Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Munoz on December 3, 2011 at 9:32am

Yes, I love them!! It makes calling shows so much easier. As opposed to having to describe what a crew member has to "stand by" for, why not have a light do all the talking for you? ;-)

Our system was shop-built. Still in process of perfecting it because it was made for a backstage console. Our new Exec Director has moved the SM to F.O.H., so the cue lighting system has yet to be rerouted. Until then, I have crew on wireless headsets.

On another note, I use a cue light for the Sound Op. That way, the Op doesn't have to be on headset and concentrate on mixing the show. Of course, the Op does follow a script but when cues coincide with other FX, I throw them a light.

Permalink Reply by Rob Scott on December 3, 2011 at 12:05pm

We do not have them although there are times when it would be very useful to have them as an actor cue device. I would not choose to use them as a cue device for anyone but actors, though.

As a community theater our backstage and FOH volunteers are highly varied in their skills, experience and dedication to the tasks at hand. As such if I had cue lights I would prefer the two way communication that the standby, acknowledgement and GO through the headset gives me. There is less ambiguity or possibility of misunderstanding that way.

Permalink Reply by Richelle Thompson on December 4, 2011 at 3:55pm

Hi Ed,

I'm not regularly an SM any more, but I am a sound supervisor, who is responsible for the cue lights in our building - so I can tell you a lot about them!

ASF's stage managers use cue lights on 9 out 10 productions, if not 19 out of 20.

We have two theatres, both with cue light systems. Both systems are part of a custom install of the theatre's communication systems (dating from the early 80's and the original theatre design.) It offers several "permanent" cue light fixtures - in the vestibules at the sides and back of the house, in the vomitory/trap area, and "light lock" areas of the theatre. There are 6 additional circuits in each theatre for set mount or other positions.

Our stage managers use them primarily for actor entrances. Additionally they'll often cue flies, set and trap moves. For musicals, we use them for the conductor and the FOH mixer for cues or as a "call light" to get them on handset.

Cheers!

R

Permalink Reply by Stuart Plymesser on December 6, 2011 at 5:31am

We have six cue lights in each of our two theatres and both systems were built in-house by the electrics department before I got here. I tend to use them just for cuing actors onstage and do not use them all that much for crew cues. We have a good number of wireless headsets to use and my preference is to cue them verbally rather than off of a light.

My current production of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is a remount of another theatre's production where I can see from her calling script that I inherited she used cue lights for pretty much all of her crew activities including rail cues and automation. My first thought when I saw that was to instantly decide I was not going to go that route and do everything with verbal cues instead. At one point in tech, though, when I was trying to get so many words out of my mouth, I saw the wisdom of my predecessor. In the end, I still want the way of all verbal cues and do not regret it, but there was a moment there...

The other time where I have used cue lights almost exclusively was when I have been in union houses on tour where I have had an ASM on deck on headset and a crew that was not on headset and was the only one that could operate the line-sets, shift the scenery, etc. In those cases, the ASM would respond to the standby and acknowledge that the cue light was on for the crew. The crew would then execute their move off of the cue light going out.

Oh, and when doing musicals, I always have one near the conductor so he/she can see when I need them to get on their handset to talk to me.

Permalink Reply by Kristi R-C AKA MissWisc on December 12, 2011 at 6:31am

They are great for cueing people who are in places where they can't be reached by com. You can even set up multiple sets in different colors for different tasks occuring simultaneously. On the fly rail, an easy set up is using colored rope lights - each color corresponding to a separate cue. Turn the light "on" for "stand-by" and "off" for "go."

Permalink Reply by John Kimball on December 12, 2011 at 4:53pm

I use cue lights in a number of situations and configurations. The show I'm running at the moment is in a theater without an active com system. Cues are called from the booth as all but 5 happen in sight, for these we use the most basic cue light. A flashlight beam is arced across a high side wall, the board op knows where to look for this and the audience is not aware.

My resident theater is a two story industrial building in which we have done nearly a dozen productions each in a different location, the last travelled promenade style thru both floors. Here we have used cue lights for actor entrances triggered from the light board to off stage, board cues using hard wired ac current from a switch thru zip cord to a 10w bulb and, of course, a flash light.

I find cue lights to be indispensable as sometimes there is no better, more direct method of prompting a cue from one end of the house to the other.

Permalink Reply by Eric Stehl on July 28, 2014 at 1:39pm

I've been in theaters that use them and in theatres that don't.

In the regional theatre, the space had permanent install boxes for the DS vom entrances, and 3 US jacks for portable boxes (to be located by on-set doorways or wherever). The SM called the show from the FOH booth. (On=standby, off=GO) It was a homemade, lo-volt system powered off of a telephone power supply (80v).

I'm currently in a University situation that has an abundance of SM and crew staffing, and both wired and wireless headsets. If the SM calls from the booth, there will always be an ASM on headset backstage. If the SM calls from backstage, there is USUALLY an ASM on the other side of the stage also on headset. In either case, there will also be a crew chief also on wireless headset that can cue the actors or f/x. In this situation, needing a cue light is rare and will be run as needed (usually for conductor/musicians).

Light and sound cues were never taken off of cue lights.

Permalink Reply by John Kimball on August 11, 2014 at 10:43am

I just used cue lights on a RC4 wireless system with compact dimmer packs and 8 channel NSI console. The LD requested cue lights as an afterthought after hang and focus with the crew dismissed also they could not be run on the Ion console with no bump buttons. Of course the cue lights are located as far from the booth as possible in multiple locations. The RC4s provided an instant solution with no need to run to HoDep for a reel of zip cord and string circuits though a packed grid.

Permalink Reply by Eric Stehl on August 12, 2014 at 1:53pm

That's a brilliant solution! I'm going to keep this in mind.