It was not designed for what a team of live event professionals had to do for the weekend of Feb. 5, which marked the 40th president’s 100th birthday. The two-day celebration included a concert with seven music acts, video tributes, and speakers including Fred Thompson and Gary Sinise and a gaggle of politicians.
“I’ve moved a few mountains in my career, but this one certainly had its unique challenges,” Roger Ball says. “We had to close the library for three days to prepare. Then we had to digest more request from media … let’s just say the parking lot looked like a mini Olympic village.”
Ball, hired by the centennial committee to produce the event, put together a team that included Bud Horowitz (lighting/scenic designer); Kent Black and Eddy Sato (staging supervisors), Miles Kapper (show director); Jennifer Font (production coordinator); and Mike Benson (stage manager). Others brought in included All Access Staging and Productions, who provided main stages for both inside the pavilion and outside in the tent. They also provided a 20-foot high tower for camera and lighting as well as the multi-level press platforms inside the pavilion.
“We had the normal obstacles to overcome whenever we set out to integrate live entertainment components into a facility designed for another purpose,” says Bob Hughes of All Access. “But everyone on the team and at the venue were terrific to deal with.”
Delicate Productions provided the sound, lighting and video. XL Video also contributed. “We provided two LED screens and crew,” says Bob Magee, XL Video account executive. “There was one 12-foot by 20.5-foot screen in an expansive tent space using our PixLED F-11 technology and one 12-foot by 20.5-foot screen in the pavilion with a Barco 10 mm.” He adds that their challenge involved providing a very lightweight, high resolution LED screen, which could be rigged to the tent structure. “Just to make it a bit more of a challenge, the tent had a clear ceiling, which meant the morning sunlight was going to be directly on the face of the LED screen.” This was addressed with the F-11, as it offered high brightness at 5,000 nits.
CAT provided the power under the direction of Mitch Margolin. Kish Rigging and labor supplier Bigger Hammer were also on hand.
“Its Own Little Country”
The event was in two parts. Saturday night, Feb. 5, was A Concert for America — A Tribute to Ronald Reagan. Video played a major role, as there were plenty of screens for I-Mag, plus video tributes. The next day was part two, with its own big guns — literally. This included a Marine band, a 21-gun salute with cannons and Lee Greenwood belting “God Bless the USA” as fighter planes flew over. It all culminated with Nancy Reagan laying a wreath at Ronald Reagan’s tomb.
“The project was very interesting,” says Smoother Smyth of Delicate Productions. He cites the time frame as the biggest challenge. “We had one day to set up before we went into production rehearsals, and semi-tractor trailer access to the library was out of the question, so a fleet of seven bobtail trucks was required. It helped that the venue was local to us.”
Hughes agrees that the time line was tough, especially installing the necessary components for both indoor and outdoor venues. “There were a few logistical meetings and a site survey where we worked out things to everyone’s satisfaction.” Black adds, “The event was a combination concert with talking heads. But it was a real challenge because inside the pavilion there are three levels, and we’re down at the bottom, with seats on all the levels.
“On top of all this, we had to deal with the Meet the Press people,” Black adds. They were going to do a live broadcast at 5 a.m. Sunday morning, which meant the team had to blow everything out of the pavilion long before that.
“Yes, this is a museum, and yes, it happens to have a real Boeing 707 inside, along with a helicopter and a motorcade [of presidential vehicles],” Ball says. “Then on top of that, we put in a concert stage with wings and a full flown system with delays for an audience.” It was also streamed live on the web and filmed for archival purposes.
Ball says an aggressive approach was needed, in large part because “the space is extremely tight, to say the least.” One break: “Fortunately, the space is official federal property, so we got a ‘get out of jail free card’” in terms of some typical constraints in a public place. “It was like doing an event on an Indian Reservation — it is its own little country!”
The client was the Ronald Reagan Centennial Committee and, despite their regal resumes, they aren’t…er, “show folk” [compliment intended]. “They aren’t [event] producers, and their focus was celebrating Reagan’s 100th birthday as best as possible.” So despite the understandable hand-holding, the committee was “immensely cooperative and well-intentioned, and were taxed to provide elements that are not usually found in their daily playbook.” Ball and team had to provide double and triple duties as line producer and script package producers.
The week before the event, they “crossed the impossible bridge,” Ball says with a laugh, and ended up with a script 179 pages long. “I had a meeting the Monday before and gave out personalized binders of the script and told them to review because this proves we’re literally all now on the same page.”
The high-profile stars and politicians, most of whom are used to doing things their own way, on their own time schedule, bowed to the gravity of this event. “The politicians and business leaders were terrific,” Ball says adding that Fred Thomas and his people “could not have been more wonderful in dealing with all the requirements we had him!” he laughs. “All of the artists took their assigned times seriously.”
Horowitz was called into the project in early November and was supplied the architectural drawings of the pavilion. “The space itself allowed for a 32-foot wide by 24-foot deep stage, and we had to leave space behind for an LED wall,” he explains. “Then there were these walkways leading into Air Force One, and rigging around these was a challenge. We probably spent a day at the computer trying to work with the stage and truss configurations.” But when he went from architectural drawings to the space itself, Horowitz’s experienced eye couldn’t reconcile something. “I kept thinking that something didn’t look right.” It turns out that there was a discrepancy of six feet from the drawings to reality. “So everything had to be compressed, and Ty Russell from Kish was able to adjust everything accordingly.”
Horowitz brought in 20 Martin MAC 2000 washes, 12 MAC 700 profiles, four MAC 250 with beam kits, four Source Four PAR bars, four mini strip lights, a dozen Source 4 Lekos, four Robe LED Blinders, two Studio Colors and a pair of followspots. A Road Hog Full Boar controlled it all. “It worked out perfectly,” he says. “We had just the right number of lights to do everything we needed to do on the stage.”
Getting motors in and around the walkways was tough. “But the Kish guys were great as usual, having done their homework.” Everything was draped appropriately in presidential blue, with Rose Brand providing the soft goods. “It was a high profile event, and you want it to look like something coming out of the White House, and that means you really have to pay attention to details. You also can’t just accept a situation because it’s the only way to do it — you have to believe there must be a better way and figure out what it is.”
What Dress Rehearsal?
“We never got to run the show from top to bottom,” Horowitz sighs. “But Kent Black and Mike Benson made it go smoothly.”
The non-existence of a real dress rehearsal made the video-centric event thorny. “We wanted everyone to look great on the LED screen, but I never got to look at how the lighting would look on camera — I had to program it the night before after everyone else was gone.” He says during the event when that first image appeared and looked good, he let out a big “whew” and wiped his brow.
Sunday brought another set of problems to be worked out. “The lawn space behind the library isn’t very big, and falls off into a fairly steep ravine. I scanned and enlarged to scale and started looking at all the stuff in the way. Then I downloaded a Google Earth image and saw that this corner of the tent was going to end up off in the ravine.” This would be the corner where the Marine Corp band was to go. Wisely, Horowitz chose to address this issue. “You don’t want to piss those guys off!”
The main tent itself, a pylon, had to support LED walls and trusses for audio and lighting. More challenges ensued with the insides needing plywood floor.
The celebration concluded with an array of musicians — Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, the Beach Boys and Greenwood — singing “Happy Birthday” as a giant red-white-and-blue cake was wheeled on stage.
“Roger [Ball] and the team he assembled were incredible,” says Stewart McLaurin, executive director of the centennial celebration. “This could not have been done without him.”
“Roger, top dog at this event, put together a team who had all worked with each other on a regular basis,” Smyth adds. “Too bad it was a centennial event as we will not be doing another of these for a while.”
