Gates Abegglen Theatre Lighting Control Improvements

Project Title: Gates Abegglen Theatre Lighting Control Improvements

Project Lead: Melanie Mortimore

Email: mortimm@miamioh.edu Phone: (513) 529-9361

Affiliation: CCA

Other Team Member Names: Curtis Mortimore

Project Details: Replace aging lighting control console with relevant and current technology.

Problem Project Attempts to Solve: The current lighting control console in the Gates-Abegglen theatre was purchased and installed in the fall of 2001. This is a purpose specific computerized console and user interface. The programming of this console creates the signal that communicates with and controls all lighting used in our theatrical productions. Our current components are well beyond their useful life, are no longer supported by the manufacturer, do not integrate seamlessly with modern equipment and are becoming increasingly unreliable. The proposed equipment offers many improvements. The most significant being data storage and management. We are currently relying on 3.5 floppy disks to store and backup our show data. The proposed system will allow us to save and back up shows in a multitude of ways including network and cloud options. Additionally the proposed system offers a significant expansion in capacity and ability to use network controlled lighting devices which have become an industry standard.

Does this project focus on Graduate Studies?: No

Does it meet tech fee criteria?: The immediate and significant benefit to students is the opportunity to learn on modern equipment that is common in the entertainment industry. Our current students are being trained on equipment they are very unlikely to encounter in the field and not exposed to systems current employers expect them to have experience with. These proposed system improvements will shift our student's vernacular away from dated technology and into modern methodologies and technology as well as exposing them to wireless and network technology common in current lighting systems.

How will you assess the project?: Each production that we mount can be considered a project and can be assessed upon completion. Due to the intense and individualized instruction for student lighting designers and technicians, assessment of student learning occurs in a mentorship relationship. We use rubrics to assess student skills in each lab area, including lighting. A section of that rubric relates to the use of tools - which would include the new lighting control system. Additionally, an important measure of assessment would be a follow-up with students and alumni who enter internships or jobs in theatrical lighting. Requesting feedback from them about their preparedness to use industry lighting tools will be a measure of the success of this project.

Have you received tech fee funding in the past?: No

What happens to this project in year two?: n/a

Software: ETC iRFR app for iPad, $49.990000000000002

Hardware: Indianapolis Stage/Miami Bookstore/Urban Armor Gear/Apple.com, $12,211.10

Contracts: Indianapolis Stage, $750

Total Budget: $13,011.09