ITEAC Round-up

It’s official – the third International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference was a great success! Conference director, Richard Brett, reports that the event hosted over 420 delegates from over 31 countries, and the feedback had been very positive. As key platinum sponsor, Stage Technologies was at the heart of the conference supporters and was asked to share expertise along with other delegates through presentations on ‘advanced stage automation’ and ‘horizontal motion on stage’.

The Stage Technologies speakers aimed to demonstrate that theatre automation is not just for those with a multi-million pound budget but also possible for those with more limited finances.

Focusing on the high-tech end of the automation spectrum, Ben Pickersgill, head of development at Stage Technologies, looked at the combination of advanced software and control to push the limits of extraordinary effects in live performance. Integration of traditionally discrete disciplines, he said, is often the way that great leaps forward are made, producing exciting results in the process that are more than the sum of their individual parts. New technologies in our industry are being brought to life all the time in response to the especially creative nature of the business. As examples he cited three products developed by Stage Technologies in the last 24 months: F:light, a software that synchronises lighting and automation (used most recently on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies); 3D Studio Max, a software that allows operators to export automation elements directly out of a 3DS animation into a theatre control system; and Sculptor, the latest 3D flying technology used most recently on P!nk’s Funhouse tour, which enables complex moves to be plotted by integrating joystick functionality with traditional automation software.

He also referred to developments in other industries being used as jumping-off points for advances in theatre engineering. For example, anti-sway software inspired by existing technology used in industrial cranes is now used to enable the super smooth traversal of video screens, such as the background screens used in Viva ELVIS by Cirque du Soleil.

Taking up the baton on the next day of the conference, Mark Ager, managing director, gave delegates a brief look into the options now available on many smaller theatre budgets that were not dreamed possible just 10 years ago.

Mark suggested, using examples of 8 productions, that while we often think of stage engineering in terms of winches, grids and vertical motion, often when you look behind the scenes there is more automated horizontal motion on stage. Applications such as showdeck, stage trucks, revolves, stage tracks and trusses and trolleys with anti-sway software have more creative and practical uses than ever before, all made easier to run using plug-and-play drive racks and cheaper to engineer using mass-manufactured industrial components.

The conference papers will be made available soon in DVD format. The 2010 papers, as well as publications from previous years in book form, can be requested via www.theatrefiles.com.