Schuler Shook recently completed a $107 million renovation of the David H. Koch Theater, home to New York City Opera and New York City Ballet with other uses including the Lincoln Center Presents series. Schuler Shook led a full design team of architects and engineers to complete a conceptual design study in only nine weeks, an exceptional feat considering the technical complexity of the project and the different groups with a variety of needs to be provided by the building. The entire renovation from project inception to completion was only 24 months.

The renovations included new mechanical lifts to expand the pit; new air circulation in the pit; a new, state-of-the-art stage lighting system; a new video capture system; and over a mile of four-inch conduit from the main electrical room two levels below the stage to the new attic dimmer room above the auditorium.

The theatre reopened November 5 with the New York City Opera’s American Voices concert. The New York City Ballet held an Opening Night Benefit November 24 marking its first performance in the renovated theater with a world premiere ballet by Peter Martins to a score by John Adams.

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We welcome Reed Rigging, Inc. as a new Sustaining member of USITT. The entertainment rigging company, based in Chicago, Illinois was founded in 1993. Since that time, it has safely rigged thousands of rig points. Reed Rigging has provided hoists and truss for tradeshows, concerts, film, TV, theatre, and special events. Reed Rigging is a factory-authorized warranty repair station for Columbus-McKinnon (CM) and represents CM, Coffing, Motion Laboratories, Lift-All, Xtreme Structures and Fabrication, and Mine Safety Appliances (MSA).

Reed Rigging maintains a rental inventory of over 400 chainhoists, 6,000 linear feet of truss, and fall protection and other rigging accessories. The sales department stocks hoists, built to customer specifications at the time of sale, truss of all sizes including various diameters of circles, fall protection and rigging hardware. The Reed Rigging service department stocks all CM Lodestar and Prostar parts, and can accommodate on-site emergency repairs. In addition, the hoist test stand is portable, allowing on-site repair and inspections.

Learn more about the company at www.reedrigging.com,

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Improving on Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas’s (SILV) summer 2009 is a tough order. The third year of this innovative educational program had students from seven countries and 15 states, and faculty from five countries teaching eight intensive, hands-on topics in live entertainment technology. But SILV is determined to meet the challenge.

In response to public demand, SILV has added three new classes -- theatrical makeup, masks, and tech management. Program Director Don Childs and Manager Jane Childs look forward to making summer 2010 the best yet with the help of a terrific staff that includes Business Manager Tera Childs, Program Director William Burns, Assistant Manager Alyssa Miles, Assistant Director Nathan Stanaland, and intern Brandt Gentry.

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Wybron announced an update of its popular Gel Swatch Libary application for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as the kickoff of the third leg of the Wybron Mobile Showroom, with stops in the Orlando and Miami areas.

Along with the addition of hundreds of new filters, Gel Swatch Library 1.5 is the only app in the lighting industry that allows users to access a map of dealers. Geographical information for Lee dealers across the United States can be accessed from the user's current location or zip code, with users able to call or e-mail those dealers with one touch. Dealers from other parts of the globe, including Canada, will follow. The updated application is available for download immediately. Users who have already purchased iSwatch will find that their libraries will update automatically through the Apple App Store.

The Mobile Roadshow combines a survey of Wybron products with an educational component intended to reach a segment of the lighting market overlooked by trade shows and provide one-on-one interaction with dealers and scions of the lighting world. In addition, the Florida Mobile Roadshow dates were the first opportunities for dealers and customers to interact with the new Cygnus 200W Wash, Wybron's acclaimed first foray into LED luminaires.

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An expanded selection of portable cranes with the availability of portable aluminum, gantry-style cranes manufactured by Reid Lifting, out of Wales, United Kingdom, is now available through Thern Stage Equipment.

Reid Lifting Porta-Gantry units from Thern combine capacity with convenience. The durable aluminum construction delivers up to five tons of lifting capacity in a lightweight, modular assembly. Designed for quick and easy setup and breakdown to facilitate portability between workstations, the Porta-Gantry is assembled using just four bolts and collapses and packs flat for convenient shipping and storage.

For more information on Thern’s line of portable davit cranes and the availability of Reid Porta-Gantry units, contact Thern at www.thern.com, via e-mail at info@thern.com or call 1-800-843-7648.

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TMB introduced the first products in the ProMolded Assembly range at LDI 2009. The company also exclusively distributes the DVI Parrot by Carallon, the first truly user-configurable EDID emulator.

Nineteen-pin (six-circuit) stage lighting cables, break-ins, and break-outs are now available with TMB’s ProCable and ProSeries connectors. In-house retrofit services for conventional non-molded 19-pin cables are also available with rapid turnaround.

The. EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) is a message, normally stored in computer monitors and other display devices, that computer graphics cards must see in order to function properly. Small and rugged – suitable for any video engineer's toolbox – the Parrot is easily configured via USB on either Windows or Macintosh computers using a program called the Parrot Trainer. The Trainer software allows the capture, editing, and saving of EDID data for multiple Parrots, making it ideal for systems with numerous graphics cards connected to various DVI devices.

Learn more about the many products from TMB at www.tmb.com.

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Sapsis Rigging recently finished a renovation of Goodhart Hall at Bryn Mawr College. The renovation included converting the traditional proscenium stage into an open thrust style space, creating a new scene shop, and building a new black box theatre. Catwalks were installed over the stage for lighting, masking, and audio systems, and the black box has movable, gantry-style catwalks that allow for lighting positions over the entire performance area.

Over the years Sapsis Rigging conducted numerous inspections of the counterweight system, ran two partial renovations and, in 1984, installed a dimming and control system that had been purchased for the college by alumna Katherine Hepburn.

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TOMCAT USA, Inc. announced that (core) won Best Lighting Equipment in the New Product Awards at the October WFX show in Charlotte, North Carolina.

(core) is a new line of truss that consists of 12-by-12 inch, 12-by-18 inch, and 20.5-by-20.5 inch box truss, based on market demand for stronger, slightly lighter, and less expensive products.

For more information about (core) or other TOMCAT products and services, visit www.tomcatglobal.com or call 432-694-7070.

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