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Who’s Designing for ‘Virginia Woolf?’

The set has a realistic, lived-in look, with a de-saturated palette that keeps the focus on the four central characters. Photos by Michael Brosilow

Who’s Designing for ‘Virginia Woolf?’

A rustic, seemingly peaceful New England home erupts into chaos overnight when a bickering middle aged couple (Martha and George) receive a late-night visit from a younger couple (Honey and Nick) after they all attend a university faculty schmoozefest. What begins as mildly sarcastic banter with an undercurrent of middle aged marital anxiety and professional jealousy devolves into a twisted game of emotional cat and mouse as the older couple teases, coaxes, derides, flirts with and tries to dominate the younger couple. Things progressively deteriorate in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? until the generational clash, fueled by ideological differences, sexual tension and dark secrets, reaches its morbid denouement.

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Cory FitzGerald’s design for Owl City’s Fall 2012 tour included beams of light blasting through barnwood slats. Photo by Cory FitzGerald.

Synchronized Dreams: Owl City Live in 2012

Adam Young, the mastermind of electronic-pop band Owl City (OC), began writing and recording music in his parents’ Owatonna, MN, basement to combat his insomnia, and the cover art for his two most recent albums — as well as his tour visuals — have a dream-like quality that seems well-aligned with his bright, fantasy-infused and often uplifting music.

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Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show featuring Madonna, photo by Brad Duns

2012: A Look Back at Some of the Biggest Staged Events

With both the Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee taking place, London was the epicenter for big events in 2012, in terms of lighting, staging and projection. But Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show will also be hard to top in 2013 (it will feature Beyoncé), and while the Olympics required both marathon-like stamina for the opening ceremonies (with more than 100 consecutive nights of programming) and speed (close to 100 truckloads of gear needed to be loaded in within 18 hours for the closing ceremonies), the Super Bowl Halftime Show has long been known as an all-out sprint, with only 27 minutes allotted for load-in, the performance, and load-out. Finally, of course, 2012 will be remembered as a Presidential election year in the U.S., and for the challenges of staging huge political events in hurricane-threatened Tampa (the RNC) and Charlotte, NC (DNC).

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Eilon Engineering's Ron StageMaster system is designed to safeguard statically indeterminate loads.

Eilon Engineering: Promoting Data vs. Guesswork

Their Ron StageMaster Overload Detection System is Designed to Guard Against Truss Collapse

Their load monitoring and overload prevention products might never get to shine in the spotlight, but they seem to be everywhere these days: from the Orlando Conventional Hall to the Sydney Opera house; in the inventory of PRG and Kish Rigging; in the shows of Cirque du Soleil and Disney.

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Clive Forrester, All Access Staging & Productions

“Roof Structures” or “Stages?”

The Wrong Choice of Words Can Be Costly

Stories of so-called “stage collapses” have recently swept the entertainment industry, the nation and the world. As a staging professional for over 20 years, I was both saddened by the tragedies and dismayed by the incongruent journalism. The damage sustained during the recent collapses involved equipment falling from above onto innocent bystanders below. A stage, of course, is a raised platform, which is walked upon, while a roof covers a stage and hangs overhead. Reading these stories of “stage collapses,” I quickly grasped that a roof structure was actually the equipment in question. In the staging industry, we are now realizing that the mis-education of the public has costly and far-reaching consequences in terms contracts and insurance.

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Carrie Underwood Blown Away Tour 2012 tour photo by Steve Jennings

Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away Tour

Perspectives from Raj Kapoor, Peter Morse and Brian Jenkins

Carrie Underwood has been out on tour in support of her fourth album, Blown Away, which debuted at the top of the charts along with her single, “Good Girl.” The current 2012 tour has been so successful that it’s expanded into 2013 for an additional 40 dates in the U.S. and Canada. PLSN spoke with the tour designer/directors about this impressive show’s design, which complements Underwood’s rise as one of today’s most accomplished musical artists.

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Martin Professional U.K. factory for smoke division products

Martin Professional’s Smoke Division

Martin Professional may be known primarily for its light fixtures, but that wasn’t always the case. When it was founded in 1986, fog machines accounted for the bulk of its sales. The Aarhus, Denmark-based company dabbled in disco-style lighting and even live sound products, but its big push into intelligent lighting fixtures didn’t happen until the late 1990s.

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SoundGarden Hall in Philadelphia

SoundGarden Hall in Philadelphia

For SoundGarden Hall, a new venue for live electronic dance, alternative, rock, pop and R&B artists with separate zones for the under-21 and over-21 crowds, owner Mark Marek, who also owns Rumor and G Lounge in downtown Philadelphia, brought in Ian Hoffer of AuRoRa Sound & Light Design in hopes of steering the space back to its glory days.

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Michael Graham, product development manager for Chauvet Professional

Chip On Board (COB) Technology

For several years now, the entertainment lighting industry has been inundated with LED technology. Even though over the past eight years we have seen a diametric shift from any bi-pin style lamp bases towards LEDs, I still say that we are just scratching the surface of the possibilities. But I do think that LEDs are beginning to transcend their infancy. I finally feel like the “Baby On Board” sign can be replaced with “Chip On Board.”

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PRG Best Boy 4000

PRG Best Boy 4000

PRG’s Best Boy 4000 is an all-in-one lighting tool. It combines high output, an 8:1 zoom range, razor sharp optics, framing shutters, exciting special effects and state of the art technology into one versatile package. Let’s take a closer look.

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Mitch Kaplan at the digiLED Factory in Shenzhen, China. He serves as that company’s U.S. distributor.

Mitch Kaplan from Video WallTronics

PLSN: How did you begin your career in the entertainment industry?

Mitch Kaplan: My entry into the visual arts started in 1978. A schoolmate and I secured the rights to sell the print services for 3M brand Scanamural, the first large format, ink jet printer. This was the beginning of digital printing. It eventually evolved into billboard size, photo quality print vinyl graphics that you see everywhere. In 1988, Large Format Digital video display evolved from the technology of pixel manipulation. We were pioneers and the times were very exciting. Our very first sales call netted a $250,000 rush order for a sports marketing company. That was our catalyst into the digital world.

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ProPlex GBS gigabit Ethernet switch (Rack-mount version)

ProPlex Data Distribution System from TMB

The 2012 Ryder Cup golf tournament at Medinah Country Club and 2012 London Olympic Games were just two of this year’s big events with live and televised production where crews relied upon the expanding range of ProPlex data distribution devices and cable options from TMB. The ProPlex line of devices includes GBS Gigabit Ethernet Switches,  IQ Ethernet-DMX converters, DMX/RDM Opto-Splitters and forthcoming (early 2013) RMT remote media transceivers for multiplexed DVI transmission and distribution. ProPlex cable options are also expanding, including DMX, Cat5e and fiber optic cable and assembly/snake options now available, and TMB also recently introduced its ProPlex RDMigo touch-screen tester/controller and 8-Track devices for DMX record/playback and backup.

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