# Under Stage Access



## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 17, 2010)

Well, our theater has two stair ways from the house to the stage. There are grates covering a metal box with a standard 100 watt Edison light bulb in them. 
Well until last year I thought they were AC or something. Then I realized that we had two dimmers that I had no clue at all what they were wired too. So I take the plate off, oh, a light bulb. So I look around, and cant find any switches, then see at the bottom of the dimmer rack a small metal pipe goes into it from the stage. So, I wanted to get to the bottom of where these lights where wired to. So I get a crowbar and go to the access cover to the bottom of the stage. This is only an access way mind you. I look down scared..It looked like a crypt, dusty, no floor, concrete and dirt, so I go down with a flashlight, and look around, crawling on my stomach, I see newspapers, coffee cups, cans, and among other things the old staircase from when the stage was extended. Instead of taking out the old stairs they built on top of them. Was pretty cool to be down there. Wiring everywhere. So I crawl over to a box which assume is the box by the stairs, whilst talking to people on the house and them being "How did you get under there?!" The stage has a like..mesh front with wood beams every two inches. So I look at it, pretty simple, just three four wires connected to it. I follow the fourth wire to the other side to the other box, same thing. So I follow both wires back and they go into a pipe and up, right where it goes into the dimmer rack. So I check the connections, both live. Alright then, I replace both bulbs, go to the board and try one of the mystery dimmers, nothing, try the other one, and the stairs light up : ) Interesting.

Now still one more mystery dimer to hunt down. I am so confused what it does and really want to find the documents :/


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## tjrobb (Jan 17, 2010)

Welcome to my world. When they put in new dimmers in 1982 they never finished building the second electric. We had 8 circuits with the packs in the racks, but the numbers did not exist on the stage (as in: 1-12, and then 21-xx, with 13-20 missing). Yep, they ran the cables, and I even found one of the 4-plug boxes (under the house!?) but the boxes were never installed on the batten. I hope this situation is resolved when we move back in.

As an aside, I would recommend labelling any circuits you can (by origin, as in Dimmer xyz, or Panel-Number [A-13]). Future electricians will thank you. However, I do not recommend opening any boxes if at all possible. 277V (common in larger buildings) is not friendly.


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## Anvilx (Jan 17, 2010)

That is pretty fun, I wish my theater had some history/ secret understage nook. Then again I wish I had a real theater.


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## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 19, 2010)

Good idea, Think I might just do that. We have had multiple spreadsheets on the computer labeling everything but they have been lost or outdated. There is no indication for the houselights. So I will probably put labels on the dimmers sometime. 1-58 will be on the electrics, but 59 are the stair lights, no way to know that, I just do since it was one of the two we didn't know what did, and then 60, 61, 62, 64, (We have no clue what 63 is, I will probably go into the rafters some day and look around for it. I assume it is laying around up there somewhere. It really sucks not having catwalks..., anyways, I assume its there, I have followed all the pipes out of the dimmer rack and they go to the breaker box, preset boxes, electrics, and under the stage to the stair lights, and then to the ceiling for the houselights.) 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, and 71 for houselights and then that's it.

There's no where else curcuit 63 could be except in the ceiling since the house floor is concrete and the walls are those concrete blocks a lot of schools have.
Maybe the storage room far udner the stage.. but I doubt it, never saw anything down there. (Some crazy stuff down there form old shows)

Which by the way about electrics, ours is so weird, they are not spaced in any logical spacing. There like, 1 here, inches later one here, three fett later 6 here, so odd. Need to use extension cords some times.


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## GrayeKnight (Jan 19, 2010)

Pictures of your space? Maybe? I'm intrigued...


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## zuixro (Jan 19, 2010)

MillburyAuditorium said:


> Which by the way about electrics, ours is so weird, they are not spaced in any logical spacing. There like, 1 here, inches later one here, three fett later 6 here, so odd. Need to use extension cords some times.



Your electrics are inches apart, or the pigtails are inches apart?


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## WestlakeTech (Jan 19, 2010)

Anvilx said:


> That is pretty fun, I wish my theater had some history/ secret understage nook. Then again I wish I had a real theater.



Ah, so you're at ZACH?


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## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 19, 2010)

Gray, I have been trying to get in there with my camera for a while now. Eventually I will be there alone for a while maybe next week and I will get loads of pictures. 

Zuixro, By Pigtails I assume those are the connectors coming from the electric right? Not sure on some names  If so then yes.
Its kind of like..
1 2 345 67 8 9 10
And so on. 
It might actually part of a design though, we have three fixtures that have 6 connection. It's kind of like the first multichannel color mixing light, you have 2 channels for green two for red and two for blue. Although I usually patch both channels of the same color to one channel, if we using all three colors that is.

