Definitely listen to Mr. Spectrum regarding the chaser effect! Great advice.
I have created chaser light effects many times. If you have enough dimmers available in your lighting system, and a light board with either chase capability or a way to memorize a sequence of cues that can be programmed as a loop, you won't need to build a timing circuit to switch between the various circuits, and the light board operator can control the effect.
In the past, I have specified usually three or four circuits of lights, and written a sequence of cues that turns off one of the circuits in turn. Our brains are very easily convinced of the magic of this effect. It works beautifully. It is also very easy to change the direction of the chase, by jumping to a different sequence of cues.
Keep track of how many lights you have in your set-up, and make sure you have enough wattage capacity in your dimmers. If there are a whole lot of lights, that could require the use of four circuits, instead of three. For example, if you are using 60W bulbs, have a total of forty in the rig and your dimmers are 600W, you will need four dimmers. Most dimmers have capacities that are a lot more than 600W, so this may be a silly concern.
When you wire the lights together, keep in mind that you will connect every third or fourth light together, depending on how many channels you use. If you are uncomfortable with wiring the apparatus together, get someone else to do it!
Here are some photographs of a production I did where the effect worked very well. This is an example of a three circuit chase. The marquee around the set was pretty much in motion throughout the show.
http://members.aol.com/bmiller025/ForeverPlaid.htm - ForeverPlaid
Regarding your other questions, the gap under the steps sounds fine. Depending on what color the steps are painted, you may not need to put the paper in there. If you use a few well-positioned fresnels, you could create a very exciting effect by having the light just spill out through the gap. Another fun approach would be to put a fog machine under the stairs. The fog is lit very nicely as it pours out through the gaps.
Regarding using a rotating light for the 70s, that sounds fine. You may want to have several of them going at the same time if you want to create the full disco effect. You may not need to purchase the big ones. You can get rotating lights from many online suppliers for less than $30.00. They are not really bright, but as an effect, they don't need to light anything.
The moving light fixtures are going to cost you an arm and a leg. You will also need a pretty sophisticated light board to run them. Such a light board will be able to create the chaser effect discussed earlier with no trouble at all, of course!
Without additional information from you, it is hard to make suggestions for how many lights you will need to create the effects you want.
Creating the effects for the different eras also will be fun. Definitely start with simple in the distant past, and make each successive era more complex and detailed. If you are going to try to use intelligent fixtures for the 90s, you may be able to create era-appropriate effects for the earlier times with the same equipment. Treating the light as a static fixture will work many times.
One final suggestion... Rather than planning to project the light effects on the background, you may want to think about hitting the characters onstage with them. It may be easier to create the effects you desire that way, without needing to cover a huge surface area.
Good luck, and have fun!
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