MIDDLETON, WI – ETC is now shipping its ETC Rigging Prodigy P650, P800, P1000, P1300 hoists, and the P-HLT Houselight hoist to performance spaces, academic stages, community theaters, and houses of worship throughout the U.S., and the gear is already rising to some new challenges imposed by some older venues. "We've already shipped more than 50 hoist systems and are seeing a great deal of interest, particularly from high schools and universities who are looking to upgrade otherwise difficult-to-rig spaces while also considering safety and affordability priorities," said Bill Gallinghouse, ETC's rigging product manager and vice president of marketing.
Many performance venues have been hindered in the past from obtaining proper rigging because of existing architectural limitations.
Productions Unlimited, Inc., Greer, South Carolina, for example, recently installed four ETC Prodigy P13000G units in the Colonial Theatre in South Hill, Virginia. According to Brian Phillips, president, "one of the challenges at Colonial was the front-of-house lighting batten.
"This being a renovation of a theater built in the 1920s, we had to deal with existing conditions – including wooden trusses, a very small attic access hatch, very tight space constraints, the desire to have a low-profile presence below the ceiling and more."
Phillips credited the ETC Prodigy system's PowerHead design for letting Productions Unlimited's crew place the equipment in the attic without modifying the building. He also praised the Prodigy Compression Tube. It "allowed us to install a system into a building that would not have been able to support lateral loading without additional structural reinforcement," Phillips said.
Joshua Allen, the project's consultant, from Theatre Consultants Collaborative, LLC, also credited ETC for its "support and attention to detail," calling them "second to none throughout our design process. We could not have been happier with the end result we received in Prodigy as a mechanized-rigging solution for the Colonial Theatre. The design and installation of the ETC product afforded us the ability to fully realize our specifications without compromise, all while overcoming the historical, architectural, and structural challenges presented by the project. Prodigy appears to be a quality, well-researched, and sensible addition to ETC's existing product offerings, and we look forward to seeing the line expand to accommodate varying project applications in the future."
For more information, please visit www.etcrigging.com .
