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The Components of a Theatrical Lighting System

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.

by Jim Kumorek

While many of our readers already use, and understand, theatrical lighting systems, a good number of you are still serving in the world of dimmer knobs on the wall next to the pulpit, hoping that someday you'll be able to upgrade to a “real” lighting system. Or perhaps your church is in the process of building a new sanctuary, and you'll be moving from the world of florescent warehouse lighting to your first theatrical system. In either case, you're moving into a whole new world. And with anything new, the more you understand about how it works, the better you'll be able to work with it.

In order to not get bogged down, some concepts will be oversimplified, and in many cases, there are exceptions to the generalities presented. For the sake of getting the basics across in the short space available, I'll be ignoring those exceptions, and leave their discovery and exploration as an exercise for the reader.

The Big Picture

A theatrical lighting system consists of three primary pieces: a control system, a dimming system, and lighting fixtures. This enables:

· the control system to be physically separated from the dimmers.

· the control of numerous dimmers from one control system.

· higher-powered fixtures with tightly controlled beam shapes.

Let's take a look at all three of these areas, starting with the dimmers.

Dimmers

In a theatrical system, dimmers typically come bundled together in packs, from the smaller end of four dimmers, to the larger end of 96 dimmers or more, with the typical dimmer handling a load of 1,200-2,400 watts. Dimmer packs accept a controlling signal over a cable or wireless network to determine at what level each individual dimmer should be set.

Dimmers can be distributed throughout your facility in close proximity to the fixtures they will be controlling; or, they might be located together in the basement under the sanctuary. In the latter case, wiring is run from a dimmer to each lighting fixture in the sanctuary. In the former, a larger electrical cable is run to the dimmer and fixtures are plugged directly into the dimmer. There are pros and cons to each method; deciding which configuration makes the most sense for your facility is one reason to hire a good lighting consultant.

There is something important to understand about how dimmers work. Most dimmers use a technology called SCR. Because of the way an SCR dimmer works, it produces several undesirable side-effects.

The first is that equipment like florescent lighting or electrical motors will either not work right with, or possibly even be damaged by, an SCR dimmer. The second is that when the dimmer is not fully on or off, it can cause the filaments in the lamps to vibrate audibly, making your sanctuary a noisier environment. And lastly, they can also cause electrical noise to be introduced into nearby wiring, particularly musical instrument cables. None of these are reasons to shy away from theatrical lighting systems, but it's good to be aware of them.

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Jim Kumorek is the owner of Spreading Flames Media, providing video/media production and writing services to the A/V/L, technology, architectural and hospitality industries. He has led audio, video and lighting teams in churches as both staff and a volunteer for over 10 years. He can be contacted at james@spreadingflamesmedia.com.