June Newsletter 2010

Welcome to our second eNews of 2010 which contains information intended to keep you up to date with developments at Stage Technologies. We welcome any feedback you have. To subscribe to this newsletter, please click here.

Double Exposure at London’s Summer Events
Four years have flown by and the ITEAC’s back!

Stage Technologies was a sponsor of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conferences (ITEAC) in 2002 and 2006 and is delighted to be back as the sole platinum sponsor of this key quadrennial event in 2010.

The conference, which returns to the UK from 13th to 15th June, is in a new location at the Central Hall Westminster, London. The programme includes around 30 presentations and moderated debates in a structure that allows delegates to attend up to 10 sessions and the 2010 theme is ‘ensuring that performing arts buildings are fit for purpose now, and in the future.’ Session topics include stage engineering standards, power flying operation, the principles of stage engineering and technical planning, as well as sessions on lighting and auditorium design.

The show has had excellent registration activity but a few delegate places are still available. Many visitors to the ITEAC from the UK, Europe and further afield will be staying on for the annual ABTT Theatre Show on the 16th and 17th of June at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria. Free online registration is still available. The ABTT’s website promises a ‘full house’ this year with oversubscription of stand space. Come for the conversation stay for the fun at Stand 86 in the Lawrence Hall!

We look forward to welcoming you all at either or both events.

PC Wing Takes Off!

The PC Wing is the latest compact training and programming tool from Stage Technologies and is a popular new addition to our control desk family. PC Wings have recently been ordered by Guildhall College of Music and Drama in London and Zoomvliet College in the Netherlands to provide in-lab automation training tools for their technical theatre students, enabling them to work first hand on a Stage Technologies control interface. 

Two students from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama have recently received  training on the console at Stage Technologies London office before taking a PC Wing on loan as part of a course project. Jonathan Rainsforth, one of the trainees who passed on his new found knowledge to fellow students told us, ‘PC Wing has proven a hit with staff and students alike.’

Experienced operators are also finding the PC Wing invaluable for offline plotting of presets and cues for new shows, or for revisiting previous repertory shows to recall technical or design details. It is also a useful addition to technical departments (especially those on tight first-show deadlines) helping staff to become fluent with desk operation before the completed automation system is live. While the PC Wing was designed primarily for offline applications it can also be used as a backup on a live system.

Image: students at Central School of Speech and Drama

Shows Round Up

As the summer in Europe finally arrives, our production team and shows and rentals departments are as busy as ever with live TV, theatre, musicals, operas and European rock and pop tours.

The current production of Hair at London's Gielgud Theatre marks the first time a full Broadway cast has entirely transferred to the West End and Delstar Engineering (part of the Stage Technologies group) has provided walkways, house box platforms and a trap door system. Cameron Mackintosh has put on a 25th anniversary commemorative tour of Les Misérables using a Delstar-manufactured showdeck, tracks, slider truss and dollies. In Holland, Delstar has also provided a specially-built framework for the Banks family's house and a banister saddle system for the first production of Mary Poppins to be produced in Dutch.

Also in theatre news, the Menier Chocolate Factory, one of the UK's smallest theatres, is using automation for the first time! A simple BigTow/Maxis system is being used to move scenic set pieces on three stage tracks for Paradise Found. Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal Haymarket uses an Illusionist system for similar stage track scenery and a performer flying swing. An English National Opera production of Peter Grimes in Belgium is using a similar BigTow/AU:tour/Nomad system for scenic power flying that was used in the production at the Coliseum in London last year.

In the world of live music, we can't keep P!nk away from the air - this time she soars like superwoman across the stadium in her Funhouse Summer Carnival tour with a BigTow/AU:tour/Acrobat system. Singer-songwriter Mika's over the moon with a BigTow/AU:tour/Illusionist system used for his opening spaceman flight and flown set pieces on the Imaginarium Europe tour.

Lastly, in TV land, as well as providing control for sliding doors on Britain's Got Talent, it's the first time we have equipment on two live TV shows airing on the same night in the UK - The Million Pound Drop and The National Movie Awards at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Image: Hair copyright Joan Marcus