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Illustration by Andy Au

Accent Lights

The majority of my work is lighting live entertainment. In the process of lighting design for these gigs, I have always thought that the main tools I needed were a bunch of wash lights and a few hard-edged profiles to make some pretty scenes. This would run true whether I was using strictly conventional or moving light rigs. But nowadays the daily advancements made in technology have brought us what I like to call “Accent Lights.”

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PLSN Editor Justin Lang

Finding Gear Just Got Easier

From time to time, I get a chance to do some work in the DCMA — the Washington DC metro area, for those of you outside of the Beltway.  Typically, they are quick gigs, and the jobs range from running a desk to pushing a road case.  Yes, I am never above pushing a case — it builds character, and some of the stories my fellow stagehands tell are priceless.

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Clive Forrester of All Access Staging and Productions

Calling All Desk Jockeys!

Okay… Who is going to take the first step? Well, I guess it will be me. No, that is not true. It was actually Clive Forrester of All Access Staging and Productions who took the first step around four years ago. Clive took the first step towards better health by buying a Tread Desk. What is a Tread Desk? A Tread Desk is a combination desk and treadmill that enables you to keep your body in motion during the workday instead of being slouched over your desk for eight or more hours a day.

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Act One featured Broadway's largest-ever turntable set design. Photo by set designer Beowulf Boritt

“Act One” on Broadway

Beowulf Boritt’s Tony Award-winning set for Act One, which ran this past spring at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre, was one of the grandest set pieces ever designed for Broadway. The 30-foot high, 60-foot diameter turntable featured three full stories of locations — apartments, hotel rooms, theater spaces, outdoor places — and created a larger-than-life presentation that added to the energy of the show, which chronicled the autobiographical story of playwright Moss Hart as he rose up from poverty to become a Broadway sensation through his association with playwright and collaborator George S. Kaufman. It was certainly an impressive sight, not to mention heavy — it weighed in around 100,000 pounds.

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Tim McGraw tour photo by Karl Naval

Tim McGraw’s Tour Goes Rock ‘n’ Roll

“Tim McGraw likes his rock ‘n’ roll,” says lighting director Pat Brannon in what proves to be an understatement. “He likes that big look.”

If there’s a word that sums up McGraw’s current Sundown Heaven Town tour is “big.” Big set. Big lights. And perhaps most of all, a big new 7mm video screen custom designed by Screenworks NEP that has put that company in the manufacturing business.

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