More than 280 exhibitors were on hand at the USITT show March 18-21 to share information on their latest products with a record 5,500 attendees. It was a very positive experience as students, professors and distinguished guests participated in panel discussions that followed the keynote speech by Terrence Spivey of Karamu House (pictured here).
The panel discussion, “Distinguished Achievers in Conversation,” took place on March 20. It included USITT honorees Jane Greenwood, Douglas W. Schmidt, Wendall Harrington, Loren Schreiber and Teresa Eyring. In an unannounced twist, LD Ken Billington, who had just been honored with the inaugural Wally Russell Mentor Award, also joined the group on the stage to share his insights.
The event also showed off some of the latest gear utilized in theater today. I concentrated on mostly lighting and video items myself, but this convention catered to rigging, props, wardrobe, makeup, tools and just about every little thing necessary for a theatrical production to come to life.
The biggest reveal, lighting wise took place at the A.C.T Lighting booth — the new MA Lighting dot2 line of consoles. It’s an intermediate, affordable line of consoles that utilize a new operating system. To view this console up close check out the video at plsn.me/1EcnRmf.
Morpheus Lights were on hand to show off the latest Ayrton line of LED products. This company has taken over as the leader in eye candy type LED fixtures lately. They promise the release of five new fixtures at the 2015 Prolight + Sound convention in Frankfurt April 15-18.
Of the USITT event, Morpheus Lights’ Keith Bennett says, “This is my favorite convention, because I’m speaking to kids. I can see the twinkle in their eyes and know that they are really interested in the products on display and not just passing by.”
RC4 Wireless gave a classroom demo that had visitors riveted to their seats as they showed off several of their successful uses for wireless dimming in assorted set pieces and wardrobe. The line of people inquiring about their products to use with their theatrical productions was non-stop.
XS Lighting and Sound showed off a wide range of tools that are dedicated to the professional lighting and stagehands, including quality unique wrenches that can fit anything from a C-clamp bolt to a wing nut to any size hex head are available. These fine folks also sell tools with the proceeds going to the Behind the Scenes Foundation, the charity dedicated to helping technicians who have fallen on hard times.
Rosco Labs demonstrated that they are much more than just a gel company these days. They showed off their BRAQ CUBE line of LED fixtures as well as some of the smoothest, quietest fog and haze machines ever developed. This includes a model where the user can turn off the loud fans whenever necessary during a show.
Flying by Foy took viewers for an aerial ride on an automated moving chair that follows this simple 3D computerized program developed by the company. I was amazed at how simple and intuitive this product was.
InLight Gobos showed me another amazing group of product that they have come up with — gobos that seemed to have 30 colors in them, to my eye.
I also caught up with Chicago Spotlight and their demo featuring several different manufacturers and recent spotlight fixture developments. They also carry quite a bit of other light fixtures and accessories helpful to anyone in the tech field.
Pathway Connectivity was able to show me just about every possible device a theater could ever use for signal processing, from DMX to Art-Net and all points in between, including relays and AC distro setups.
TAF USA showed off some of their latest truss along with these really cool torm racks they are calling “U Lite Frames.” Easy to assemble, snapping pipes that can make up any configuration for hanging lights one under the next.
Enttec America went with a full-on Steampunk theme on their booth, which tied in with their new “Pixelator” system. Their new system is dedicated to expanding DMX with the ability to process thousands of LED Pixels seamlessly through their device.
Dataton had a booth that explained just how simple to use their Watchout system was to operate. Watchout is a production and playback system for multi-display applications, from staging to digital signage, to events and fixed installations.
Astera is earning accolades for innovative new lighting solutions like the AsteraBox Wireless Controller. Their wireless DMX applications looked handy for running LED devices.
ETC displayed the second version of their LED Ellipsoidal fixture. The power for this fixture features a RGB-Lime version of color mixing. By substituting a lime LED instead of a white one in their 4-in-1 LED, they actually got a brighter crisper, whiter light source.
GLP showed off the latest in their line of LED fixtures along with their Cosmic truss line of curved and straight trusses.
ModTruss was on hand to show us just how cool their revolutionary 6-inch and 12-inch box truss is. They displayed new hinges as well as a sliding attachable trolley system.
High End Systems concentrated on displaying the Shapeshifter to the throngs of young people swamping their booth. The recently released SolaSpot 1500 showed why it is the brightest hard edge LED fixture out right now.
Mega Systems Inc. showed off their line of PR fixtures as well as their truss, LED display panels and new easy-to-use lighting desk.
Ushio was on board to show off their line of fixtures from their conventional softlights and followspots to their collapsible LED Fresnel.
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