Griffith Regional Theatre is one of New South Wales premier performing arts venues, providing world class performing arts and entertainment to the people of Griffith and surrounding regions. The theatre is a state of the art, modern facility, with a seating capacity of 520.
Recently John Matkovic, Technical Operations Coordinator for the theatre came to Showtools International with a specific budget in mind to upgrade the current conventional lighting rig. After careful consideration, John decided to upgrade to the full CHAUVET Professional lighting rig supplied by Showtools. The acquisition included 12 x Rogue R1 Spots, 12 x Rogue R2 Washes, 8 x Rogue R1 FX-B’s, 24 x COLORdash Par-Quad 18’s, 8x Ovation E-910FC, and 8 x Ovation FD-165 Fresnels. Furthermore, 6 x Eurotruss HD34 Square truss were also acquired.
The lighting fixtures were put into action recently for a Ratcliff concert, the perfect stage to test the new equipment with production and lighting done by John Matkovic. John was blown away with the fixtures and what they were able to achieve, especially with the output and quality to coincide with the fact the CHAUVET rig upgrade only required half of the budget. The Rogue R1 and R2 Wash were used to create maximum dimension for the show with the fixtures across the stage to provide bright and vivid theatrical looks, with the gobo effects adding further visual options. The sharpness, output, as well as colour and aerial effects of the R1 Spots highlighted the production of the concert, creating an edge to the Ratcliff performance throughout the night. ‘Chauvet has high intensity colors that when mixed through haze, produce beautiful beam visuals and colour saturation. The R1 spots and R2 wash have perfect colour scrolling unison and gobo wheel scrolling,’ stated John. The zoom of the R2 Wash really blew John away, ‘Zoom on the R2 wash is unbelievable, I could achieve full stage cover with 4 units at 6 meters high on our stage.’
The Rogue R1 FX-B’s, which hang from the various Eurotruss HD34 truss around the stage, were used for their rich variety of multi-faceted looks that added depth and texture without taking up a lot of space. The five independently controlled heads are a powerful tool for varying movements that facilitated many creative options in that in turn permit the beams of light that covered the stage with mesmerizing multi-dimensional looks. In addition, The R1 and FX-B combined very nicely together as the R1’s created a nice layer of light for the FX-Bs to pop though with their multi-faceted looks. Together they create a very full and powerful impression. Gobos from the R1s play off nicely against the beams of the FX-B. The COLORdash Par-Quad 18’s was also used for general colour wash.
John Added, ‘The beauty of LED dmx controlled lighting is of course the power linking capability, dmx in and out, no more single circuit runs and dimmers as we all know. For example, upright truss with five Par-Quad 18’s and two movers equals one power run and one dmx run, equals ease of set up. Life in the theatre is currently too busy to let me practice my art, so in a sense with the Chauvet range and its colour intensities, washes, beams and gobos it lets me paint a show so to speak with shape, angle, colour and colour mixing – it’s my picture.’ Thanks always to Robert and his team at Showtools, I would not have been able to secure this new equipment without his help.’
The acquisition of the CHAUVET Professional lighting fixtures and Eurotruss to their theatre rig has allowed John and Griffith Regional Theatre to continue to provide world class performing arts and entertainment to the people of Griffith and surrounding regions. The upgrade has allowed the venue to stay up to date & modern which in turn will allow Griffith Regional Theatre to hosts various entertainment shows in the foreseeable future, with their community production of Wicked coming in June this year where John will be again be using the complete CHAUVET Professional rig with Eurotruss side boom truss for the design of the show.