When Webster University’s Conservatory of Theater Arts staged a production of
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth’ last fall students enhanced the lighting rig with four
Claypaky Scenius moving head spotlights.
The Conservatory, based in Webster Groves, Missouri, stages six student-designed
and student-produced shows and a dance theatre each season at the Lorreto Hilton
Center. A classical version of “Macbeth’ was directed by Bruce Longworth and
played seven performances before Thanksgiving.
Student lighting designer, Josh Murphy, expressed an interest in “beefing up’ the
school’s lighting rig for “Macbeth,’ so consulting lighting designer Seth Jackson
called A.C.T Lighting, Inc. with whom he’s had a 20-year relationship dating from
his concert touring work.
“We have our own lighting inventory, but Josh wanted more tools than we had on
hand,’ says Jackson, head of the concert design program and assistant professor of
theatrical design. “The winners of a student competition to attend LDI had seen the
Scenius fixtures at the convention and were eager to try them. A.C.T Lighting
provided the opportunity for our students to put Scenius to work.’
Jackson emphasizes that the Conservatory differs from many other college
theatrical programs in its goal of “training professionals from day one. We run with
Equity rules and like to have technology fresh out of the gate for the students.’ The
student productions at the Lorreto Hilton Center share space with the Repertory
Theater of St. Louis, whose season overlaps that of the school, and the Opera
Theater of St. Louis, which plays a summer season. “A lot of our students also
work on those productions,’ Jackson explains.
The stage is a three-quarter thrust with an expansive overhead grid. The four
Scenius spots hung in the grid where Murphy and his team “used pretty much every
attribute of the light, including the strobe for lighting effects,’ says Jackson. The
Scenius fixtures were also used to give a lot of texture and treatments to surfaces.
He reports that the students “liked the quality of the beam – its brightness and flat-
fieldness – as well as the quality of the colour temperature. Our sound team also
liked how quiet Scenius was – that was a big deal for them.’
A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor for Claypaky.
