News

SALT LAKE CITY – USITT announced winners of its annual archictectural competition for best performance space design. Top honors will go to the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago (pictured here), the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, UK, and the Salle de Spectacles de Mont-Laurier in Quebec, Canada. Designers and consultants for the winning venues will receive their awards at USITT 2016 in Salt Lake City March 16-19.

NASHVILLE — Nashville set a new record for its Jack Daniel’s Bash on Broadway: New Year’s Eve in Music City event. Bandit Lites once again provided the lighting for both the Music City Stage and the 150 foot tower adorned with the massive music note that ushered in 2016. LD John Lucksinger oversaw the lighting, with an assist from Bandit LD Teresa Porterfield-Fensler. Chris Lisle served as production manager for the event, which involved 45 truckloads of gear and 242 local stagehands.

NASHVILLE – For the inaugural Music City Big Break competition held at the Mercy Lounge, event founders/producers David Bell and John C. Davis and production designer Steven Dahl turned to Elite Multimedia for show visuals that included lighting and video gear from Clay Paky, Chauvet, Elation and PixelFlex. Elite’s Jon Chavez served as project manager and Jeff Mathews was the LD for the event.

MIAMI – For the halftime show featuring John Fogerty at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens on Dec 31, Abbas Ritscher of The Design Oasis worked with show LD John Hollingshead. The rig included 10 Strike 4 fixtures from Chauvet Professional, positioned behind the stage.

LOS ANGELES — Owner Lee Duck and technical director Adam De Witt of Duck Lights have been using 4Wall-supplied gear to meet the expanded production needs for Halsey’s Badlands tour. The rig including Ayrton MagicBlades, Martin MAC Viper Profiles and TMB Solaris Flare Juniors for the tour, in support of Halsey’s Aug. 2015 album release, Badlands. Duck and De Witt, who is serving as LD, have been lighting Halsey since 2014.

COEUR D’ALENE, ID – To further enhance an annual holiday lighting event welcomed every year by residents and previously featured on Good Morning America, AMP’D Entertainment provided more than a dozen COLORado 4 IP LED linear washes from Chauvet Professional. They were used to brighten and color the Parkside Building, pictured here.

DALLAS —Jeff Laux, LD for Christian rock band Planetshakers, specified a variety of High End Systems gear for Planetshakers LIVE, aired on the Christian Daystar Television Network. The rig included ShapeShifter C1s, C2s and SolaSpot Pro 1500s. HES dealer Front Porch Productions supplied the fixtures along with an Axon HD and Hog 4 for control.

TOWSON, MD – For Mistletoe Meltdown, an event that featured Robin Thicke, OMI, Rachel Platten and The Vamps and was staged on Dec. 11 within haze-free SECU Arena at Towson University, LD Brett Angstadt opted for a rig including Next NXT-1 Fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Pictured here is Robin Thicke.

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Longtime employees at Starlite Productions, Gustavo Gomez, 42, and Donna Gomez, 59, were arrested and charged with stealing gear from the company. The theft allegedly took place from 2008 to 2014, with the total among of gear valued at close to $323,000, according to the Burlington County, NJ Prosecutor’s Office. The arrests came after an 18-month investigation.

CHICAGO – Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC) recently added Elation Professional’s Volt Q5 uplight fixtures to its rental inventory. The fixture is designed to serve as a go-anywhere RGBW LED wash light. It runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Featuring IP65 housing, the battery lasts up to 12 hours between charges. Pictured here holding one of the fixtures is ILC’s Steven Burdsall.