GAMPRODUCTS, INC., Los Angeles, California has introduced a new addition to the SX4 family of special effects devices. The SX4 is designed to be mounted onto a Source Four ellipsoidal spotlight to convert the unit into an effects projector. Currently there are four effects trays and GAM has recently added one more, a DMX controlled Loop Tray. All of the trays are interchangeable in the SX4 unit. With five interchangeable effects trays, the SX4 allows users to choose a four or six gobo changer, color changer, effects loops, or discs.

The new DMX Loop Tray also has built in programs for stand-alone operation. Learn more about the new DMX Loop Tray online at www.gamonline.com. For more information, contact GAMPRODUCTS, INC., 4975 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90019; 323-935-4975; fax 323-935-2002.

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Creative Stage Lighting recently launched a series of online seminars for lighting professionals. The seminars will address a variety of topics including new technologies, products, applications, and how stage lighting and theatrical professionals can grow their careers.

Richard Cadena, editor of Projection Lights & Staging News and a 22-year veteran of the lighting industry, kicked off the series on September 18. Mr. Cadena spoke about how the live event industry is changing and how working and aspiring entertainment professionals can best prepare and take advantage of this change.

Upcoming events will be listed at Creative Stage Lighting's website. The online seminars are free and open to the public. For more information about current and future online seminars, visit creativestagelighting.com/events.

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Michael P. Reed has joined Rose Brand as project manager. His experience in regional theatre includes the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Plays in the Park, the Whole Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey, the George St. Playhouse and, most recently, shop foreman at The Paper Mill Playhouse. He graduated from Grove City College in Pennsylvania with a BA in communications. He lives in Flemington, New Jersey with his wife, Debra, a costume designer-teacher, and their two sons, Kaelan and Schuyler.

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City Theatrical's new SHoW DMX wireless DMX performed flawlessly at the Beijing Olympics in front of an average of 35 million viewers per day.

NBC Olympics Lighting Designer Steve Brill of The Lighting Design Group used SHoW DMX to light the Bob Costas NBC Prime Time Studio set which rotated 360 degrees on a turntable. Power to dimmers mounted on the revolving set was run through a three-phase commutator, but DMX data was sent wirelessly from a SHoW DMX Transmitter in the studio. SHoW DMX delivered DMX data to dimmers, which controlled 26 key lights on a circular truss over the news desk.

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Not only is 2008 the year of Giacomo Puccini's 150th anniversary celebrations, it is the 54th year of the Puccini Festival. The festival now boasts a brand new open-air stage lit with help from ETC on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli in the composer's birthplace of Torre Del Lago, northern Italy.

As well as lighting the opening concert by La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and a tribute to Puccini by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, an ETC Congo Jr. control desk - with a second as backup - was used for Turandot, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, and one of the composer's lesser known operas, Edgar, which featured a set design by United Kingdom artist Roger Dean (famous for his album cover designs for top bands such as Yes) and costumes designed by his daughter, Freyja.

For more information on ETC and its products, visit www.etcconnect.com.

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Fire curtains made with patented ZetexPlus fabric, a product of Newtex Industries, Inc., have been approved for use in proscenium theatres in and around Manhattan by the New York City Department of Buildings' Report of Materials and Equipment Acceptance Division (MEA).

J. R. Clancy, Inc., a design, manufacturing, and installation company for theatrical rigging equipment and a leading supplier of fire curtains to the theater industry, uses ZetexPlus fabric in the manufacture of its fire safety curtains and borders. The MEA report, #212-08-M, accepts Zetex Plus 1210 with or without wire insertion in either black or natural color. Zetex Plus 800 fabric also was accepted by the report.

For more than 15 years, Clancy's fire curtains made with Zetex 1210 fabric have been listed by the California State Fire Marshall for use as Class I proscenium curtains, a status accepted by code authorities virtually everywhere in the United States except for New York City. With the new MEA approval, J. R. Clancy fire curtains are now listed for use anywhere in the country.

To learn more about Zetex Plus fire curtains from J. R. Clancy, click here, or call 800-836-1885.

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