do notappreciate this.

All the same, I still believe that the HM, being responsible for
audience safety, should have an override ON for the house lights. I
appreciate that not all the HMs that you encounter may not be capable
of exercising that authority with discretion. That's life.

On 5 December 2014 at 05:37, June Abernathy via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> On Dec 4, 2014, at 3:00 PM,"e-mail frank.wood95" <frank.wood95 at ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>> One missing point from all the posts seems to be what happens in an
>> emergency. I think it important that the House Manager, who is in
>> charge of evacuation, has a control which does two things. First, it
>> turns on the house lights to full, and second, it disables all other
>> controls.
>>
>> We have had such a system for fifty years, and the only problem we
>> have had is that the override switch is sometimed to light up the
>> auditorium for visitors..A standard intem in the LX operator's
>> checklist is to ensure that they have the control available ontheir
>> fader before the audience is admitted.
>
>
> I detest these systems. The override switch is inevitably misused, and not just for visitors. House Managers often get antsy when audience members choose to do the "walking ovation" at the end of a show and head up the aisles toward their cars during the curtain call. Of course, the House Lights are off at this juncture, because the Curtain Call is part of the show. Many House Managers, whose biggest fear in the world is the Patron Trip and Fall, decide that it would be safer to have the house lights up for the rude bastards cutting out on the curtain call, and they hit the emergency House Lighting control to bring up light. Suddenly, in the middle of the Curtain Call, the whole house (and usually, catwalk lights, cleaning lights, backstage worklights, etc.) bang up to 1000% in a bump. The audience and the cast are freaked out and blinded. The Board Operator suddenly has no control over the lights. And if they do grab control back, then everything is plunged back into darkne!
>  ss, which is possibly the only thing worse than what has already happened.
>
> I have tried explaining why this is bad to House Managers approximately 9,452 times. I have listened to "But people were in the dark!" 9,452 times. I have explained that the normal aisle and exit door illumination was up and working just as well as it does whenever a patron gets up to leave the auditorium during the show. And also, those patrons are being rude, and catering to them rewards this behavior. Often, the House Managers promise to behave. Sometimes, they refrain from doing that for as much as a full weekend before reverting back to banging on the sun at the first sign of audience movement. I once convinced a House Manager that hitting that button would summon the Fire Department, and it lasted a good couple of weeks before he got tipped off to my ruse. In my defense, I don't think that button should be used unless it's the kind of situation where you would be OK with also summoning the Fire Department.
>
> Besides that horrible scenario, Cleaning People like to hit the magic button and then leave the lights on for days or a week or more at a time, because they have no way to turn them off. (Not that they have much inclination to do when they DO have the capacity). Some day, I will take one of them up in the dark to help me change out the light bulbs in high dirty difficult places that have been left on and therefore burnt out because of their jerky behavior.
>
> In some systems, you can only regain control at the actual panel where the panic button was pushed. And in some places, that means you have a dozen or more choices, scattered throughout the theater. Fun!
>
> Many shows like to set a custom House Light level to set the mood for the show. These cues are often dimmer than everything full on, and often intentionally take out things like lights over the pit. Sometimes, House Managers sense that the House Lights are not as bright as they have seen them in the past, and decide that brighter is better, because GOD FORBID WE HAVE A PATRON TRIP AND FALL!!!!!!!, and they decide to remedy this artsy shit by hitting the panic button. Hooray! More light. None of them seem to comprehend why the Stage Manager/Light Board Operator/Tour Manager always freaks out when they do that. They get huffy when those people insist on restoring the Artsy House Light levels, complete with alarming blink as they retake control. They patiently listen to the "Panic Button is only for ACTUAL EMERGENCIES" lecture, even as they let it go in one ear and out the other. And then they do it again tomorrow.
>
> Which reminds me - even if the worst thing that happens is the Light Board Operator forgetting to take control until after the house has opened, in many systems, the lights blink or just black out when they do, particularly if the board isn't sitting in a target cue at the time. Audiences tend to find this very alarming.
>
> I'm fairly convinced that someday when I go to Hell, it's going to involve an eternity of being trapped in a theater with a bunch of Ushers and House Managers. And a House Light system designed by Frank.
>
> June Abernathy
> IATSE #321 (Tampa, FL)
> FOH Electrician
> The Lion King National Tour
> ____________________________________________________________
> For list information see <http://stagecraft.theprices.net/>
> Stagecraft mailing list
> Stagecraft at theatrical.net
> http://theatrical.net/mailman/listinfo/stagecraft_theatrical.net

-- 
Frank Wood