Skip to content

Theater News

Midwest Rigging Intensive Trainers Receive Volunteer of the Year Award

A team of nine ETCP Recognized Trainers are the recipients of ESTA’s Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award for service in both 2022 and 2023: Bennett Brian (Reed Rigging, Inc.), Tyler DeLong (DeLong Rigging Solutions), Brent “Mickey” Henry (ETC), Shane Kelly (DePaul University), Rebecca Knipfer (ETC), Ed Leahy (The Chicago Flyhouse, Inc.), Verda Beth Martell (DLR Group), Tracy Nunnally (Vertigo), and Patrick Stewart (ETC), whose father is the award’s namesake. These trainers tirelessly volunteered around their busy schedules to plan, design, and deliver a curriculum for the Midwest Rigging Intensive (MRI) two years in a row.Read More »Midwest Rigging Intensive Trainers Receive Volunteer of the Year Award

The Santa Fe Opera Re-Imagines ‘Orfeo’ Opera Production with Lectrosonics Wireless

Throw away your stereotypical stuffy ideas about opera. The Santa Fe Opera is no ordinary opera company, and the company’s home, the open-air Crosby Theatre, is no ordinary opera house. The opera’s new production of Orfeo, directed by Yuval Sharon with music by Claudio Monteverdi and a world premiere orchestration by Nico Muhly, is an innovative reimagining of one of the oldest known operatic works. The artistic choices around this production, which include using effects-processing on individual voices as well as mixing them spatially into the specially built multichannel surround system, required that the key characters wear wireless mic systems. For this, the opera uses Lectrosonics SSM belt pack transmitters and channels of Venue2 receivers.Read More »The Santa Fe Opera Re-Imagines ‘Orfeo’ Opera Production with Lectrosonics Wireless

ESTA Proposed Standards News

ESTA TSP: 12 Draft Standards in Public Review

ESTA’s Technical Standards Program (TSP) announces a dozen draft standards in public review; 11 in development, one to be withdrawn. Twelve public review action items came out of the recent July Technical Standards Program working group meetings held in Westlake, TX, where over 160 attendees across 10 discrete working groups came together to keep the development process moving forward. These public reviews will all run for 45 days, ending on Sept. 26, 2023.

Vari-Lite VL1600 Profiles Bring Rock Energy and Theatrical Drama to Musical ‘Aida’

VL1600 Profiles from Vari-Lite, originators of the modern moving head light fixture and the Signify entertainment lighting brand, brought a blend of rock and roll energy and theatrical dramatics for Herrick Goldman’s design for the Stages St. Louis production of the musical Aida. When the team at STAGES had to replace some older fixtures at the last minute, Production Manager Josh Aune approached Logic Systems. “We used the Vari-Lites because of a recommendation from our local rental company,” explained Aune. “Their owner, Chip Self, has been our go to person for years and knew what our needs where.”Read More »Vari-Lite VL1600 Profiles Bring Rock Energy and Theatrical Drama to Musical ‘Aida’

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Chooses Ayrton Perseo as the Workhorse of its Sustainable Lighting Rig

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London has become the first open air theater in the UK to install Ayrton Perseo fixtures as part of its plan to update to a more sustainable and environmentally-responsible lighting rig. Perseo Profiles have been supplied to this unique venue by White Light for the full summer season. White Light worked in close collaboration with the teams at Regent’s Park and Ambersphere, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for the UK, to understand the aims, and facilitate the provision of the correct LED fixtures, to meet all the Theatre’s requirements.

Ayrton Takes to the Stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company

‘Cymbeline’. Lighting design by Matt Daw. Photo by Ellie Kurttz © RSC

The Royal Shakespeare Company with its permanent home in Stratford-upon-Avon needs little introduction. Its main house, the 1,018-seat Royal Shakespeare Theatre underwent an enormous rebuild and refurbishment between 2007-2010, and its smaller Swan Theatre (469 capacity) has recently reopened in April 2023 after a year-long post-pandemic refurbishment. Both houses have had Ayrton fixtures installed for the first time, replacing aging lighting stock with Ayrton Diablo and Eurus fixtures specified by the RSC head of lighting, Kevin Sleep.Read More »Ayrton Takes to the Stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company

Astera Tubes Deployed for Innovative ‘Richard II’ Production at the Stratford Festival

King Richard II taken away by a group of angels armed with rods of light. Photo by David Hou

Acclaimed and innovative, a mind-blowing new production of Richard II adapted by Canadian playwright and provocateur Brad Fraser is playing in the Tom Patterson Theatre as part of the 2023 Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Conceived and Directed by Jillian Keiley, the work is Choreographed by Cameron Carver and lit by Lighting Designer Leigh Ann Vardy who is utilizing 12 Astera Titan Tubes and four Helios Tubes as stunning and inventive lighting and visual props to assist the ambience and narrative flow.Read More »Astera Tubes Deployed for Innovative ‘Richard II’ Production at the Stratford Festival

IATSE, The Broadway League, Disney Theatrical Reach Tentative Agreement Pending Ratification on Pink Contract 

July 20, 2023 – The Broadway League and Buena Vista Theatrical d/b/a/ Disney Theatrical and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees announced they have reached a tentative agreement for the “Pink Contract,” pending ratification by the bargaining unit. The respective parties will inform their members of the details of this agreement in the coming days.

IATSE had held a strike-authorization vote on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.Read More »IATSE, The Broadway League, Disney Theatrical Reach Tentative Agreement Pending Ratification on Pink Contract 

The Shubert Foundation Gives Record $37.9 Million In Annual Awards To 635 Arts Organizations Nationwide

The Shubert Foundation announced a record $37.9 million in unrestricted grants to 635 not-for-profit theatres, dance companies, academic theatre training programs, and related service agencies across the country. As the nation’s leading provider of unrestricted funding for the performing arts, grants benefit a broad spectrum of theatre and dance organizations—from large to small, from urban to rural. Long committed to a fully open-door policy, The Shubert Foundation further increased access to theatre and dance companies across the country by revising requirements for those organizations with the smallest budgets.Read More »The Shubert Foundation Gives Record $37.9 Million In Annual Awards To 635 Arts Organizations Nationwide

Shubert Organization Announces 2023 Internship Program Participants

The Shubert Organization has chosen six aspiring theatre professionals for its second Shubert Organization Internship Program cohort, beginning July 10. The program aims to provide a general knowledge base of theatre administration and operations and offers hands-on project involvement as Shubert prepares for the 2023-2024 theatre season.Read More »Shubert Organization Announces 2023 Internship Program Participants