Texas Scenic Company (TSC) recently completed a stage rigging upgrade at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The historic theatre where President Lincoln was assassinated held numerous celebrations hosted by the National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society to commemorate the theatre’s reopening in conjunction with Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

For part of the renovation, the existing wood rigging support structure for counterweight rigging was upgraded to a new steel structure accommodating modern, motorized rigging. This project was the first large installation of TSC’s new “Inline” zero fleet angle hoist system. The system offers multiple lifting capacities and speed options, while using dual motor and gear boxes for 100 percent redundancy.

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After long speculation about whether entertainment-lighting leader ETC would enter the LED market, the company has announced its acquisition of the Selador product line from Selador co-founders Rob Gerlach and Novella Smith. The full story of ETC’s Selador Series launch is available at www.etcconnect.com. Mr. Gerlach received support from USITT’s Grants & Fellowship program to help him develop the LED concept.

Full product specs and details are now available at www.etcconnect.com/selador.

ETC exhibited its new LED product line publicly for the first time, unveiled a brand-new lighting control console, and staged some phenomenal student opportunities at its booth at USITT’s Cincinnati 2009 Conference & Stage Expo.

As a free resource this year, the company provided a special, on-site service center, the Portfolio Workspace, to help people make last-minute adjustments and updates to portfolios and résumés.

As it does every year at the conference, ETC hosted its standing-room-only Student Session, where students had the chance to meet ETC representatives and ask questions for great swag prizes. Students also had the chance to win one of three professional portfolio cases.

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ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.) again will offer its Student Sponsorship program, which will give six talented college students the chance to attend the LDI tradeshow in Orlando, Florida, November 20 to 22. In its tenth year, the scholarship offers undergraduate seniors and graduate students an all-expense-paid trip to the show where they get to work hands-on in ETC’s booth, network with industry VIPs, meet their peers, and see the latest in show technology. The sponsorship includes roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations, all meals, a full conference pass, an exclusive student reception, and great ETC swag. Students in lighting design, theatre technology, or closely related fields are encouraged to apply. Download an application from ETC’s web site at www.etcconnect.com. The application deadline is April 30.

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Mounting lighting control gear outdoors can be a difficult task. Choosing a weatherproof enclosure of the correct size and shape, trying to figure how the gear will mount and connect, wondering what size holes are needed for connections to the outside world -- all are really daunting for the designer or systems integrator.

City Theatrical can help do it efficiently, at less expense, and with an ETL label that is required by law in many cities.

The company has launched its 7400 series Outdoor Use Enclosures available with NEMA 3R, NEMA 4, or NEMA 4X ratings, and with IP ratings up to IP66. They may be custom ordered in virtually any size and configuration, and all styles will be ETL Listed to UL STD 508A under City Theatrical’s ETL Shop Listing.

These custom enclosures may be manufactured in steel, stainless steel, or aluminum, and may be powder coated in a range of durable and attractive colors. City Theatrical can implement customer designs or provide complete ground-up designs based on customer application requirements. All of the new 7400 series Outdoor Use Enclosures are designed and manufactured in City Theatrical’s Carlstadt, New Jersey factory.

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PowerLift, J. R. Clancy’s popular automated theatre hoist, has been listed as meeting the rigorous UL 1340 Hoist standard for safety by ETL. PowerLifts will now carry the ETL listing mark. This listing signifies that PowerLift meets the safety requirements of the world’s most trusted source for product compliance, illustrating Clancy’s ongoing commitment to backstage safety.

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Rigging professionals who have earned Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) credentials and who are employees of a J. R. Clancy Dealer can earn renewal credit hours by participating in the ETCP program at J. R. Clancy, Inc., in Syracuse, New York on April 24 and 25.

The certification renewal program includes training in the proper use and inspection of fall arrest and fall protection equipment, as well as servicing, troubleshooting, and maintaining motorized equipment. Instruction in the use of fixed speed and push button controls will conclude the program.

The renewal training will be taught by four of the industry’s leading experts in counterweight and motorized rigging: Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging; Pete Svitavsky, an applications engineer with J. R. Clancy and the company’s in-house professional engineer; Larry Eschelbacher, manager of the controls department at Clancy; and Pete Schmitt, of SEW-Eurodrive.

Space in the program is limited to 25 people. To register, call Marilyn Larsen at J. R. Clancy, 800-836-1885, ext. 322, or e-mail her at marilynlarsen@jrclancy.com.

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Production Resource Group, LLC, (PRG) has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Gekko Technology, an industry leader in the design, development, and manufacture of LED luminaires created specifically for the requirements of image capture and entertainment sectors.

The agreement will include Gekko’s current product portfolio of film and TV white light products as well as access to the newly developed kleer color range of color products, including the kedo 12-100, which will debut at NAB 2009.

For more information on PRG, please visit www.prg.com.

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