Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1975 - 29

permanent Sound Systems are in the former group while
Furnishings, Shop Equipment and often Stage Lighting
Fixtures are in the latter category of Loose Equipment.
Usually any item furnished by a contractor under a
construction agreement is classified as Built-in, while
equipment purchased directly by the owner and not
requiring permanent mounting to the building structure
is called Loose or Movable.
Materials used in the actual stage productions can be
lumped into two main groups: Hardware and Expendables. Let us consider Hardware any item which has a
fairly long service life and which is used "as-is" mounted
to scenery, but able to be removed and reused, i.e. hand
tools, special power equipment used to move special set
pieces, etc. Expendables would then include lumber,
muslin, paints, plastics and other materials which are cut
or modified in their use even though the built pieces or
actual materials may be lIsed in more than one show.
It is in the area of production supplies where the
greatest potential exists for the expanded use of industrial products. It behooves the theatre technician to learn,
for example, the grading codes used by the lumber industry. With the constant rise in prices it is no longer practical to use AA or AB plywood if Ext CD (good one side)
will suffice. While clear white pine (if you can find it)
may be needed for framing flats, it is wasteful to use it
for crating or structural framing just because that is what
happens to be on hand.
Plastics are finding an increasing usage in the theatre,
and while sometimes more expensive than the traditional
materials, the ease of use and better results make them
worthwhile. There is a large task of research in the area
of new and inexpensive materials plus the methods of utilization and fabrication. Lastly, such an effort should seek,
and include as part of its conclusions, the most efficient
means of communicating this information to those who
need it.
Indiana University
Ted W. Jones
WHO WILL DIRECT THE NEXT PRODUCTION
The most sophisticated equipment used in the theatre today is the lighting control system. Some of the most
archaic equipment used in the same theatre are the lighting fixtures. A new theatre can be equipped with the most
advanced computer controlled, solid state, dimming system. In terms of computer technology, our systems are
not very complex but considering the computer has not
been around that long, or solid state electronic devices, we
have designed with reasonable speed a fine quality, highly
developed, new tool for the theatre.
On the other hand let us examine the electric light. On
December 21, 1879 in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas
Edison demonstrated his first incandescent lighting system. The first commercial installation was made on board
the steamship "Columbia" in 1880, and by 1882, on Pearl
Street, a generating station was built which became the
forerunner for today's great electric companies. However,
this was not the first use of electric light. In Paris in 1849,
in an opera house, electric arc lamps were used. As a matter of fact, the first use of electricity to create light was

USITT

recorded in 1650 by Otto van Guericke. So we can see
that electric light has been around for quite some time,
and the incandescent lamp almost 100 years.
Let us examine some recent progress of lighting fixtures for the theatre. The first "ellipsoidal spotlights"
were introduced in the 1930's, one by Century Lighting
and one by Kliegl Brothers. In an article published in the
International Photographer, July, 1934, Herb Kliegl described a unit "based on entirely new principles now perfected in every detail and said to be one of the most remarkably advanced units for lighting that has been produced within the past ten years." He went on to describe the ellipsoidal principle of light reflection - the
unit utilized a GAO lamp and it was of considerable bulk
in size. It featured an interesting double lens system that
permitted the operator to provide both beam adjustment
and beam intensity variations, a very interesting feature
no longer with us on most of our "ellipsoidal spotlights"
today. Quite a remarkable unit, considering at that time
the theatre was using mostly plano-convex lens spotlights
and floodlights.
In the 1930's, Century Lighting was working on a small
version of the ellipsoidal spotlight. In conjunction with
General Electric the first T-12 lamp was made available
for use in a more compact design of ellipsoidal spotlight.
Edward Kook showed a great deal of imagination and ingenuity leading his company into these early designs. As
a matter of fact it was in the 1930's that the first cast
"Ieko" was ever made, cast in bronze. I can refer you to
the very interesting catalog printed in 1937 by Century
Lighting where you can see some of these marvellous,
innovative and exciting products being introduced.
Dimming equipment in the theatre today uses sophisticated solid state electronic components, multi scene
preset systems, and computerized memory control consoles. But our fixtures still use an incandescent tungsten
filament lamp with small, sometimes questionable, improvements, in a design that has not changed significantly since the 1930's. One of the challenges in the
coming years in theatre is the development of new and
interesting light sources. The lighting designer needs
luminaries that can be described as instruments, precision instruments with improved mechanical and optical
performance that would better serve the theatre technician.
Without minimizing the responsibility or the challenge being made to manufacturers, I do want to stress
that users have not been responsive to new ideas, new
concepts and innovations in the development of lighting
fixtures, nor have they been willing to emphasize their
interest in this area; therefore, the manufactu rers have
put their energies where the money is: copying what's
available, only a little cheaper, or into what theatres
are willing to pay for elaborate control systems. Visualize
the progress since the resistance board; the introduction
of the auto transformer, hysteresis dimming, the thyratron tube, the Mag Amp, the SCR, and now the memory
assisted solid state dimming systems. Compare that to
the progress we have made in the development of lighting
fixtures. If the users want more interesting and use-

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

WINTER,1975

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1975