Richard Cuthbert, director of engineering comments: "This is our fifth year of exhibiting at ABTT, it is a fantastic show for us and a great opportunity to meet end users, customers and most importantly theatre consultants who have valuable input in to our product development."
The ABTT Lighting Product of the Year Award was given to GDS for ArcSystem, its new LED house-light system. The award was presented to Richard Cuthbert, director of engineering for GDS. The judges were impressed by the wireless dimming performance of ArcSystem, a bespoke fitting manufactured for new-build and retrofit existing tungsten lighting in auditoria and front of house locations.
Richard Cuthbert also picked up the People's Choice award from the Theatres Trust stand at the show. The award was given to BluesSystem LED performance working light system. BlueSystem was nominated for the Award alongside prominent manufacturers including ETC, Philips Vari-Lite, I-Pix, JB Lighting, Robert Juliat and Prism Projection Inc. The People's Choice award was developed to highlight technologies designed to improve the environmental footprint of theatres and was voted for by industry professionals visiting the PLASA show. It was presented to GDS for the product that demonstrated the most significant improvement in sustainable theatre technology.
The Stage Managers Association also held an awards ceremony where GDS were the sponsors of the new Student of the Year Award. The award was given to Charlotte Archer from the Mount View Academy for Theatre Arts and the Runner up was Catherine Lewis from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
(Jim Evans)
