Koster Design installs an inspired rig.
Christmas at the Evangel Cathedral is one of the growing number of eye-popping spectacular Broadway-style productions being put on in today’s modern houses of worship, except the Cathedral has a history and reputation for doing it better than most.
A cast of hundreds, live animals, the works — and now they have a digital lighting system worthy of not only their biggest events, but one they use creatively in their “regular” services as well. And while it certainly was not their intention, nor are they likely interested, in the process, they have made entertainment technology history by having the world’s largest installation of High End Systems DL.2 digital luminaires.
And it’s all because of a trade show.
Koster Design’s habit of meeting clients at LDI and showing them around proved to be a smart strategy, and in this case it inspired the lighting designer at Evangel to absolutely need something he didn’t even know was available.
“We met lighting designer Bryan Meares at the High End booth at LDI, and he fell in love with the DL.2s — so much that they wanted them by Christmas, just 45 days later!” laughs Mike Gormley, now part-owner of Koster Designs. He added that the DL.2’s College Generator software feature especially inspired the lighting designer’s imagination about what he could do in future productions.
“More than Most Broadway Theatres”
Kelly Koster of Koster Design and Gormley of Gormley Design merged their companies a year ago; while they went with just Koster’s name, the ownership is equally split. “My side has been lighting design, sales and marketing, while Kelly’s has been lighting design and programming,” Gormley says. “Now all of our skill sets are put to work for entertainment lighting, design, programming, sales — the whole works.” The company is based just outside Branson, Mo., and the team brings 33 years of combined experience to the business.
Prior to the merger, they worked on projects together, including some for the leader of Evangel Cathedral, Bishop Don Meares. (Lighting designer Bryan is his son.) Meares has worked at the house of worship since 1968 and has expanded the organization over the years. The bishop personally oversaw the construction of the new complex, which opened in 2000. It conducts roughly three elaborate, show-quality services a week.
Both Koster and Gormley have separately had a hand in putting together the current system at Evangel. It included hundreds of moving lights and a full fly rail system, in addition to projection and video elements. “It has more equipment than most Broadway theatres,” Gormley says. It also boasts one of the largest stages on the East Coast — one that is 120-feet wide at the proscenium.
Evangel wasn’t necessarily looking to upgrade and add to its already impressive array of professional lighting, staging and projection toys, and according to Gormley, “If we wouldn’t have taken Meares by the High End booth, he probably wouldn’t have done the upgrade.”
While it is impressive, the original plan was even more ambitious: 12 DL.2s were going to be added to the church. But a little sticker shock followed, and Koster Design went back to the drawing board, reworked some components and adjusted the pricing and the deadline until all involved were satisfied. Going from 12 to 10 DL.2s meant that the projection area covered only 95 feet of the 120-foot-wide screen, but they merely masked the ends in black.
With the sale pending, Bishop Meares requested a demo to see what he would be purchasing. By chance, High End’s Craig Burross was doing a demo and training session in Washington D.C., and the bishop and the entire production team from the church were able to attend. They stayed for hours watching the demonstration and asking questions. After the demo, Meares was so impressed that Koster Design was called immediately and informed the sale was a go.
Wowing the Sunday Service Dancers
Axon media servers are built into the DL.2s; they chose to use another free-standing Axon to manage the content from the front of house. But Koster Design had never worked with them before. In the past, they had generally preferred another brand of media server. But the stakes were high, and the team didn’t want any problems, so they chose to stick with the Axons: “We didn’t want something coming up and High End saying the problem was with the other company, and the other company saying it was High End,” Gormley says. The install was up and running, ready for programming, on the very first day.
Additionally, they used four wireless W-DMX transmitters and receivers, a Rose Brand seamless backdrop and a DP2000 processor. Bryan Meares also rigged three custom uninterruptible power supplies so all the DL.2s are backed up.
“We get all our drapery from Rose Brand,” Gormley says. “This one was a custom-made bleached white muslin. It was what was in High End’s booth, what they recommended, and what we showed the bishop.”
Gormley was pleased with the W-DMX gear: “This controls the largest permanent install of DL.2 units anywhere on the planet. During the installation, the W-DMX gear was installed, trained and operational within 15 minutes with no interference or operational issues. I have been specifying and using Wireless Solution products on events and installs for almost a year with no problems. This is by far the most solid wireless option available on the market right now, and the pricing is affordable for all venues, including churches and schools.”
For sales and product support, Koster Design enlisted the help of Gormley’s former employer George Studnicky III, owner of Creative Stage Lighting. All the gear was shipped directly to Creative Stage Lighting, and a staff of four worked exclusively on setting up the DL.2s, wireless DMX and Axon media server to make sure the install went quickly. The final package was cased and trucked directly to the venue for the start of installation.
The installation team consisted of Koster Designs staffer Cory Combow and Creative’s Rich Jackson and Scott Chmielewski. Chmielewski was also enlisted to work with the Wholehog III console.
A three-day schedule was slated for the install, which included the fixture hang, making all custom DMX jumper cables, the wireless DMX install and the Axon integration. “Chmielewski took over on the second day and went to work on upgrading the software in the Hog III, patching fixtures, and setting up the console’s palettes for programming,” Gormley says. “In no time, a full collage of all 10 units was up, wowing the dancers and singers who were on stage rehearsing for the Sunday service.”
“We do many large-scale productions throughout the year, and the DL.2s are a great compliment to our existing inventory,” Bryan Meares says. “Everyone I worked with on this project was a complete pro. The installation, setup and programming went great, and we could not be happier.”
