USA - Jennifer Lucas and her team at Star Design Lighting were asked recently to light a gala for Saint Mary’s Medical Centre, Huntington, WV. This was no ordinary fundraiser either, but a highly imaginative event, built around a Cosmic Odyssey theme in the 7,500-seat Marshall Health Network Arena.
“I knew this was going to be a fun challenge as soon as we were given the project,” says Lucas. “Putting my team and me in an arena with over a hundred moving lights to do a ‘space’ theme sounded like a good time! Of course, that fun was after a few meetings and a whole lot of logistics being worked out. I speak for everyone on my team when I say we loved using a wide colour palette, pitting bright vibrant colours against a dark cosmic sky, and having sweeping beams of light traverse the room - perhaps from visitors from another galaxy!”
Helping Lucas and her Star Design team meet this challenge was an impressive collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including the Rogue R2X Wash, Maverick Force 2 Profile, Maverick Storm 1 Wash, COLORado Batten 72Xs, EPIX Tour Strip, Ovation E910FC colour rendering ellipsoidal, and F2 LED video panels, which were used to display sponsor messages and IMAG content.
Although she wanted to create a fantastical space vibe, Lucas was very mindful that it was also critically important to maintain a cozy, intimate feeling for guests in what, after all, was a fundraising dinner.
“I started with the focal point for the evening, which was the stage and flanking video trusses - all dressed in synthetic velour giving the warm feel of a theatre setting,” she says. “Then, as you backed away from the stage area, trusses were left exposed for a more ‘futuristic’ feel. Drop-down ladder truss with Rogue R2X washes hung at the ends to add to the cosmic interpretations. I kept the trim on all trusses at 24ft to give the feel of a lower ceiling. Multiple beams and colour washes moving about served not only as part of the theme, but also created a distraction to discourage guests from looking above the trim."
Lucas relied on her Maverick fixtures, along with the Rogues on her ladder truss structures to texturize the room and create ethereal colour splashes that suggested a celestial panorama with their glowing blues, greens and purples outlined against pools of dark space, accented by star-like white spots.
The colour-scape served a practical as well as an aesthetic purpose. (There were four groups of seating tables, each with its own identifying colour that matched the display on guests’ electronic bracelets.) “I am a huge fan of the Maverick Force 2 Profile,” Lucas said of one of her colour rendering fixtures. “It packs a lot of impressive features into a relatively small footprint.”
The immersive visuals of the ballroom extended out into the lobby and entrance area. A wall washed with the event’s thematic colours from the rig’s COLORado Batten 72 fixtures greeted visitors as they entered the lobby. At its centre were two “galaxy gobos” created with the Ovation E-910FC units.
“We really wanted to set the right tone at the entrance,” says Lucas, who started Star Design in 1990. “Experience has taught us that it’s important to build up excitement as people enter an event space and get them looking forward to what’s about to happen.”