News From
Sustaining Members
Grand Stage: Moves, Holds Grand-est Garage Sale Ever
After almost 50 years on Lake Street in Chicago, Illinois, Grand Stage moved into two new locations to better serve its customers.
Main operations -- including rentals, fabrication, and sewing shops -- are located in an expanded warehouse at 3418 N Knox Ave. Chicago. A new sales specific storefront specializing in gel, paint, tape, gobo, and make-up is at 1319 W Grand Ave., Chicago. Grand Stage will continue to maintain the largest Chicago-based selection of in-stock consumable products from such brands as Apollo, Altman, City Theatrical, Chauvet, Elation, Philips Entertainment, and Rosco.
As part of the relocation process, the Grand-est Garage Sale Ever was held August 13 to 15 in an effort to sell it - not move it. A portion of the proceeds were donated to PLASA’s Behind the Scenes Foundation, which provides assistance to those in need within the entertainment industry and their families.
For more information, visit www.grandstage.com.
Chauvet: Products Create Picture-Perfect Graduation Ball
Black tie graduation balls, a tradition in the United Kingdom, provide college students with a memorable event. Lancaster University - one of the UK’s top 10 universities - tasked Arranpaul Audio with supplying, designing, and executing its 2015 ball. They turned to Chauvet lighting, particularly the new Chauvet Professional Next NXT-1 moving RGBW LED panels.
During the evening, which included student awards presentations and band performances, the eight NXT-1s created a broad spectrum of looks thanks to their intense output, rapid movements, rich colors and pixel-mapping capabilities. These included spelling the band’s name across the advanced truss and dramatic pixel-mapping effects and onstage washes.
For the upstage area three “picture frames” were created by adjoining four pixel-mapped Chauvet DJ COLORband PiX LED battens into the shape of a square. The result was an attention-grabbing, flown, pixel-mapping spectacle. To use the space between the “picture frames,” Chauvet DJ MotionOrb décor fixtures were flown. Comprised of 55 color changing and strobing LED orbs arranged in strings, the MotionOrb added an extra dimension to the event’s design.
Stage Institute of Las Vegas: 2015 Recap Blitz
Another year, another action-packed summer at the Stage Institute of Las Vegas.
SILV 2015 included Digital Drafting, Valley of Fire, Automation & Special Effects, Carnival tour and Disneyland, Rigging, Technical Management, Lighting Technology & Audio, Fourth of July picnic, Previsualization, Design Charette, Movers, Media, and Rock n Roll, and August 1 Strike.
Here are a few statistics: one 23-hour-52 minute field trip, four catered meals, six backstage tours, seven staff members, seven talkbacks, eight weeks, 10 shows, 18 hours of shows, 37 hours in a van, 44 days of class, 54 instructors, 100 pounds of charcoal, 402 hours of class, 440 gallons of water, 120 students and instructors, 197 airport runs, 1,700 ham and cheese sandwiches, 1,702 assorted bags of chips, 2,800 miles to class and back, and 3,328 hotel nights including Extended Stay and South Point for SILV.
SILV 2016 is less than 300 days away! Stay tuned at www.stageinstitute.com.
Mega-Lite: Introduces Drama FS-LED 700, Distributes PLUSTRUSS
Mega-Lite recently debuted the Drama FS-LED 700, an extremely powerful follow spot LED fixture with a single source 350-W LED that produces outputs comparable to a 700-watt lamp or brighter.
Faders and buttons are located directly on the back of the fixture to control the unit’s features. A color flagging system is used to produce a white, red, green, yellow, blue and orange spot light. The Drama FS-LED 700 also features a CTO, used both for adjusting color temperature and the color hue of each primary and secondary color. The diameter of the spot can be easily adjusted with the unit’s built-in iris, great for long throw highlighting of small objects on stage.
The Drama FS-LED 700 has a fader for controlling the smooth dimmer. A strobe fader controls the random and variable strobing of the LED for fantastic effects. The unit is compact allowing for easy transport and use in cramped spaces. The Drama FS-LED 700 comes with a powerCON connection and cord for powering the unit.
Mega Systems, Inc. also was named the exclusive distributor of PLUSTRUSS in North America. PLUSTRUSS is a manufacturer of aluminum rated truss, stage, and accessories developed according to European quality standards. PLUSTRUSS will replace Mega Systems, Inc.’s line of OMEGA Truss.
To learn more, visit www.mega-lite.com.
GLP: X4 Featured in Zac Brown Band Tour
British creative lighting company, Okulus was named show and production designer for Zac Brown Band’s Jekyll + Hyde 2015 North American Stadium tour and GLP’s X4 and X4S LED fixtures are a huge part of the lighting design.
The tour has a full 60-foot stage wrap-around gauze automation truss that closes off the stage. Designers needed a lightweight fixture that could be attached to the moving element of the gauze truss but had a central movement pivot to avoid issues with the high speed winches that suspend the trough for the gauze.
Thirty-two of the heads were deployed — 20 flown on the gauze truss and 12 in lighting carts that backlight a 15mm digiLED blow-through video screen.
The carts need to be removed as the video wall opens and closes for entrances and exits, and as an entry for props and special effects.
RC4 Wireless: An American in Paris Lives Life Untethered
From the opening of George and Ira Gershwin’s timeless score for An American in Paris through to the final note, the RC4 Wireless RC4 Magic Series 3 wireless DMX and Dimming System play a leading role in free-flowing, seamless moves from one enchanting scene to another.
With some of the world’s finest ballet dancers telling this classic tale, there is no place for power cables to run across any part of the stage. Originally produced in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the show’s gear, supplied by AVAB Transtechnik France, includes a RC4 Magic DMXio transceiver as the transmitter, four more DMXio receivers, ten RC4 Magic DMX2dim 2-channel dimmers, four RC4 Magic DMX4dim 4-channel dimmers, and eight RC4 Magic DMX4dim-500 high-power 4-channel dimmers. They control a variety of sources, from single lamp sconces and cabaret table lights to multiple circuits of birdies on the Baurel Stage. In the Morris Columns and Shop Counters, they drive several circuits of incandescent lamps and send DMX out to LED fixtures. All 22 scenic and prop pieces are controlled by RC4 Magic devices.
