Country Teamwork - Stage Directions Magazine

for the entire package that went in as far as soft goods, lighting,control, data distribution, trussing and rigging,” saysPatterson. They looked to do things as cost effectively as possibleincluding choosing an energy-efficient lighting system.“We went with an almost all LED lighting system, so our electricalrequirements were minimal.” Patterson put in Chauvetlighting fixtures, an SGM console and an Electronic TheatreControls (ETC) dimmer pack. The audio package was handledby the Maryville, Tenn.-based company, Murlin’s Music World.Snakes and LED’sPatterson specified red velour drapes for the two wallsin the house to serve the dual purpose of helping shapethe acoustics of the room and as a canvas for some of thelighting. The drapes along the walls are lit with ChauvetColordash Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights. Being able tochange the color of the drapes with the LED lighting is oneof the solutions that both Patterson and Claiborne really liketo highlight.“From the time that you walk in, the fact that we are ableto control the houselights in any color that we want is one ofthe greatest features,” comments Patterson. “We put curtainsdown each side wall as well as a main curtain with valances,borders and legs on stage. With the Chauvet units we wereable to color any curtain and the space in virtually any color.That unto itself is pretty revolutionary in any building todaybecause even with technology as it is today, most houselightingis usually white. We can provide white, but with thecontrol that we have it gave Heath a lot of options to marketthe space for different functions like weddings, birthday partiesand things like that. Being able to create these really vividcolors without needing to bring in an extra lighting packagegot people excited and I think is a really good selling pointfor the space.”For control, Patterson went with an SGM Pilot 3000 console.“It’s a two-universe console with an LCD touch screen,”he says. “Its very powerful and its notterrible expensive. It has a removablememory card and a lot of features forthe money.” Patterson included DMXports on both sides of the stage, so thatif Claiborne wants to add anything for aspecial occasion, all he has to do is plugit in and program it into the console.“We distributed DMX all over the space,so he can do pretty much anything hewants. We did put in an ETC SmartPackdimmer pack for some amount of incandescentlighting on the stage and invarious places throughout the space.”Patterson designed “pretty unique;pretty artsy” serpentine-shaped trussdown the center over the seating area/dance floor. “I bought a 20-foot AppliedElectronics circle truss, but I didn’tassemble it into a circle; I hung it ina serpentine pattern where it snakesback and forth. It was a real challengeto rig it, but I have a lot of experiencehanging truss. Putting in the riggingpoints where they needed to be, givenThe marquee of the Capitol Theatre.the structure in the attic of the space, was the single biggestchallenge,” comments Patterson. “We worked with everythingexisting; they had a very substantial structure overheadabove the ceiling. There was walking space in there; it wasvery well built originally. We hung Unistrut from the roofbeams to handle our points. This allowed us to get the pointswww.stage-directions.com • March 2011 39