UK - Fifteen special theatre industry events take place on The Theatres Trust's TheatreStage at PLASA Show 2015 from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October at ExCel London.

The TheatreStage plays host to key organisations and associations in the theatre sector announcing their latest activities, making presentations and giving awards, including the Association of Lighting Designer's Michael Northen Award on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm.

The programme includes 15 presentations over three days from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Backstage Heritage Collection, Behind the Scenes UK, Production Managers' Forum, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Theatrical Guild, and ourselves, The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

We're delighted that many academic institutions are also part of the line-up on th

UK - Controllable LED specialist Light Initiative and event technology expert FIX8Group will reveal their custom creations for the Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) ceremony this weekend.

The eighth KOI Awards is this Sunday, 4th October at London's glamorous art deco Troxy, organised by The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Fifth Estate Ltd and Clay Paky.

Light Initiative (LI) was asked to create the table centrepieces for the occasion, drawing on their talent for amazing LED designs.

"We wanted to add something special to the Knight of Illumination evening, something beautiful and subtle while celebrating the creativity of every lighting designer in the room," says LI's Bryn Williams. "These playful centrepieces can allow guests to create their own lighting states using a touch-activated interf

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd., a leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, will showcase a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging and video solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 leading brands - in their large exhibition Zone (Stands F30 - F38), which also includes stands for their sister company, A.C. Special Projects Ltd., industry-sponsored 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Cars Championship (BTCC) racing driver, Jack Goff, and a number of leading lighting marques.

Staff from AC-ET's Lighting sales division will be present to demonstrate and discuss products showcased on dedicated brand stands within the AC-ET Zone for Chroma-Q®, Jands, ProLights / ArchWork, Spotlight and GLP, as well as a selection of products from other leading brands including Philips Vari-Lite and Luminex. In

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will launch their new sales division, A.C. Film & TV, by showcasing the division's portfolio of specialist brands and related services in their exhibition zone (stands F30 - F38) at the PLASA 2015 Show on Sunday, 4 October.

The AC-ET Zone will feature the latest lighting, control and grip technologies from a selection of leading brands in the division's extensive portfolio. Marques stocked include Chroma-Q, Fiilex, Mole-Richardson, ARRI, Jands, Manfrotto, Avenger and LumenRadio, amongst others.

Drawing on the company's extensive experience supplying to this sector, the new division has been formed to offer a comprehensive one-stop inventory of lighting and related equipment solutions for film, television, studio and location applications. A.C. Film & TV will promote a range of key brands - many of them exclusive to AC-ET in the UK -

UK - PLASA Show 2015 is just a few days away, but the organisers are working right up to the wire to bring in the best speakers for the PLASA Professional Development Programme. Four new sessions have just been announced, respectively addressing lighting, sound and video.

Emmy Award winning lighting designer Al Gurdon, of Incandescent Design, will discuss his design philosophy in State of the Art Today, Passé Tomorrow, covering what is lighting for, what should it do, why do we need it, as well as taking a look at whether your lighting is relevant and focused now, and if it will stand the test of time.

In Going Over To The Dark Side - From Lessons To Lighting, founder of DX7 Design Tom Sutherland will discuss how he dropped out of education to pursue a highly successful career in lighting, a decision taken neither lightly nor without opposition. This sessi

UK - This year has seen complete production solution specialist White Light further develop its wide range of services. Over the past nine months, the company has not only forged its own dedicated audio department but also acquired Shock Solutions, a forerunner in the fields of LED lighting and audio-visual equipment solutions. Similarly, the company has invested heavily in the very latest technology and provided the production support on a whole range of events from concert touring, to corporate events, to theatre shows, to venue launches. This vast array of newly acquired skills and state-of-the-art equipment are currently on display at one of the biggest entertainment technology events of the year: the PLASA Show 2015. WL is exhibiting on stand C30 and showcasing the very latest in lighting, audio, effects and AV solutions.

The equipment on show includes the ArKaos MediaMaste

UK - At PLASA Show 2015, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd., a leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, is showcasing a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging and video solutions available from its portfolio of over 200 leading brands - in a large exhibition zone (stands F30 - F38), which also includes stands for sister company, A.C. Special Projects Ltd., and industry-sponsored 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Cars Championship (BTCC) racing driver, Jack Goff.

