SAN ANTONIO, TX – As part of a $17 million renovation, Lila Cockrell Theatre (LCT) has augmented its lighting inventory with three Robert Juliat Cyrano HMI 2500W hot restrike followspots purchased from locally-based Texas Scenic. LCT is located in the Convention Facilities' complex near San Antonio's Tower of the Americas, which was built as part of the 1968 San Antonio World's Fair. The theatre offers more than 2,300 seats on three levels; its main stage spans 113 by 60 feet and has an orchestra pit, integrated performance audio system, AV infrastructure for cameras and projectors, a fully-networked stage and architectural lighting system and a complement of manually-operated counterweight sets with motorized stage electrics.
"The theatre has served the city as one of the largest traditional performing arts venues in downtown San Antonio," said Fritz Schwentker, theatre consultant with WJHW, which handled the systems design and equipment specification for the renovation. "We had worked with the local technical staff at the theatre, and they had some existing followspots that were bright and punchy but at the end of their life cycles."
Schwentker teamed with San Antonio-based Spectrum Lighting Inc. to find a product that matched the old followspots in brightness and punch. "We looked at lot of trade shows and talked with stagehands to get their opinions," he said. The consensus: Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots.
Cyrano is a compact and efficient followspot with a quartz condenser optical system, a 3°/8° zoom range lens system, 100% closing iris within a removable cassette; 100% closing manual dimmer/dowser; progressive frost, correction filter, adjustable yoke, gobo holder; and 6-way boomerang color changer with removable filter frames.
"With the Cyranos we could get the quality of light and punch that the users desired for the space, which has a long-throw third balcony," Schwentker said. "And we really liked the way the equipment operates: Cyrano is very easy to manipulate even though it's quite a large fixture. What Robert Juliat has done across all their fixtures is come up with a pretty standard way to operate. It felt comfortable from the get-go."
Art Garcia, who was part of the decision-making process for the Cyranos, says the new lights have been working events at LCT since November and are "performing well."
For more information, please visit www.robertjuliatamerica.com.
