"It's a big theatre for the region," notes technical director Pat Hill. "We were at the point where we needed new followspots. We had upgraded the rest of our lighting, and the intensity of our existing followspots was not enough - they were basically invisible with the new static fixtures."
Hill and the lighting team demoed a Robert Juliat Cyrano followspot as well as competing products owned by two arenas in town. "Cyrano had better light intensity, and our operators liked their ease of use," he reports. Those factors resulted in the purchase of two Cyranos from HB Sound and Light in Grand Forks and another pair from Norcostco in Minneapolis. "We needed four fixtures so we wouldn't have to rent any when we light major performances like a concert by the Oak Ridge Boys," says Hill.
(Jim Evans)
