What has everyone found to be the best placement for blacklight performances not done behind a curtain?  We have used ours on the floor in front of us.  Also, about how many blacklights do you use? And, last question for now, are tube lights or LED lights best? Thanks!!

Lots of questions! I can tell you what we have found. The LED's, while nice, do leave shadows which the bulb lights do not. We use a combination of both. We have placed some on the floor and the LED's on a stand to get the best coverage. You sort of have to play around with placement till you get the best coverage and the least amount of shadowing!

I have a question.................Does placement differ when performing on different stages. How many lights per square footage of stage?? I'm not sure how that works.

I'm with LJ.  The LED's give you a lot of coverage (1 for the whole stage), but they have a lot of white light also, so you do tend to see shadows.  On a very short piece along with a lot of action...most of the time the audience won't notice.  Just make sure to raise the house lights or flash strobe...something to dilate the audience eyes as often a possible.  In between songs, etc.  As far as the tubes...they are in expensive, but bulky if you must travel with a large stage.  If your performing completely without a stage then you will want to place the lights as high as possible and several feet away.  Blacklight broadcasts the light in a wider array if they aren't to close the the performers.  If you have a puppet stage...lets say 7-8 feet across the first level you will want at least 2-18" three would be better.  Hang them from the backside of the stage.  Make sure to keep the puppets/performers at least 12" away to reduce shadows.  Also place some in front of the stage either on the floor or on a stand as LJ suggested.  Make sure to light every section of the stage.

We have both. I love the LED's.  At the recent OWS Festival, they used two to light a huge stage in a very large church.  They put them on stands and had them by the first row of pews (not on the stage at all).

We use the tubes when traveling. 4 (two on each level) 18" tubes. Our stage is approx. 7-8' across the back and about 6' in the front.  We have 4' tubes as well, but rarely use them, unless we put them on the floor.

Our puppeteers are anywhere from 6-8" away, depending on the song/performance, to 12".