A friend of Cernicky's, Travis Oates, bought the 15-year old ACME Comedy Theatre and asked him to supervise the renovation of the theatre's technical elements. Cernicky brought two second-hand High End Technobeams to the theatre and immediately realized that the existing control system was not up to the job. In order to provide the most flexibility as well as an upgrade path, Cernicky knew that the theatre needed a console that could run both conventional and moving lights.
"I needed the most bang for the least buck I had to spend. That's when I remembered the Fat Frog," remembers Cernicky. "At the ACME Comedy Theatre, we have six-to-eight different shows a week, mostly on 10-week runs, as well as the occasional rental. In the eight months since we've had the Frog, I have designed about 30 different shows on it. Everything from sketch and improv comedy to music videos, runway fashion shows and musical acts."
Since getting the Fat Frog, Cernicky has added four more moving lights from American DJ and Pearl River to the theatre's rig. Squeezing the most out the theatre's budget has paid off; however, with rave reviews of his design and the level of production at the theatre. Jenelle Riley, writing for Backstage.com, commented in a review of a recent production, "Lighting and sound by Mike Cernicky are outstanding, with a production value far higher than any sketch show I've seen."
Cernicky normally shoehorns over eight different shows into the Fat Frog and shies away from conventional cues. Instead he chooses to run everything off the nine pages of twelve submasters. "I'm usually able to fit a show on one or two pages of submasters," remarks Cernicky. "You have to be able to go with the flow when working in comedy and having everything on submasters allows me to do that. The Fat Frog does a great job of handling everything I throw at it. I'm really pleased with what it does and the way it does it."
(Lee Baldock)
