LCT is located in the Convention Facilities' complex in the shadow of the Tower of the Americas, a permanent legacy of the 1968 San Antonio World's Fair. The theatre offers more than 2,300 seats on three levels; its main stage spans 113x60ft and boasts an orchestra pit, integrated performance audio system, AV infrastructure for cameras and projectors, a fully-networked stage and architectural lighting system and a complement of manually-operated counterweight sets with motorized stage electrics.
"The theatre has served the city as one of the largest traditional performing arts venues in downtown San Antonio," says Fritz Schwentker, theatre consultant with WJHW, which handled the systems design and equipment specification for the major renovation. "We had worked with the local technical staff at the theatre, and they had some existing followspots that were bright and punchy but at the end of their life cycles."
So Schwentker teamed with Spectrum Lighting to find a product that matched the old followspots in brightness and punch. "We looked at lot of trade shows and talked with stagehands to get their opinions," he says. The consensus: Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots.
"With the Cyranos we could get the quality of light and punch that the users desired for the space which has a long-throw third balcony," Schwentker reports. "And we really liked the way the equipment operates: Cyrano is very easy to manipulate even though it's quite a large fixture. What Robert Juliat has done across all their fixtures is come up with a pretty standard way to operate. It felt comfortable from the get-go."
Art Garcia, who was instrumental in the decision making process for the Cyranos, says the new lights have been working events at LCT since November and are "performing well".
(Jim Evans)