Staff from AC-ET's Lighting sales division are present throughout the show to demonstrate and discuss products showcased on dedicated brand stands within the AC-ET Zone for Chroma-Q, Jands, ProLights / ArchWork, Spotlight and GLP, as well as a selection of products from other leading brands including Philips Vari-Lite and Luminex.

In addition, AC-ET is la

UK - The annual PLASA Riggers Forum taking place at PLASA Show 2015 is an open floor discussion on issues that affect everyday working lives in the entertainment rigging industry. The conference will be presented by 20 plus international speakers and panellists and will begin with a keynote presentation by Hedwig de Meyer, StageCo's founder and president, whose long experience of building ground-breaking structures for the entertainment industry speaks for itself. Sessions following this will focus on the management of chain hoists, the impact of CDM regulations, an update from PLASA on the NRC and trainee rigger scheme, as well as the subject of trusses and their design.

Now in its sixth year, it is the go-to event in the calendar for riggers, rigging companies, venue management and safety professionals alike. The Riggers' Forum takes place once again on Sunday from 2pm - 5pm f

UK - At PLASA Show 2015 today, Chris Withers, Elliot Griggs, Johanna Town and Kelli Zezulka will present a seminar session entitled: 'How many lights do you need? The work of the lighting designer on a budget'.

How do the limitations of equipment, venues and money as well as the increased requirements of additional jobs in small-scale theatre affect the creative role of the lighting designer? Do they limit the choices that can be made, or does it allow creativity to flourish? How will the developing technologies impact on choices and working methods in the medium term?

The ALD seminars at PLASA are always very popular and this year is no exception. Today's topic is 'How many lights do you need? The work of a lighting designer on a budget', concentrating on fringe and small-scale venues.

The panel will be chaired by Kelli Zezulka (lighting designer and editor of the ALD's Foc

UK - Today at PLASA Show 2015 Eurovision 2016 technical director Ola Melzig and lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson discuss the complex processes involved with LSi editor Lee Baldock in a must-see session entitled: 'Planning the Eurovision Song Contest 2016: How do you begin to plan the production of the world's biggest televised music event?'

How do you begin to plan the production of the world's biggest televised music event, to be viewed by two hundred million people worldwide? How do you set about designing unique looks for more than 40 individual acts? And in a show that habitually pushes the boundaries of technical production, how do the technical and creative processes drive each other forward? Join the session in the AV, Broadcast & Stage theatre at 4.15pm - 5.15pm today.

(LSi Online)

UK - At PLASA Show 2015, Soulsound will present four seminar sessions: Audio and Conciousness; Time Aligning Inputs and Outputs; Is Mixing Personal?; Setting Up a Small Business. The sessions will be presented by Tony Andrews, Justin Grealy, Jon Burton & Darryn de la Soul

"The Soulsound Seminars this year address the esoteric, technical and practical aspects of being an Audio Engineer," says Darryn de la Soul. "We can get so bogged down in products and marketing that it's time to remember how we, as humans, interact with sound, what it does for us and how it makes us feel - cue Tony Andrews and his talk Audio & Consciousness."

Jon Burton gets stuck into a thorny question - how much artistic freedom do you have as a FOH engineer when working for... an artist! Justin Grealy and Marcel van Limbeek follow up last year's talk, The Nature Of Phase with Time Align

UK - Building on the great success of the 'Robe Arena' at PLASA 2014 to mark the company's 20th anniversary, this year Robe takes another large space at PLASA 2015 in the ExCeL Centre, and will make a major impact with its newest products and technology, focusing on innovations specifically aimed at theatre and television lighting applications.

The powerful features of the new DL7S LED profile fixtures will take centre stage, highlighting its quality of light, subtle and intricate full spectrum colour mixing and high colour rendering index - all suitable characteristics for theatre and TV environments.

Also new will be The Square, bringing the possibility of combining video projection, pixel animation, beam effects and LED wash lighting in one fixture with continuous pan/tilt rotation movement; the ColorStrobe from Robe, an RGB version of the potent new LED Strobe from Robe; T

UK - Robert Juliat is currently exhibiting at PLASA 2015 in its brand new hospitality area within the Ambersphere stand (B10) where the team is busy introducing visitors to the latest and greatest of the Robert Juliat product range.

