Lighting

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UK - The Guildhall School will give seven performances of Martin Crimp's version of Molière's The Misanthrope at the Bridewell Theatre this May. Moliere's greatest comedy is reworked in this blistering contemporary version, with its fierce argument between conformity and non-conformity.

The Guildhall School welcomes award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher to work on the production, saying "his involvement provides a remarkable opportunity for Guildhall School Technical Theatre students to work with one of the best lighting designers in British Theatre".

Fisher has most recently been at the Victoria Palace where he designed the lighting for Billy Elliot, The Musical. Fisher is currently chairman of the British Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and his prestigious CV includes work on Jerry Springer The Opera (National Theatre / West End)

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Europe - Pathway Connectivity has announced that it will begin shipment of fully qualified RoHS-compliant products in the first quarter of 2006. The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive, which is often referred to as Lead-Free legislation, is intended to restrict the use of not just lead, but a variety of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

Compliance must be met for all products containing electrical or electronic components placed in the European Union market as of 1 July this year.

Pathway has a demonstrated commitment to protecting people and the environment and the company has been following the development of these directives for a number of years. In early 2004, Pathway began working on a RoHS compliance strategy. This included an evaluation of compliance as well as component substitution and re-engineering where necessary to inc

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Belgium - "It was so easy to work with the Maxxyz that I actually had time to sleep!" Such was the comment from Maxxyz programmer/operator Steve Demarsin of Painting with Light after using the user friendly Martin lighting console on the Belgian theatre tour of Me and My Producer.

"I used another lighting board before, but for the Me and My Producer tour we decided to use the Maxxyz," says Demarsin. "We didn't have a lot of time for preparation so pre-programming and learning the Maxxyz was done in a matter of three days, thanks to the great support and the controller's ease of use. It was so easy to work with, that I actually had time to sleep! I'd like to thank Marc Colemont and Jo Van Geite at R&D International for their wonderful support."

Set and lighting design was by Luc Peumans of Painting with Light who used 13 MAC 600NT was

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South Africa - Mike Goldberg, Selecon's sales and marketing director for Europe, recently announced the appointment of Electrosonic SA as its official distributor for South Africa.

Selecon said: "Duncan Riley of Electrosonic, together with his father Dan Riley, led the discussions resulting in this decision and both companies are looking forward to a successful collaboration in developing the theatre market in South Africa. It is our hope that this appointment will directly affect the specification, after-sales and back-up of Selecon products for the coming years and it seems that we are off to a good start."

Recently, Duncan has been responsible for successful Selecon sales at the State Theatre Pretoria, Origins Museum of Rock Art and the Cradle of Humankind at the Sterkfontein Caves and Interpretation Centre, recently opened by President Mbeki.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Before the Source Four became the de facto standard fixed-angle profile spotlight, before Selecon discovered that spotlights looked more interesting with an angled back end, there was the Strand Patt 264.

Designed by Fred Bentham, introduced in 1962 and making its first appearance in Richard Pilbrow's lighting design for Lionel Bart's Blitz!, the Patt 264 was a 1kW profile spotlight with a 17° beam angle focused - exactly as with the Source Four - by loosening a focus knob and sliding the lens assembly backwards and forwards. The entire lens tube was mounted with a hinge to the lamphouse, so could be swung open for access to the reflector or lens.

From the outside, the 264's defining feature was the angled lamphouse that pre-tilted the lamp by 30° as it entered the faceted ellipsoidal reflector. Over time, the 264 so established itself in British theatre that the

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USA - Award-winning Big Wave Event Productions of Roxbury, Connecticut, USA, recently added a LSC maXim LP lighting control console to its hire department. The maXim LP combined the right mix of functions, large memory capacity, reliability and elegant design, say the company. It offers 72 faders as well as the optional PaTPad moving light controller that further extends the capabilities of the console with features such as palettes, groups, presets and an effects engine.

"We purchased the LSC maXim LP console because it is reasonably priced and user friendly and the demo at LDI last year was very impressive," said Brian Winthrop, president of Big Wave Event Productions. "Since joining our lighting stock the maXim has never crashed and the tech support from the US distributors Applied Electronics has been very good."

Pictured is the maXim LP in control at a

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USA / Worldwide - High End Systems (HES) has added to its sales organization with new hires, a restructuring of territories and the creation of a new AV market channel for its Digital Lighting products.

