"It was a beautiful facility that had the equipment in both variable and six-speed rigging, and it allowed us easy access to the grid to show people the equipment," said ETC's Gary Henley. "Rather than a conference room with a projector, we thought that if we had the opportunity to take them to a working space and see the equipment and have the installer there to explain the process, it would be much more practical."
When Ensworth School received a donation to continue the master plan for the high school theater, the independent school contracted Bandit to design and install an automated rigging system for the facility. The school had not been able to fund any moveable rigging during the original construction four years prior.
The client and Bandit chose the new ETC Prodigy hoist system which allowed for a streamlined installation process and a cleaner look. The system included four fixed-speed and seven variable-speed linesets, controlled by a Foundation controller. This installation was only the second variable speed system installed by ETC at the time.
With the four motorized electrics, Ensworth is able to more easily maintain their lighting fixtures. In addition, motorized scenic pipes allow scenery and drapes to fly in from above instead of rolling in sets on wheels from offstage during a production.
(Jim Evans)