Robert Juliat's newest product, Dalis, an asymmetrical 300W LED cyclorama light, has been officially launched at the show, with PLASA 2015 marking the first time Dalis has been seen in London. "Mixing a wide variety of pastel and saturated colours with perfect balance from its 8-colour LED source, Dalis is guaranteed to spice up every lighting designers' plans," says Robert Juliat. "With silent fanless operation that makes it ideal for both theatre and television use, Dalis is poised to satisfy the industry's appetite for a smooth, powerful LED cyclorama lighting solution."

Also demonstrated is the new ZEP 360LF 300W LED Fresnel

UK - French LED lighting manufacturer, Ayrton, is showcasing six new products at PLASA Show 2015, all of which have been launched this year. MagicDot-R and CosmoPix-R were first shown in the UK at PLASA Focus Leeds but now make their first appearance in London on the stand of Ayrton's exclusive UK distributor, Ambersphere Solutions (B10).

MagicDot-R and CosmoPix-R are part of the Creative Solutions line, into which Ayrton has incorporated a totally new technology: the first 94mm diameter narrow beam angle collimator combined with the latest generation high-power (40W or 60W) Osram multichip LED to create tighter beams with an unrivalled centre beam intensity.

MagicDot-R has proved a hit from the moment it was released and is currently appearing on the Foo Fighters international tour. The latest member of the RADICAL series, MagicDot-R is the first professional moving head LED

UK - After 2014's successful return to the PLASA Show, this year Yamaha is exhibiting on a bigger stand and, for the first time at the event, sharing it with Nexo and Line 6.

The companies are exhibiting on Stand K40, in a prime position opposite the PLASA Show Bar. The stand is at the heart of the Audio zone in PLASA Show's new layout, a zoned arrangement designed to make it easier for visitors to navigate the show floor.

With the first units due to arrive at dealers very soon, the Yamaha Rivage PM10 large format console is the centrepiece of the stand. Product specialists Andy Cooper and Wayne Powell are on hand to give hands-on demonstrations to engineers keen to familiarise themselves with it, as well as on Yamaha's CL, QL and TF consoles, which is also on display.

Other Yamaha products on show include the company's CIS range of installation products, including loudspeak

UK - PLASA Show 2015 marks the UK debut of the d&b audiotechnik V-Series point source loudspeakers. Launched earlier this month V7P, V10P and V-GSUB are on the d&b stand J50 alongside other mobile and installation products, and on d&b sales partners' SSE / Wigwam stand L10.

"PLASA London is a significant show for d&b this year," says Gianni Abruzzese, d&b GB commercial manager. "We're really pleased to be showing the V-Series point sources, which we think are pretty special. The design of the mid-range horn means that the vocal performance is in a league of its own. I think the market has been waiting for a point source with this level of performance for a while now."

Adam Hockley and Steve Jones of d&b GB Education and Application Support will be contributing to the line-up of pro audio seminars, as part of the PLASA Professional Development Programme. On

UK - At PLASA Show 2015, D3 Technologies is showcasing its innovative, integrated video production suite. "d3 is more than just a media server," the company days. "Based around a real-time 3D stage simulator, it is the single solution needed to design, present, communicate, sequence and playback your show. d3 lets you work with props, venues, LED screens, projection, lighting and moving stage elements, while being completely integrated into a single intuitive software solution that runs on your own laptop or dedicated d3 hardware."

Nominated for a PLASA Award for Innovation, d3 Technologies' 4x4pro sets a new standard for power and flexibility. With next generation components, it is ideal for the most demanding productions. The d3 4x4pro plays up to eight layers of 4K video or 32 layers of HD video, and up to eight layers of uncompressed HD video, all with co

UK - Triple E's ModTruss is being deployed as the 'universal building system' for the Theatres Trust stage, the Technical Theatre Awards/USITT stand and the Technical Theatre Awards stage at PLASA this year.

Triple E launched ModTruss - best described as full size Meccano - in the UK market at the ABTT Theatre Show in June 2015. It was immediately recognised as 'Engineering Product of the Year' at the ABTT Awards.

ModTruss was Triple E's most ambitious launch since the company was formed in 1984. The product is set to revolutionise theatre staging, set building, stage machinery, construction and event markets.

"We're very excited that visitors to PLASA 2015 will be able to experience ModTruss," says Triple E's managing director, David Edelstein. "The feedback at ABTT was overwhelmingly positive, not only from the wider industry but also from the ABTT Awards ju

UK - At the PLASA Show this year, Autograph is celebrating three historic relationships; Meyer Sound, Clear-Com and DiGiCo.

