NEW YORK — LPR head lighting designer Ethan Kaplan is using 18 Wybron CXI IT color-mixing scrollers to provide vibrant hues for the Le Poisson Rouge, an eclectic club once known as the Village Gate. Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison are among the artists who have performed at The Village Gate during its nearly 40-year run before the Bleecker Street venue closed in 1993.
As Le Poisson Rouge, the multimedia art cabaret strives to highlight a variety of musical and artistic styles. Its compact stage has featured Paul Simon, Mos Def, Andrew WK, Salman Rushdie and others.
Kaplan uses the CXIs on Source 4 PARS. They feature two overlapping gelstrings with frames of cyan, magenta, and yellow, which mix together to create a wide variety of colors.
Kaplan likes having the flexibility to tweak colors on the fly. “The CXI’s color mixing allows me to make subtle live color changes during the show without upstaging the performers,” he said. Ten downlights and eight frontlights help ensure that the performers never wander into the dark. Kaplan especially likes the CXI’s blues and magentas.
“As far as durability goes, these units get scrolled back and forth seven days a week,” Kaplan said. “They have been exposed to dust,” he added, noting how they were installed while the venue was still under construction.
He added that the units have also held up well despite vibration from nightly DJ parties on the weekends, and even “showers of fake blood” from an act called Mini-Gene Simmons. “In the 10 months since the venue opened, only one out of our 18 scrollers has required maintenance.”
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