theatre wing terminology and job roles

[Lighting_tech]

Hi Blue Room Techs,

 

I am looking in to jobs in theatre now and I just wondered if you can help me with something as I cant find it in the books I have or anywhere on the internet.

 

I am interested in how the wings are numbered, as I have heard references to wing 1 wing 2 wing 3 ect and also what the roles of the lighting technicians in each area are.

 

I often find genereal lighting technician roles but not specifics to do with areas as above.

 

Many thanks and I hope t hear from the community soon!

 

Lighting_techhttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/style_emoticons/default/mur.gifhttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/style_emoticons/default/mur.gif

[Unfathomable]

I find I am still a lighting tech in all the wings.....

 

We call them US, MS and DS, although we only have 3 each side. Larger venues I have worked in seem to have varying ways of doing this so I would be interested to see if there is a standard.

[Lighting_tech]

I am very curious, do the lighting techs have a particular side or does it depend on each show? For example, say I am a tech for a show working in Wing 1 (which I will assume would be the same as your DS) would I be Stage Left or Right?

[tokm]

Rare to see a lampie designated as per wing.. Whilst a lot of shows have a stage lx/lighting tech to deal with practicals, dry ice, etc, they usually work all area's of the stage unless its an especially big show with a lot of cues where there might be two stage lx's and they just naturally stick to one side each unless they need to double up.

 

However.. when it comes to ASMs/stage crew, they are usually a little more set in their working locations, but only ever seen stage left and stage right in my experience. Sure there's instances where one crew members cues end up being mostly things downstage, but they'd not be down specially as the 'downstage ASM'.

 

Perhaps things might be different in other countries, my experience is all from only working in UK theatres. Obviously things would be clearer if the OP was to fill in his profile, including location as required.. Hint, Hint!

 

T

[Bryson]

Dance (ballet, contemporary) shows often have onstage electricians with designated wings. They're usually there to do colour drops between (or even, if you're feeling hardcore, during) pieces. Possibly even replugging on the booms if they need to.

 

Wing numbering would depend on the theatre, but starting dowstage is pretty normal.

[tokm]

Dance (ballet, contemporary) shows often have onstage electricians with designated wings. They're usually there to do colour drops between (or even, if you're feeling hardcore, during) pieces. Possibly even replugging on the booms if they need to.

 

Wing numbering would depend on the theatre, but starting downstage is pretty normal.

Ah, well that well and truly shows up my lack of experience doing dance, having only ever done musical theatre!

 

Learn something new every day Thanks Bryson.

 

T

[Bryson]

And I should have said: They're also there to refocus the (aptly-named) shinbusters when the dancers run into them. Which can be often...

 

With some dance companies (Rambert springs to mind) there are even colour drops on the overhead fly bars to be done in the interval.

[gareth]

The electrician-per-wing scenario also sometimes arises in an opera rep situation with daily changeovers between shows (often two changeovers per day if there are shows in rehearsal as well). The various members of the lighting staff will each be allocated an area to look after for each show - overheads, FOH bridges, FOH sides, OP wing, PS wing, etc.

 

So an average opera in one of the big rep houses will have an electrician whose job is to look after the needs of one side of the stage - setting pracs and stands, focussing booms and ladders, etc. Of course, if there isn't much to do on stage, one electrician may well look after the whole lot. On the other hand, if there's a huge amount to do, then there may be more than one.

[neilalexrose]

With some dance companies (Rambert springs to mind) there are even colour drops on the overhead fly bars to be done in the interval.

 

 

Opera also give their stage electricians a wing for each show, be it prompt side or O.P. (opposite prompt). It gets confusing if you've only ever worked with stage left and stage right, and P.S. and O.P. don't come naturally, particularly when moving a tallescope/set/boom etc.

 

And as has already been said, you are there to operate anything electrical onstage during a show, be it a smoke machine, colour changing or re-plugging booms and practicals during the intervals, or the particular favourite of stage management, move around the conductors monitors and working lights, so the cast in the wings can see the conductor if they sing in funny places.

 

 

I've not come across the numbering system, but I guess it is to do with entrances, as has already been suggested.

 

Neil

 

EDIT: Beaten to it by Gareth.

[jonathanhill]

With some dance companies (Rambert springs to mind) there are even colour drops on the overhead fly bars to be done in the interval.

Not for some time... the Rambert standard rig has a scroller on the front of each lantern.

[Lighting_tech]

Thats great guys, a whole wealth of information there!

 

Thanks

[Bryson]

Oh my: I just did the maths and it was, indeed, *ahem* some time ago. I think I might be old.

[andy_s]

when I learnt about stage terms,(back in the last century) "the wings" were the whole area offstage invisible (theoretically at least) to the audience. it was subdivided into "stage left wing" and "stage right wing", i.e. there was one wing on each side of the stage. Assuming traditional on-off masking using flats or soft legs, the entrances, I was taught, were known as "bays", and were numbered from downstage to upstage, i.e. No. 1 bay is just upstage of the Pros, No. 2 bay is mid stage, No. 3 bay is upstage.... and so on depending on the depth of the stage. Masking sets (2 legs and a border, or two hard masking flats and a header) known as "portals" would be roughly evenly spaced from downstage to upstage, and the gaps between the portals were the bays.

 

as well as being simply masking, sometimes the portals could be scenic - I.e designed for the show, and effectively self-masking (maybe with black extensions on the offstage edges) - an example of this might be the set for Adventures in Motion Pictures' production of Swan Lake.

 

I can't say I've heard of staff being detailed to work a specific bay, but working either stage left or stage right is pretty common (as others have said) on large scale shows.

 

on the sort of shows I was involved in when I was being stage crew, the usual thing would be for crew members to be allocated specific tasks during any given scene change, but not be restricted to specific work areas. Though like many things in the theatre, there's no hard and fast rule, it's usually local custom that decides these things.

 

sorry for rambling on a bit, I think the real point is that I, like Bryson, am old....

[paulears]

It's really a question of scale. With 3 entrances/exits/wings/portals whater you call them either side, if your crew for Stage LX was 6, then it's logical to station 1 in each area. If you only hav 2 stage LX, then they'll have the whole wing each. It just changes according to demand.