For Meyer Sound, Autograph is showing the loudspeaker manufacturer's newest linear high power compact line array, the LEOPARD, plus associated LFC sub, which are part of the LEO family of loudspeakers.

From Clear-Com comes the new FreeSpeak II, 1.9GHz digital wireless intercom system, the HelixNet digital wired comms system, plus the HME DX210 wireless intercom system.

Digital console manufacturer DiGiCo is represented with the SD10T - the only theatre specific version of the console at the show - and the new S21 entry-level console that retains all the features and values DiGiCo is known for in terms of quality, ergonomics and style, at a price point that allows even more audio engineers to join the DiGiCo family.

Finally, a selection of microphones

UK - Highlighted on Area Four's stand (H10) is the EXE CELL - Load Cell Interface system. Fully integrated into an EXE Rise chain hoist body, the PLASA Award for Innovation nominated system is designed to give riggers the possibility to see in real time, the individual weight applied to the chain hoist during all rigging operations. It can be operated as a stand-alone load sensor, or as part of a load monitoring network of chain hoists. The system is truly integrated, with the load cell discretely built into the hook assembly and an LED display, built into a metal end cover that can replace the standard end casing of the hoist.

Also highlighted on the Area Four stand are a range of truss solutions from Milos, Litec, James Thomas Engineering and Tomcat. Visit the team on stand H10 to find out more.

For more information about PLASA Show or to register please visit

UK - Visitors to PLASA Show 2015 are invited to attend this evening's PLASA Awards for Innovation ceremony, taking place at 6pm in the Sennheiser Audio Showcase seminar theatre on the show floor.

Sponsored by Lighting&Sound International, the PLASA Awards for Innovation recognise and reward new product ideas. Nominated products have met at least one of the Awards' criteria for 'Innovation' - to offer a new style of thinking, an improvement in existing technical practice, a new or improved aid to safety, a new commercial advantage, use new patents or unique intellectual property, or introduce new technology, materials or manufacturing techniques.

The final assessment of those claims is taking place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts are busy judging the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiali

UK - ArKaos PRO, pioneers in interactive video technologies, is exhibiting at PLASA Show 2015 on the stand of its exclusive UK distributor, White Light (C30). ArKaos PRO is demonstrating the latest version of its MediaMaster software which has consistently remained at the forefront of the industry's creative projection and LED applications. MediaMaster 4.2 which was released earlier this year, adds an integrated Cue Player for reliable, accurate playback of visual sequences, and 4K support which enables three layers of 4K video to be played on servers with a Core i7 processor. MediaMaster 4.2 is available as a free upgrade to existing MM 4.x users.

An impressive ceiling of LED light sources is being used to showcase MediaMaster 4.2 on the stand, alongside ArKaos LEDMapper, its all-in-one LED show control solution. LEDMapper delivers LED show control in three easy steps, working

UK - Amongst the highlights on TMB's stand at PLASA Show 2015 is the PLASA Award for Innovation nominated Solaris LED - SoLED W840 strobe. The unit provides 92,000 lumen output at one-fourth the power consumption and half the size of conventional strobes and boasts a linear array of Cree LEDs and advanced driver software which provides "the punch and feel of xenon," says TMB.

Also showing is the ProPlex EZ-LAN Unity 20. Also nominated for an Innovation Award, TMB says EZ-LAN makes today's complex show networking easier and accessible for everyone. "These simple to operate yet powerful Gigabit Ethernet switches distribute up to four discrete networks - lighting, audio, content, server, console, or communications - quickly, effortlessly, and simultaneously. Users untrained in the complexities of managed networking can easily isolate networks and access and change VL

UK - SSE Audio Group has announced the development of a successor product to PROSIGHT, which was the first laser inclinometer product designed for setting the angle of speaker line arrays.

"We have been working on the development of Prosight2 for the last 18 months", commented SSE Sales Director, Alex Penn. "Our design brief was to create a more compact device that offered more features, but also that could be brought to market at a more competitive price point."

The new unit will be on display on the SSE Audio / Wigwam stand (L10) at PLASA 2015 and the first production models are expected to be available for sale by the beginning of November 2015.

Also on show on the SSE stand is AVID's latest VENUE modular console - the S6L live mixing system; d&b audiotechnik's Yi line array series, together with V7P and V10P, a new breed of point source loudspeaker an

Latest Issue. . .