​WELCOME TO THE NEWMAN HALL 

The hall will accommodate up to a maximum of 204 audience members when the stage is used for performance. A seating plan for this capacity is available from the Hall Manager and is also shown on the Theatre Layout page.. Any other seating layout always needs to be agreed with the Hall Manager prior to the event. Please note there are no telephone or internet facilities in the Hall
ON ARRIVAL / LEAVING THE PREMISES
ON ARRIVAL: The Hall Manager will arrange for the hall to be unlocked and if you have agreed use of the technical equipment, the control box will also be unlocked. The control room is positioned side stage left. 

LEAVING THE PREMISES:  Please ensure all the emergency exit doors are properly secured, windows closed, with the curtains open. Seats should be stacked at the back of the hall in stacks of 6 seats, facing the rear wall. Dressing rooms and the stage must be left clean and tidy. All technical equipment must be returned to the location it was in when you first arrived.  All equipment must be switched off, including the emergency lights. Large tables should be shut down and returned to the landing cupboard stage right. Small tables should be shut down and returned to the storage area at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Dressing rooms.
GET IN ACCESS
There is no direct access to the Stage. Load In is via any of the three Emergency Exit doors on the bowling green side of the Hall. Two of the Emergency Doors have level access, these being the main hall double door entrance at the rear of the hall and the double door emergency exit at the rear of the Hall. The third access is the front emergency double door, which is situated at the front of the Hall, nearest the stage, but has steps to access.  Both Emergency exits open onto the covered veranda.  It is requested that you park in the main car park and offload there, and not park on the double yellow lines near the front emergency exit. If you would like a technical briefing prior to or during your get in, please call the Theatre’s Production Manager – Paul Lewis.  Plug Stage Productions,  Tel: 07850 781917
POWERING UP the Lighting & Sound equipment in the control room:
Lighting: Locate the lighting desk power supply transformer and plug it into a 13Amp socket and switch on, ensuring that the low voltage cable is connected to the lighting desk.  Then power up the dimmer racks via the 63Amp sockets and associated switches behind the Dimmer racks. Locate the Control desk in a convenient position stage left. The Dimmer racks and the control desk are connected for lighting control purposes via 5pin XLR DMX control cables that are daisy chained together. Each Dimmer rack has its own DMX start address set via the rotary switches on each dimmer pack.
Switch on the Emergency Signs via the single gang switch underneath the Hall and Stage working light switches in a panel just outside the control box on the proscenium arch wall down stage left.
STAGE WORKING LIGHTS
Switches for the stage working lights can be found in the Down Stage Left corner and additional working lights for the wings are located mid stage and are switched on via wall switches on both sides of the stage
LIGHTING CONTROL DESK OPERATION
The 18 way 2 preset DMX manual lighting control desk will now be active.  The control desk Master Fader should be raised to Full. The Yellow Master is used to control the top set of channel faders and the Red Master used to control the bottom set of channel faders. I would recommend that the Flash Master is set to off/ zero and the two timing Masters (right side of controller at the bottom) are also set to off/zero. It is good practice to warm the lanterns by slowly bringing each live channel to initially 30% for a few minutes and then 60% for a few minutes, prior to bringing them up to full for the first time during a session. Especially when it is cold. This will save lamps blowing unnecessarily from sudden thermal shock.
As the Yellow and Red Master faders are inverted to one another on the control desk, cross fades between yellow and red presets can easily be achieved by moving both master faders together in the same direction. Each lighting state is selected by adjusting the individual channel faders on the Yellow or Red preset to the levels required for each state.
For example the first lighting state is set on the Yellow Preset channel faders and the Yellow Master Fader is set to full and the Red Master fader set to Zero. i.e. both yellow and red master faders at the top of their travel. The Red channel faders are now not active as it’s master is at zero, so the second lighting state can be set on the red channel faders whilst the first lighting state is live without impacting what is happening on stage. When the time is right you can make the Red Master live and the Yellow preset channels inactive by cross fading Yellow to Red by bringing both master faders to the bottom of their travel. The Yellow channel faders are now inactive and can be cleared down and the next lighting state set on them ready to cross fade back to Yellow at the right time.    
SOUND EQUIPMENT is switched on via 13anp sockets are the rear of the control room.
For day hires, the hall lighting and sound are run from side stage left.  For longer term Theatrical hires, both the lighting and sound controls can be located at the rear of the Hall. Please liaise with the Hall Production Manager prior to your event if you require control from the rear of the hall.
POWERING DOWN the Lighting & Sound Equipment:
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT POWER DOWN  When your performance is finished please ensure the lighting control desk individual channel faders are set to off and the master faders are all set to off/zero. Power down the lighting equipment by switching off each dimmer rack and switching off the lighting control desk power.
SOUND EQUIPMENT POWER DOWN.
Mute all Input Channels, and move all input and output faders on the Mixer to the bottom of their travel. Switch off the Power Amp and then the Mixer, CD Player. Switch off the 13 Amp sockets powering the Sound equipment.

STAGING PERFORMANCE AREA: Please see Stage floor plan at the end of this document.

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LIGHTING positions:
There are three Lighting bars on stage and one front of house. The rear on stage flood bar is not internally wired but is supplied via circuits 30, 31, 32.  The mid stage bar is internally wired and the down stage bar has sockets on the back of the proscenium arch. In addition to the three lighting bars  there are sockets upstage and down stage left at high level on the grid girders and in dip boxes on the stage floor. All circuits are terminated in 15 amp sockets, with patch cables terminated in the control room. A schematic circuit layout plan is provided in the control room to assist lantern patching. On stage there are additional scaffold bars that can be used to rig lanterns if required.

