The current production of Charles Dickens’ classic story, A Christmas Carol, was the 32nd annual version of the show at the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY. When it got its start in 1985, the technical crew breathed a sigh of relief that the one-season wonder made it through the holidays. Now the show is a firmly established Christmas tradition in upper New York State.
Read More »
We caught up with Myles Mangino last month as his longtime friends, The Pixies, finish up the last couple months of a touring cycle that’s lasted over a year. In 2016, they celebrated their 30th year (though there was a lull for a while) and have been gigging consistently. Myles has been with them every step of the way. And a twisted beginning it was.
Read More »
Founded in 2014 by “serial entrepreneur” Arlie Conner, Luxium Lighting was originally conceived as an entity that would target “an interesting little niche market,” Conner says, supplying school auditoriums and other theatrical venues with the fixtures they’d need as they migrated away from conventional lighting and toward LEDs…For 2018, fresh off the success at the 2017 LDI show, the company, based in the Portland, Oregon’s “silicon forest” region, is poised for growth, led by a core team of three partners — Conner, the inventor of the company’s products; Roger Hicks, the marketing guru; and Tom Roth, who is in charge of sales, setting up channels and all things customer-related.
Read More »
Radio shows have stepped out of the studio since the 1970s. After PLSN came across a few photos posted by LD Jeffrey W. Pardee of his design work for REAL 92.3’s 2017 “REAL Show” at the L.A. Forum, we gave him a call.
Read More »
“Bobby ‘Boomer’ Thrasher runs his backstage with humor and authority,” says Parnelli Awards chairman Marshall Bissett. “Putting together huge outdoor events with Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and other high profile clients takes a lot of talent, patience and a huge network of worldwide contacts.” Thrasher won the Parnelli Award for Production Manager of the Year in 2009, and this year, he is receiving the live event industry’s highest honor, the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award.
Read More »
Amazon Web Services (AWS) held their annual re:Invent Conference in Las Vegas the last week of November with events and meetings taking place at multiple hotels including MGM, Aria, Venetian/Palazzo, and more.
Read More »
Whether you are lifting something up or pulling it across a stage, the one constant in all live productions is it has to work every time on command and be able to handle the load. There are many devices made to handle different weights and moving them at certain speeds. Variable speeds are great for moving trusses and scenery quickly. But more often, the user just wants a steady, safe speed when lifting heavy objects. This month we have the best of both worlds, as you choose the best gear for your application.
Read More »
Tyler Roach has a wide skill set, so as his career has grown, so have the various roles he fills on various projects. He is a lighting designer, lighting director, media server technician, systems and network designer, owner and partner. He first made a name for himself during his 16-plus years at Upstaging and solidified his reliable reputation over the last five years as the principal designer of his own firm, Eclipse Creativity.
Read More »
To help celebrate its 200-year milestone during the school’s 2017 homecoming festivities, the University of Michigan turned to Maxin10sity, a Budapest, Hungary-based projection-mapping design firm founded by Tamás Vaspöri. The end result, HAILstorm, was a 10-minute spectacle that transformed the Rackham Building on the university’s Ingalls Mall into a creative array of trompe l’oeil imagery marking the university’s highlights and the passage of time.
Read More »
The coolest things in entertainment have always been, and will always be, lasers. That’s right, frickin’ lasers. At their height, sometime in the Pink Floyd era, lasers shot out over the auditorium and pierced the acrid pyro smoke like some alien fan pulsing in ridiculously fast waves, only in the next song to become shooting rods of intensely colored beams of acid gloriousness. I love lasers. I always have. You love them too.
Read More »
Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping…into the future, and another New Year is upon us. (And yes, that song was from more than 40 years ago.) The beginning of the year is often a time of reflection and resolutions. While many will try to save more money, lose more weight and finish goals, there are many other things that we each can aim to improve upon in 2018. In no particular order, I present the following automated lighting programmer New Years resolutions.
Read More »
The ColorSource line from Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), headquartered in Middleton, WI, includes fixtures, control and relay products. The fixture line consists of a spot, par, linear, and now, the newest addition, the ColorSource CYC wash light. Let us have a closer look at this luminaire (and see if that is actually a mirror).
Read More »