After deliberation, negotiation and comparison, three Lancelot 4000W and two Victor 1800W followspots were chosen. Lighting designer Mitch Dana states: "MUNY is a huge space so they need a lot more light onstage. The spots they'd been using didn't cut through."
Dana, along with fellow lighting designer David Lander, wanted to be able to have, for instance, a blue overlay and then a smaller spot in light pink. "If we put a colour in a spot, we didn't have much light left. People in the back of the theatre can't determine who's speaking, or see lips move," explains Dana. "Followspots actually help give clues to, and tell, the story. And, given the size of the space, they're very important."
According to Dana, the RJ Lancelot and Victor followspots delivered the best light, best field, and ease-of-maintenance. "The kicker," he says, "was how easy it was to replace the irises. At that distance, irises are in a lot. We'd had to replace irises in the old lights, sometimes, three times per year. That's complicated."
(Jim Evans)
