1. How can the McCandless system be adapted to the Arena and Thrust stage?
Stanley McCandless' method can be easily adapted to the needs of the sculptural stage. The "method" designer can still divide the stage into lighting areas, add washes of toning and blending lights, and highlight a climactic moment with a couple of carefully focused specials. Only background lights (and then only for arena productions) need to be sacrificed.
2. What are the standard mounting positions?
Most arena or thrust stage theatres have a rigid pipe grid suspended sixteen to twenty feet above the deck. This grid normally extends six to eight feet beyond the edge of the stage, there fore a 24'x24' acting area would require a 40'x40' grid. This grid would traditionally be divided into four foot squares. When Northern adapts the MainStage of the Johnson Fine Arts Center into either an arena or thrust stage we use the four on-stage electric pipes as our standard mounting positions.
3. What is the typical number of lighting areas in an arena layout?
The "standard" 24' square acting area is typically divided into nine 8x8 lighting areas.
4. Where are they located?
The lighting areas are generally arranged in a three by three grid.
5. Which area is most important?
The center-center acting area is the arena equivilant of a proscenium theatre's down center area.
6. What is the minimum number of lamps needed per area?
Three.
7. How should they be distributed around the performer?
Three Lite System - No ColorThey should be evenly spaced around the performer. The separation angle between lights should be about 120 degrees. Although three lights is the minimum, most designers follow J. Michael Gillette's example and assign four lamps (separated by 90 degrees) to each area. This four light approach is known as the double McCandless system. Nine areas with four lights per area would require a minimum of 36 "acting area" units.
8. Which color systems are most effective?
Three Lite - Three Color
R01 - R51 - R63Two basic approaches have been used with the three light system. One: all three lamps are in the same (or closely related) color and Two: A neutral is added to McCandless' warm and cool colors creating a warm (R01: Light Bastard Amber) - neutral (R51: Suprise Pink) - cool (R63: Pale Blue) system.
Double McCandless
R01 - R63With the Double McCandless approach, two lamps (opposites) are usually gelled in a warm color (R01: Light Bastard Amber) and two in a cool color (R63: Pale Blue) .
9. What instruments are used for toning and blending lights?
Toning and blending lights tend to be 6" Fresnels or PAR lamps.
10. Where are they located?
They are typically hung over the stage creating a wash of down light.
11. What is the "backdrop" in an arena production?
The stage floor.
12. How is it lighted?
The "backdrop" in an arena theatre is lit from above using both the acting area lights and the toning and blending lights.
13. What are the two major problems encountered when lighting an arena production?
13. How has Northern adapted the "standard practice" to it's specific theatre?
At Northern our arena stage is typically 16' square and located in the center of the JFAC MainStage. I generally divide the acting space into 4 "lighting areas." Each of these area has three lamps mounted in the house and focused towards the edge of the stage. I typically also add four units focused to the center of the stage and four down lights (two warm and two cool) to add color and depth. A total of 20 units. Link to a basic Arena Light Plot (pdf).
The 42 lamp plot included