KK Mak joins HES as the regional sales manager for China, Southeast Asia and Korea. Mak comes to HES after 15 years of running operations at Strand Lighting in Hong Kong. Based in Hong Kong, Mak is working with HES Singapore in developing sales for Korea, China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Chris Ferrante moves from within High End Systems to become regional sales manager for North Africa and the Middle East. Ferrante, who came to HES almost three years ago with a lighting background, most recently worked in a product support role for Wholehog products throughout Europe. Based in Germany, he will continue to also offer console support until a replacement for his position has been ma

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UK - The Pharos Lighting Playback Controller (LPC) is lighting up the London skyline atop a landmark new residential and retail complex near London Bridge. The Tabard Square development includes a 22-storey tower of luxury penthouse apartments complete with a glass 'barometer' beacon on the roof.

The beacon is a light-box about two storeys high. Paul Hamilton, the technical manager for Berkeley Homes explains: "In consultation with the London Borough of Southwark we envisaged this representing a 'beacon of regeneration' for the area as a whole. Arup Lighting proposed and designed the barometer scheme and worked with Architainment Lighting, the UK distributor for Color Kinetics, to select the fixtures and the Pharos LPC to receive data triggers from the barometer."

The Pharos LPC controls the colour of the beacon depending on atmospheric pressure readings from a digit

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UK - Vaughan Sound Installations (VSI), part of the PAI Group, has completed an integrated sound, lighting and AV installation at Castle Leisure in Nantgarw, the latest new build venue of the ever-expanding Castle Bingo brand. VSI teamed up with architectural lighting specialists i-Vision and HLN Architects from Cardiff early on in the project.

The Castle Bingo site in Bridgend had included feature lighting for the Tower Room hospitality suite during a recent refurbishment. The concept was so successful that owners Castle Leisure decided to expand the theme and further invest in lighting and technology at the 1000-seat Nantgarw site, north of Cardiff.

Richard Vaughan led the project for VSI. "We've enjoyed a long and productive relationship with both Castle Leisure and HLN, and benefited from a client and architect who are willing to consult and listen to their suppliers

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UK - 3M Digital Signage has opened a UK office with a mission to bring its portfolio of software and display hardware solutions to a European customer base in retail, entertainment, leisure, corporate, education and other key markets. The business will bebased at 3M UK's head offices in Bracknell, Berkshire.

Simon Birkenhead has been appointed UK sales and marketing manager for 3M Digital Signage, and a team of technical and sales specialists is currently being trained, say the company, adding that it will use this UK office to support a rapid expansion across Europe using 3M's existing offices in most European and Middle East countries.

Although new to Europe, 3M Digital Signage has a 15-year history in the US. In August 2005, 3M acquired Mercury Online Solutions and its FRED content management software. A pioneer in the digital signage market since 1996, Mercury Online acqui

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Azerbaijan - Dynamic play of light, color and shadow for prominent World Heritage site Gyz-Galasy Tower, or Maiden Tower, in Baku, Azerbaijan is a significant medieval monument from the 12th century. Its historical function uncertain, the Tower may have been part of an ancient castle wall or even served as a temple for fire worship. Today, Maiden Tower houses a historical museum and serves as a meeting place and pilgrimage site for tourists.

"As an architectural monument, Maiden Tower plays a great role for all of mankind as proven by its presence on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites," says Kirill Pavlov, director of A&T Trade Distribution Company. "Culturally and socially its significance is on par with some of the world's great treasures. Any lighting solution for Maiden Tower would therefore need to take into consideration its cultural, political and soci

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UK - Leading names in UK theatre architecture and consultancy will be providing facts, figures and ideas at the Theatre Engineering & Architecture Conference 2006. Speakers will include Mark Foley, Susie Bridges and Jonathan Adams, along with consultants, Anne Minors, Neil Morton, Iain Mackintosh, Andy Hayles, Michael Holden and Richard Brett.

These speakers will be complemented by a number of international players - including Himanshu Burte from India, Sergio Pascolo from Italy, Martien van Goor, Louis Janssen and Gerbrand Borgdorff from the Netherlands, Gerry van Hezewyk from Canada and Duncan Webb, John Coyne and Peter Rosenbaum from the US. Representatives from many other countries will be involved in the debates and discussions about the form of auditoria, backstage facilities, uncomplicated spaces for drama, and theatre building on a budget. Present booking from overseas r

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USA - Robe Show Lighting's ColorWash 250 AT fixture has won the Best Lighting Product at the 2006 Club World Awards.

