Live from LA!

Hello everybody,

My name is Nick Inglis. My tech nickname tends to be Spike (hence the membername). I attend Hamilton Academy of Music (HS), and major in the Technical Theatre department. Hamilton is quite renowned for its large-scale Musical Theatre department, and therefore, we have some pretty nice equipment and $25K sets.

First of all, i'd like to admit a few things, so it doesnt seem as though I have any deep, dark secrets. Number One: I am an actor. Number Two: I am a freshman. Thats it.

At my school, sound takes a bit more precedence over lighting. Our sound board cost upwards of $100K and every show we hire a sound engineer, lots of RF equipment, and some extra preamps, etc., which ends up costing us somewhere around $18K every musical. Lighting, however, which is my department isnt quite as indulged in. We have a decent array of Pars, S4s, Fresnels, etc., but the only (working) light board we have currently is a Colortran Innovator 24/48 (total POS, if you've never used one before). We are finally looking into a new one, and if we can, we'd really like to get an ETC Obsession II.

We also do dramas (plays). The dramas, however, dont get anywhere near as big of a budget as the musicals. The set we built for the current one cost us less then $800, and it is pretty nice, but no where near the $24K sets that we have designed and then build.

During the year, the major shows we have are as follows:

Fall Drama
Fall Musical
Dance Concert
Musical Theatre Department Benefit
Spring Drama
Spring Musical

Despite being a "frosh", I have jumped in and become one of the main techies. I have worked/am going to work, all the shows listed above. There are basically two of us that do the lighting (not including the designer we hire for the musicals, or the TD). There are others that are interested and are vying for our positions, but they tend to be really annoying/total idiots, so we try not to let them get near anything really important.

We dont have any moving lights in our stock, nor any color changing devices (scrollers/dichroics), but we rent them, whenever they're needed, from a local rental/design company, comprised mainly of Hamilton graduates, that has recently hit it big (

Im usually not needed to maintain a lighting position during the actual shows, so I almost always double as an ASM/Shiftie. The current show we have on is "The Mouse That Roared," which officially opened tonight.

Theres not much else to say, but I think you will start to see more of me around this board as time progresses.



Senior Team Emeritus
Premium Member
Apr 7, 2003
Eastcoast USA
Hi Nick, welcome aboard! Hope you have a fun time and visit and contribute to the Forums here often. This is a great place to learn and pass on your knowledge to others. Everyone here is free to contribute ideas, questions and answers, regardless of experience or background--all input is welcome. :)



Active Member
Jan 10, 2004
Rock on dude. But I'm wondering, why don't you train a student or 6 to run the sound and save the money you pay the hired engineer?
Nephilim said:
Why dont I train 6 guys to run it instead?

Because I dont do sound. LOL

Seriously though, the reason is, that the sound guy has been with the school for like 10 years, and he's the one who brings all the extra preamps and RF equipment, and renting it seperately, in the long run would probly cost more money. Plus, he is a really good sound guy. However, for the other shows, such as the dramas, our 3 (soon to be 4) inschool guys run the board, and they are very good.



Benevolent Dictator
Senior Team
CB Mods
Fight Leukemia
Jan 31, 2003
DC Metro Area
Sounds like a well run facility!

Hi Spike! I am your webmaster, dvsDave, and I just wanted to welcoem you to!

Hope to see you around the forums!

Thank you very much Dave.

Just to put it out there, we've been building our set at school for the upcoming musical, and lemme tell ya, its a bitch. Anyway, once its up and painted, ill take some pictures to show everyone.


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