The Bulbs They Are A-Changin’

How memorable were the technical aspects of show tech production? So much so that I can create a blog solely based on replacing lightbulbs.

Changing lightbulbs as a lighting manager is not as simple as finding a chair and screwing out blown lights. It is not a job for those with fears of height. To change the majority of the bulbs in the theater, you need to climb a dinky ladder 20 feet into the air and maintain balance while you take off the whole light housing to replace bulbs. Additionally, this process is complicated by the fact that you cannot touch the glass housings of the new bulbs while you are installing them. The lights used in the theater are high-power halogen bulbs, and the oils present on your hands cause the glass to warp and the bulbs to fail prematurely. The best way to ensure that your hands do not damage the glass is to use bulky work gloves while replacing bulbs. Also remember to unplug the lights from the power coupling before replacement, or you will risk the chance of electrocution. No pressure.

Climbing up a ladder to the stratosphere in bulky work gloves seems like a stressful job already. What could possibly make it worse?

During my school’s production of The Murder at Ramsbottom Manor, the theater had a major light outage. Considering that the lighting system is over twenty years old, mass bulb blowouts are bound to happen, so we keep a lot of replacement parts on standby. We faced the possibility of putting on as show with little to no lights on the stage, so we needed to replace the bulbs before the theater opened to general audience members.

However, there was an issue. The ladder that we usually used to change bulbs was at the boathouse (revenge against me for dropping crew, I presume), and we needed to tear apart the school to find a suitable replacement.

This is the replacement system we developed: (Don’t  try  this  at  home)

The only ladder tall enough to reach the faulty bulbs was too wide to fit in the gap present between the light boom and the brick wall. So we got Members of the usher staff to hold the ladder steady for the person brave enough to climb and switch out bulbs. Additionally, I was not able to reach the light housings in this setup, so I quickly trained the tallest member of the usher staff on how to change bulbs and sent him up instead.

I’ll say that no Prep students were harmed in the production of these images. The usher changed all of the bulbs without injury, and we got the ladder out of the theater twenty minutes before it was scheduled to open. In retrospect, this seems a little bit dangerous, but the story has made a good blog post. Mission accomplished!

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