DRESSING: Three sets of black serge drapes legs form wing masking. In addition mid stage there is a set of grey tab curtains, as well as the main house tab curtains directly behind the proscenium arch. There are no flats, or furniture available. You are welcome to bring in your own set dressing, but please ensure the stage is swept and returned to the normal masking when you leave.
LIGHTING  EQUIPMENT:
CIRCUITS:  Please see schematic plan in the control room for circuit layout.
DIMMER CHANNELS: There are normally three x 6 channel dimmer packs available to hirers.
DIMMER LOADING:  Each dimmer rack is powered via a max 32 amp MCB, per 6 channel dimmer unit. Each Dimmer Channel is rated at a max of 10 Amps, 2300 Watts, but the incoming power supply to each dimmer unit (32 Amps) will not support this per channel loading on every channel. 
LIGHTING CONTROL:  Zero 88 18way DMX 2 preset manual control desk. Also beware of the flash master and the timer faders, ensure these are set to zero.

LANTERN INVENTRY:                          Watts    Hook    Safety    Colour    Barn    Gobo
                                                                   Clamp   Bond     Frame    Door    Holder
2 x Strand Prelude 16/30 profiles          500W     2         2          2                     B size
6 x Strand Patt123 Fresnels                  500W     6         6          6
10 x Strand Prelude Fresnels                650W    10       10         10          6
2 x Strand Quartet Pebble Convex         650W     2         2          2           2
3 x 8way Batten Floods                       150W                           24
Colour Frames and Barn Doors – Please ensure they are kept with each lantern when de-rigging.
ACCESSORY INVENTRY
SOUND EQUIPMENT SET UP. The basic sound equipment chain working back from the speakers is as follows. A pair of PA speakers flown FOH right and left, connected via a cable from each of the speakers and connected to the Power Amp in the control room position side stage left. A two channel Power Amp – connected to a Mixer via 2 x 6.3mm Jack– 2 x Female XLR leads to the main outputs of the mixer .The provided input equipment, namely a CD Player connected via the CD players outputs to the mixers input section each via a pair of Phono to 6.3mm jack cables. All equipment Amp, Mixer, CD are powered via 13A plugs. All equipment must be plugged in and switched on both at the 13Amp socket and on the piece of equipment to enable its operation. 

A 3.5mm stereo jack to 2 x 6.3mm jack connecting cable is also provided to enable connection of either a computer or IPOD or similar to the sound mixer. A computer and IPOD are not provided however.

Suitable PC Freeware to allow professional level sound effect cueing however can be downloaded to your own computer, should you wish to cue your sound in this way.  The recommended PC Freeware is called MultiPlay and can be found at the URL link below.  Considering it is Freeware it is very powerful but also very easy to use.  http://www.audiovisualdevices.com.au/software/multiplay/multiplay.php

ACCESS EQUIPMENT Fixed A frame ladder,   Extendable A frame ladder,   Wooden steps
SMOKING  Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the premises.
FIRE EVACUATION During a performance if the fire alarm is heard the theatre & the Bar etc, should be evacuated immediately. The fire steward should make an announcement telling everyone to leave by the nearest fire exit to them and that the assembly point is in the church Car Park, ensuring that the road is not blocked. They should ensure that everyone has left the hall before leaving himself or herself.
USE OF THEATRICAL SMOKE & HAZE & PRYOTECHNICS
Use of smoke and haze and pyrotechnics are not normally allowed. Their possible use must be discussed with the Hall Manager & suitable licences obtained prior to any performance. The fire detection in the hall theatre nearest the stage are heat detectors.
EMERGENCY LIGHTING OPERATION & TESTING The emergency lights should be switched on for all performances in the hall.
FIRST AID  Groups should provide their own First Aid cover.
PERSONAL BELONGINGS/SECURITY  Items left unattended are at the owner’s risk.
DRESSING ROOMS  The Bosco room under the stage is capable of being split into two rooms and the corridor under the stage is also available as a dressing room. Male and Female toilets are available under the stage. Company members are responsible for maintaining their own security. 
BOX OFFICE  The box office is provided by each organisation hiring the hall. In addition each hirer must provide three stewards who should be in position at each emergency exit whenever the public are present in the Hall.

 

GET OUT  Please ensure all emergency exits are lproperly closed, and the emergency lights are switched off. All stage lighting and sound equipment is switched off. The Stage and hall are left clean and tidy, with all chairs stacked at the rear of the hall.  Dressing rooms to be left clean and tidy.  Please ensure each lantern is left fitted with a hook clamp, an attached safety bond, and has a colour frame fitted.
PLEASE TAKE CARE THAT LANTERNS ARE NOT MOVED WHEN STILL HOT, TO AVOID LAMP DAMAGE.  

 

ACCESS TO THEATRE OUTSIDE OF PERFORMACE TIMES.   Access  arrangement must be agreed with the hall manager.

FOR TECHNICAL ADVICE & ASSISTANCE AND TO REPORT ANY TECHNICAL  PROBLEMS / USE OF SPARE LAMPS ETC .  PLEASE CONTACT:  Paul Lewis - Plug Stage Productions Tel: 07850 781917  Email: Plugstageproductions@btinternet.com