Yeah, we only have to electrics anyway. One upstage one downstage.


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## zuixro (Jan 19, 2010)

MillburyAuditorium said:


> Zuixro, By Pigtails I assume those are the connectors coming from the electric right? Not sure on some names  If so then yes.




Close. Pigtails are the cables coming out of the raceways.

The electric is the actual pipe/position.


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## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 19, 2010)

Or sorry. I dont know much termanology as far as flys and stuff goes 

When I said electrics I ment the bars that have the channel numbers and below them the circuit connection to the dimmer. I assume this bar is the raceway? We have two above stage on counterwheight flys, (So the physical bar is the electric? Odd since only two have to do with electricty ) And one fixed FOH. The FOH one is spaced evenly and has 16 Colortran 50/50 Ellipsodial's on it, but the above stage ones are randomly spread out.

If the bars themselves are called Electrics, then we have 7 of them. We are setup like this-

-------Rear Traveler on an electric--------
-------------Extra Electric--------------(Useally used for storage/banners)
----------Fixed black top fringe-----------
Black Leg -----------------------Black Leg (On an electric)
----Downstage raceway on an electric-----
-------Fixed (Wtf?) Midway traveler-------
Black Leg-----------------------Black Leg (on an electric)
----Upstage raceway on an electric------
------Main Drape on an electric----------


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## GrayeKnight (Jan 19, 2010)

Electric meaning the batten (pipe) where the instruments are fixed. In that case, it's an electric. Without instruments and electricity... a batten.

*-------------------Rear Traveler--------
-----------------Empty Batten (Pipe) ---------------
----------------------Border---------------
Black Leg -----------------------------------Black Leg 
------------Upstage Electric (2nd Electric)-----------
---------------------Traveler------------------------
Black Leg-----------------------------------Black Leg 
-----------Downstage Electric (1st Electric)---------
------------Main Rag (Grand Drape.. etc)-----------*


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## derekleffew (Jan 19, 2010)

Mill, from your description, your fly system has 9 battens; the two of them outfitted with connector strips are termed "electrics" (short for "electrical battens"). 

And you've reversed upstage and downstage in your description of raceways.

See also Counterweight Fly System Rigging, sub-glossaries for the proper terms.


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## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 19, 2010)

Thanks : ) Yeah I wasn't to sure on Up and Down stage.


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## KeepOnTruckin (Jan 19, 2010)

MillburyAuditorium said:


> (We have no clue what 63 is, I will probably go into the rafters some day and look around for it. I assume it is laying around up there somewhere. It really sucks not having catwalks..., anyways, I assume its there,.



Careful about this. If you don't have catwalks, or any provision for easily walking around above the ceiling, you probably should not go up there. If there are just steel girders then definitely do not climb up there. Your school district probably has a rule against it and if you fall you could go thru the ceiling and fall down to the house floor, which would be bad.

Take a ladder or lift up and look around with a flashlight or other light source, but don't climb on just the girders.


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## MillburyAuditorium (Jan 19, 2010)

KeepOnTruckin,
Oh no of course not. They aren't like, just beams. They small attic type room isn't really meant to be used much but it is designed to be able to used for access. Like the place under our stage. There are wood beams for walking on and then there is ceramic that is the actual ceiling of the house, which of course you step on and down you go, I am not sure weight limit of it, but the houselights are attached to it so I hope I would be able to stand on the wood. 

I will ask the grounds head first though. They put a padlock on the small door that goes to the rafter though so I am assuming my predecessors where not being to smart up there. 

Either way I would hope there is someway to walk around up there since there is a door going to it.


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## mstaylor (Jan 24, 2010)

Upstage and downstage is easy, imagine the stage is raked with the back wall is higher. At that point you have to walk up the stage to the back wall and down the stage to the audience.


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## derekleffew (Jan 24, 2010)

mstaylor said:


> Upstage and downstage is easy, imagine the stage is raked with the back wall is higher. At that point you have to walk up the stage to the back wall and down the stage to the audience.



Thank you, Mr. Furtenbach! From http://www.mts.net/~william5/history/hol.htm:


> *FURTTENBAC, JOSEPH - (1591 - 1667)*
> 
> Also: (JOSEF FURTENBACH) a German architect, in 1628 described a stage sloping toward the audience. In front was an orchestra pit with a wall masking the musicians from the audience. ...


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## billn (Jan 27, 2010)

> There's no where else curcuit 63 could be except in the ceiling since the house floor is concrete and the walls are those concrete blocks a lot of schools have.
Maybe the storage room far udner the stage.. but I doubt it, never saw anything down there. (Some crazy stuff down there form old shows)

What are 59, 60, 61,62, 64 and 65?

Are there aisle lights on the aisle seats? Aisle lighting strips fastened to the floor?


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