Fun Facts from Electrics

One of the most underrated, yet important, elements of a production is lighting. Lighting plays an important part not only in illuminating the actors and sets, but it also creates and enhances the mood of a scene. Often, lighting helps convey to the audience what is not in the dialogue, like time or season. The department that manages lighting is called Electrics.

Our next stop in our series going behind the scenes at SCR is Electrics. Here, we flip the switch on some fun facts about lights.

• The Electrics Department handles anything you see on stage that lights up.
• Most of the lighting fixtures SCR uses are incandescent or halogen. However, we also use LED lights and Lighting Supervisor Kara Ramlow said SCR plans to expand LED light use in the future.
• General household fixtures such as table lamps you see on stage are called “practicals.”
• Most of our lighting plots hold anywhere from 200 to 300 lighting units each. They are controlled via a powerful lighting console.
• A lighting plot is similar to a blueprint, showing where in the theatre the unit will be positioned and the type of unit that will be used.
• Electrics is also in charge of atmospherics, which includes fog, haze, smoke and even bubbles.