The Club World Awards is sponsored by leading US club trade magazine Club Systems International. It is dedicated to recognising the very best of club venues, products, people and experiences in North America - and everything that makes them cutting edge, or spectacular. This year's Awards event was staged at Crobar 24 @ Nocturnal in downtown Miami, on the scenic rooftop patio.

The Awards nominations were whittled down to four or five per category, and the tough job of judging was undertaken by 10 industry experts, picked from all sectors of the business.

The ColorWash 250 AT won because it is one of the most versatile products of its genre on the market, and it ticks all the club world check boxes - it's feature packed, well priced

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UK - Stylised and sleek British four piece Kubb have just recently played a sold out show at London's Shepherds Bush Empire to support their 'Mother' album. It was a taster to a Spring UK tour of universities, clubs and small theatres and the summer festival circuit. The show was designed and operated by Neil Trenell who has previously designed shows for Lucie Silvas and Daniel Bedingfield. Neil has worked with Kubb on various showcases over the past year gradually building the show into what it is today.

The lighting rig features 24 James Thomas Engineering's PixelLine 1044s, 10 moving fixtures, bars of pars, bars of ACLs and floor pars. Neil discussed various lighting ideas with the band. With these taken into consideration and the practical implications of a smallish rig he set about the design. He explains: "I wanted to create a very high impact show with a lot of shado

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Canada / USA - CAST Software has formed an alliance with BOXX Technologies Inc of Austin, Texas, which increases the usability of CAST's Vivien - Virtual Event Designer and WYSIWYG Production Design Suite - the popular pre-visualization tools for the entertainment industry. Testing completed by CAST revealed that running WYSIWYG on a BOXX 7400 Series Workstation increased overall functionality by producing Shaded Views and Renderings up to four times faster, opened large files quicker, and general application performance proved to be much more responsive, say CAST.

"Partnerships such as this continue to make our users happy because we deliver what they desire - the opportunity to use tools that constantly improve their design experience," says Gilray Densham, president of CAST Software. "As innovators in this field, we offer solutions that increase productivity, p

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USA - Lightning Strikes Inc, the US-based designer and manufacturer of award-winning SoftSun and Lightning Strikes lighting products for motion picture, television and event production and other professional and industrial applications, has appointed David Heffelfinger as vice-president of engineering. In this newly-created position, Heffelfinger will have management responsibility for R&D, manufacturing and other engineering-related functions.

Prior to joining Lightning Strikes, Heffelfinger founded and served as chief technical officer of Gray Wolf Laboratories LLC, an imaging technology company in the environmental monitoring industry. He has held many executive-level engineering positions within life science companies including Alpha Innotech Corporation, BD Biosciences, and Bio-Rad Laboratories. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from Wayne State University and an Exe

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Germany - In an expanding market in Europe, PROEL has announced at Frankfurt, the establishment of a representation office in Holland.

Managed by René Poelman, the structure will begin to operate in April, and will be distributing and selling all products from PROEL Universal division: lighting and sound reinforcement systems, die hard cables and stage boxes, microphones and wireless systems, stage accessories, stinger amplifiers and the famous tamburo drums.

The complete installation line (ceiling speakers, horn speakers and 100V line transformers to name just a few), will also belong to this wide portfolio as well as the ultimate home division created by the Italian company. This features home entertainment furnishings for large screens, Plasmas, LCDs, realized by the American design trend leader Bell'o, and distributed by PROEL in many European countries including th

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Australia / Sweden - LSC Lighting Systems has been appointed as the sole Australian and New Zealand distributor for Wireless Solutions - the wireless DMX solutions company from Sweden, after previewing the W-DMX products at the Entech trade show in Sydney in February.

One company that decided to trial a system was renowned Sydney-based hire company Lots of Watts, who trialled the system at Hillsong Church's recent album recording at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Daniel Monro from Lots of Watts says that the SEC is a venue in which they had tried other wireless DMX systems before, with disappointing results. "It would result in us having to run a lead up to the roof to make the system work," he said. "This time around, with the W-DMX units, we installed the receiver in the roof of the main arena to supply data for all the moving lights covering the audience, wit

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UK - Lighting technicians from across the industry are invited to attend a unique training and social event to be held on the 6th of May at the EDGE venue in Solihull, near Birmingham.

