Stage lighting reference

Lighting a stage is a sequence of decisions: what the audience must see, from which direction, in what colour, and how it changes. The equipment follows from that.

• Profile — a hard-edged, shapeable beam for specials, gobos and anything that needs a defined edge.
• Fresnel — a soft-edged wash, the workhorse for covering an acting area.
• PAR — a simple, punchy fixed beam, often used in colour for washes and rock-style looks.
• Flood and cyclorama units — for lighting backdrops and cycloramas evenly.
• Moving heads — position, colour and beam under remote control, for venues whose looks change often.
• LED battens and bars — colour mixing with low heat and low power, increasingly the default for wash duties.

• Front of house — the angle that lets the audience see faces.
• Over-stage bars — for top light, backlight and area cover.
• Side positions and booms — for shape and for dance.
• Floor positions — for uplight and effect.

Rigging positions with load capacity, dimmer and direct circuits at each, safe access for focusing, and a control system that reaches every fixture. Those are decided at the design stage — retrofitting them is expensive.