Astera QuikSpot and QuikPunch Light Canadian Stage's Twelfth Night

	The High Park stage is around 115' wide with a thrust element at the front and two levels at the back, including a balcony, so a large area needing plenty of coverage for an expedient number of lights. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Dream in High Park by Canadian Stage is one of Canada's largest and longest-running outdoor professional theatre events, attracting over 30,000 people each year. In 2026, the company produced Twelfth Night, presented at the beautiful High Park Amphitheatre, Toronto.

Canadian Stage technical director Brayden Crawford and the show's lighting designer Logan Cracknell used 35 Astera LED fixtures, 27 QuikSpots and eight QuikPunches. The units were supplied by rental company Apex Lighting, whose Chris Pegg introduced Crawford and Cracknell to the QuikSpot luminaire last year.

This year, they returned to Apex for Astera products, and QuikPunches were included on the rig, together with other lighting for the two-month Dream season.

Being outdoors, the IP65 rating (wired and wireless) of QuikSpot and QuikPunch was mission-critical; no special coverings were needed for these lighting positions.

Crawford says the quality of light and smooth color mixing of QuikSpots and QuikPunches were essential to the production. He says they work extremely well for theatrical environments with their beam shaping options, good zoom, and high CRI for perfect flesh tones.

Having access to color-changing fixtures like these has enabled Canadian Stage to halve the number of lights on the Dream rig and reduce the required tech time.

The fixtures were hung on a series of vertical truss towers in the park at different distances from the stage; also, around the edges of the stage, disguised by foliage, with some on the stage set itself.

The QuikSpots were mainly used in front positions, in conjunction with some in rear on-set positions to highlight the elevated upstage areas. Others were focused on uplighting the trees.

The QuikPunches kicked in from the sides to color and layer parts of the set, adding depth, dimension and drama to the performance space.

Crawford, who had not used Astera products much before the 2025 production, notes that the lights were extremely straightforward for their technicians to figure out, and accessories like the barn doors and removable yoke are very easy to use. "The design and engineering are highly functional, and the fixtures can be focused quickly and efficiently," he comments, also praising the "great service and support" from Chris Pegg at Apex.

The High Park stage is around 115' wide with a thrust element at the front and two levels at the back, including a balcony, so a large area needing plenty of coverage for an expedient number of lights.

The Toronto summer weather can be erratic, and Crawford mentions that the Astera fixtures all worked well, whatever the meteorological conditions.

All 35 fixtures were run wired for this production as it made practical sense, but it was also handy that they arrived pre-charged so they could be rigged and addressed using battery power.

With the overall production technical elements running on one 200A supply, having the Asteras on the rig substantially reduced the show-running power needed for lighting, freeing up extra power for other production departments and logistics, which was a welcome bonus over the season.

Lighting was operated by Riley Donovan-Whitelaw using an ETC Ion console.

Twelfth Night was directed by Gregory Prest. The set and costume design was by Sim Suzer, with sound design / musical director/composer was Olivia Wheeler.