The hosts (Solihull Society of Arts) and organisers (UKSLC.ORG - UK Sound and Lighting Community) have assembled a top team of leading UK console manufacturers to deliver training on the latest lighting desks and entertainment technology throughout the day.

Compulite, MA, Chamsys, ETC, Zero 88 and Robe are providing a wide variety of lighting control equipment for attendees to use, and their staff will be on hand to answer questions from console operators at all levels of experience.

The training sessions are designed to cater for everyone from drama pupils wishing to learn about 'real world' performance technology, to freelancers who want to practice on new consoles, and seasoned LX operator

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Australia - Following on from a recent series of installations overseas, most notably in Hong Kong, Coemar De Sisti Australia has completed another high profile architectural illumination project in conjunction with Australian company Laservision - this time in their hometown of Melbourne.

120 Collins Street, a landmark office tower, is one of the most significant buildings on the Melbourne Skyline. Comprising 50 levels of office space, with a total building height of approximately 264m, the building is topped with a 50m communications tower. Following a collaborative approach from Laservision, Coemar De Sisti Australia's MD Peter Kemp began initial consultations and planning for a project which involved illuminating the communications tower. Initial designs for the lighting incorporated discharge-lamped colour changers spread throughout the tower with the outer uprights highlig

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UK - Bandit Lites UK is supplying lighting - including all trussing and rigging - for Westlife's current arena tour. It's the sixth consecutive year that Bandit has worked with Westlife, and once again the production company is Production North.

Westlife's remarkable career is still breaking new markets as record sales of the latest 'Face To Face' album and the tour deliver the band's dynamic, slickly choreographed and highly entertaining show to both new and traditional audiences.

Lighting designer is Peter Barnes, who worked closely with lighting director, programmer and operator Dave Lee - the two have collaborated on the last three Westlife tours. Bandit's account handler is Mark Powell who says: "Working with Peter is always a pleasure, and Westlife go from strength to strength every year."

Creative directors for the 2006 show are Ian MacDonald and Will Baker

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USA - Genlyte Controls is pleased to announce the hiring of Andy Broitman and Steve Gambino as regional sales managers for the Northeast Region of the United States. Broitman will focus his sales and service in the greater Baltimore area and will be based out of his home office in Doswell, VA. Gambino will focus his sales and service in the greater New York City metropolitan area and will be based in Boston. Both Broitman and Gambino will join Mike Connell, Matthew Burstein, and Vince Mrlack in supporting the sales of all products manufactured by Lightolier Controls, Entertainment Technology, and Vari-Lite.

"We have seen a tremendous growth in the sales of all products manufactured by Genlyte Controls in the northeastern region of the United States," says Bob Schacherl, vice president of worldwide sales. "Driven by this sales increase, we have brought Andy and Ste

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UK - The ABTT reports that Barnet Artsdepot in North London has been hosting a series of technical training courses recently. 12 technicians have attended the courses, as well as technicians from the Artsdepot itself. The courses form the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) Award for theatre technicians, with subjects including Electrical Fundamentals, Knots, Counterweight flying, and Manual Handling.

Two technicians attending the course were the recipients of the Nicholas Van Wijk Bursary. These bursaries are the kind gift of Heather, widow of Nicholas van Wijk who spent most of his working life in the West End Theatres. He was Master Carpenter at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1994 until his death in October 2003. Nicholas always laid great store in passing on his stage technical knowledge to the next generation. The recipients of the bursaries were Christoph

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USA - The Colortube 2.0 has earned Chauvet a 2006 Club World Award in the category of Best LED product. Instituted by Club Systems International magazine, the Club World Awards annually recognize the best in nightlife venues and the technology behind them. This year's awards were presented at a March ceremony in Miami's hot Nocturnal club.

In response to the win, Chauvet CEO Albert Chauvet said: "We are very pleased and honoured. This award is testimony to Chauvet's credo of providing value, innovation and performance in every product we put our name on."

The Colortube 2.0 is outfitted with 144 high intensity LEDs over its one-metre length and is made of white UV-coated polycarbonate. It performs 22 patterns, chase and colour flows via the Colorcontroller 2.0, which is itself DMX-512 compatible. RGB mixing diffuses seven brilliant colours: cyan,

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