The 2,400-seat Whitney Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, is the heart of the arts centre, presenting a full range of performances year-round: touring Broadway shows, productions by the Kentucky Opera and the Louisville Ballet, and concerts by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra.
To accommodate the acoustical requirements of so many different groups, Whitney Hall's ceiling includes wooden acoustical tiles that can be repositioned to adjust the sound quality. Recently, however, the hydraulic hoists that control these tiles have become stuck in place, so house acousticians can no longer adjust the house to improve the sound.
J. R. Clancy will replace the hall's original hydraulic hoist system - installed when the building opened in 1983 -with 32 electrically powered line shafts, ranging in capacity from 4,500 to 12,000 pounds. This will bring the acoustical system's functionality back to like-new condition.
To handle the rigging complexities of many acoustical panels in a properly tuned house, Clancy has supplied its SceneControl 500 rigging control system to run all 32 hoists. This intuitive touch-screen system allows operators to set simple or elaborate cues, group hoists to move together, and see exactly what's moving on stage and in the house at any moment.
The Whitney Hall renovation began in 2009, and many repairs and theatrical system replacements are already completed. The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2011.
(Jim Evans)
