Sitting in the back of the house, enclosed by the walls of Carrington Hall’s tech booth, sits a vital piece of technology. The lightboard is a sophisticated control system that allows tech crew members to manipulate lighting elements during a performance. The board has a multitude of buttons, sliders and dials which all contribute to the visual aspects of a show.
“We have over 100 lighting fixtures set up on stage. And each of these little numbers here controls some number of them,” Sequoia alumni and lighting designer for Sequoia’s production of Urinetown Vin Fox said.
Even amazing tools, however, bring a plethora of recurring problems. Tech crew’s old lightboard, The Congo Jr., was not easy to operate and had a long history of crashing. This crashing could occur at any time: during rehearsals, testing out lighting fixtures or in really unfortunate circumstances like active productions.
“One time it crashed during Beauty and the Beast [on] opening night in the middle of [the show],” Fox said.
Immediate problems require immediate fixes and Crystal Amaya, Carrington’s technical manager with 13 years of experience, knows this very well.
“At that moment, I remember telling the kids to go to the followspots and use [them] until we can get the board up and running,” Amaya said.
The incident almost called for a halt of that night’s show, and failures like these caused the crew to have to contemplate about the future of their lighting systems.
“It unfortunately took the lightboard crashing multiple times over the last couple of years to be the incentive we need to get a [new] board, or we’re not gonna have any lights,” Amaya said.
But with most modern lightboards costing upwards of $15,000, obtaining a new board wouldn’t be easy. However, after months of meetings and communication with the school board, the drama program was able to find the support they needed.
“The district was able to figure out the funds so that it wouldn’t completely drain our program,” Sequoia drama teacher and program director Talia Cain said. “We have a really amazing foundation [who] are prepared for things like this.”
The new lightboard, known as the Ion board, which is valued at over $16,000, contains accessible buttons and sliders, a brand new interface and a much simpler programming system allowing for ease of use.
“Knowing we have equipment we can trust eliminates a lot of stress, so that our focus can be less on maintenance and repairs, and more on creativity and design,” Cain said.
But this creativity can sometimes go unnoticed in the eyes of entertained audience members.
“Keep it in mind every time you watch a show, that every cool little technical element that goes into it […] someone had to do that,” Fox said.