Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1979 - 22

puts and the single two-wire control cable is "daisy chained"
around to all the dimmers.
Results of these tests can be summarized as excellent.
There are no problems either with the control cable picking up
stray signals (by lying near power cables that radiate SCR
noise spikes), or with the cable causing interference in other
theatre systems (microphone and speaker lines). No problems
have been encountered with interruption of the control signal;
the instruments hold their level, indefinitely if required, until
the signal returns. Neither loss nor reacquisition of the signal
causes a flutter in the light level. Further, there is no audible
noise from the dimmers and "filament hum" is indistinguishable from conventional central dimmer systems.
When using the IR mode, the main question that is asked is:
where should the IR emitter be located? In the case of arena
theatres, an omnidirectional emitter has been employed. It
was located near the center of the light grid as shown in Figure 8. Although it might seem that, with all the grid support
pipes, it would be difficult to place the dimmer so that it could
detect the IR signal, this was found not to be the case. In fact,
the IR mode has proved versatile enough that the hardwire alternative has not been needed.
In the tests of the IR mode in proscenium theatres, the
shows have called for full masking of the light pipes. This sort
of "worst case" condition has called for several IR emitters to
be used, as shown in Figure 9. This may seem less than ideal.
However, it is considerably easier to run two or three control
cables to the emitter that in turn conveys the information to
hundreds of dimmers, as opposed to directly connecting hundreds of dimmers together via cables.
In all respects the IR system performs as well as the hardwire mode. No interference to the system has been caused by
flash bulbs, strobes, or matches. Cigarette smoke has been
tested and is not a problem. Smoke and fog effects, whether
C0 2 or chemical, have not been tested directly. Either of these
effects should cause little problem since they are usually well
diffused by the time they reach the lighting instruments. Floor
level lights might present a problem, but only if a cue must be
taken during the height of the fog. If this were the case, use of
the hardwire mode would be required. The IR signal is far
enough removed from the visible spectrum that it causes no
problem with TV cameras--either black and white or color. Finally, the photdectectors are sufficiently filtered that operation
in high ambient light levels, such as outdoors on a sunny day,
are possible.

Conclusions
The distributed dimming concept has been re-examined in
terms of recent advances, primarily in electronics technology.
Two areas in particular-transmission of control information
and design of remote dimmers-were examined. Based on
the favorable results of this investigation, an evaluation prototype was constructed. This confirmed the feasibility of building such a system.
Field trials are now under way to establish the desirability
of such a system. In the course of the field trials, various options such as flexible addressing will be offered in order to determine their usefulness or desirability.
Following the conclusion of these tests, a production prototype will be constructed. Built around a single IC, this unit
should realize a substantial reduction in the cost, size, and
weight of a remote dimmer.D

Notes
1. Lustig, Ned, private communication.
2. Epperson, Dirk, private communication.
3. Wozencraft, J. M., and Jacobs, I. M., Principles of Communication
Engineering (New York: Wiley, 1965).

Double Gothic:
The
Scenography

of
Michael Kirby

An Interview

by Brooks McNamara
Double Gothic was presented for eight weekends from December, 1978 through February, 1979 at the Envelope, an
annex of the Performing Garage in New York City. Written, directed, and designed by Michael Kirby, the production won an
award for scenography from The Villager.

The Play
MCNAMARA: 00 you consider that Double Gothic is a single
play in two versions, or two separate plays? There seems to
be two stories taking place on stage.
KIRBY: It is definitely one play with two stories. One of the
basic structural ideas comes from reading Vladimir Propp's
Morphology of the Folktale, a book about Russian fairy tales.
Propp says that all of the fairy tales make use of a limited
number of events. Although certain events may be omitted
from a particular tale, those that occur have to be organized in
a particular fixed sequence. The order of events is more or
less the same in all Russian fairy tales.
I became interested in the concept that there is a certain
underlying sequence behind various genres or types of stories, and I began writing a play called The Morphology of Science Fiction. It was going to contain three science fiction stories-ali with the same narrative sequence or underlying
story-structure but different specified versions of it. The stories, primarily silent, were to be presented simultaneously.
The play became very difficult to do technically-.- so I put it
aside, and Double Gothic is a simpler version of that same
idea in the Gothic genre. In Double Gothic we have two versions of the same story or two stories having the same narrative structure. The characters are different, the situations are
superficially different, but, underneath, the same things happen, and in the same progression.
M: Can you explain what takes place in the two versions?
K: Both stories are basically the same. In the first scene of
each story, a young woman meets another woman, previously
unknown to her, at night in an isolated place. In the second
scene, the two women-the young woman and the woman
she had met-are traveling through the woods at night to an
old house of some sort. In the third scene they have reached
the house and they meet the woman who lives there, who
serves as a sort of antagonist. In the fourth scene they go to

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1979