We will be producing our first play, The Odd Couple (Female Version) on the stage of our local tech school auditorium and their lighting is woefully inadequate. (One red spot , one blue, and each controlled by a push button). Not having any lighting experience I wanted to ask if it would be worthwhile to rent a decent lighting setup or since the play is so simplistic in every other way, if we should just go with what we have? We don't have a *lot* to spend, but want this to be a decent first effort that will bring the community back for the next one. The auditorium seats about 200.
Thanks
Bill

I agree with Steve - you want to have a nice looking set without a lot of shadows and dark areas. Two lights are not going to do it - you can take the gels out to get white but there must be some other lighting for other uses of the stage.
We use par 38 lamps - 250 watt halogen in a flood configuration. Most circuits are 20 amps but we limit ourselves to 1000 watts (four X 250 watts). We use extension cords to split up the load. These fixtures seem to work well up to 20 foot throw. I have seen several people who have made their own fixtures using coffee cans and porcelan lamp bases. I have talked to some people who have tried residential light dimmers but none of tham have had any good luck.

Lighting electric load add up fast so take a good look at the wiring in your space. There are several theater lighting web sites - I can only think of one off hand but the address is in the office - I'll add it later - Bill Katrina - maybe someone else has the address handy.