PLASA London: Day Three

	In the Creative Technology booth at PLASA London

Chapter three of our look at the action at the PLASA Show at ExCeL London:

A.C., Lighting has been busy of late, getting ready a raft of new products. Indeed, it is launching Vision, an entire new line of LED luminaires aimed at the entry-level market; they include an LED Par, LED batten, and LED moving wash. Also on display are the new DC-battery powered version of the award-winning Studio Force V 12 Phosphor variable white lighting fixture; Color Black 2 Plus Nano, a single-cell version of the Color Block 2 Plus, Auto LED II, an LED moving light specifically designed for car shows, fashion events, and retail; and ShowCom a show intercom belt pack. All this and the latest from console manufacturer Jands.

They've been just as busy at City Theatrical, which is showing many new items. They include QolorFlex LED Tape; D Series LED dimmers, which range from the single-channel D1 to the four-channel D4 with a built-in power supply; and the AutoYoke Source Four LED, which adapts City Theatrical's well-known AutoYoke to the latest product from ETC. Also on the stand are Pathway Connectivity's Cognito lighting console and Andy Voller's Moving Light Assistant software.

Good news at MDG: The company reports that the first batch of its new e-series haze and fog generators -- Atmosphere ATMe and MAX M3e -- have sold out, and the next batch is on back order until November. The products look to be among the company's biggest sellers to date.

Visitors to the Elation Professional stand need to block out a good amount of time, because the company has so much to show. The highlights include the Protron LED strobe; the TVL F1WW and TVL F1CW warm/cool white LED Fresnels, designed for the television and film markets; the Platinum Profile 35 Pro; and the Cuepix LED panel and strip products. In some ways, the most interesting new item is the Lumina Matrix, an LED panel which plausible copies the look of halogen bulbs.

There's always a crowd at the Robe booth, but the company is urging visitors to "Get the Pointe." They, are, of course, referring to the company's new moving light, which makes use of a discharge short arc lamp with integrated reflector. Other popular items are the MinMe, a compact fixture for bar, club, and retail lighting, and the popular ROBIN MMX Blade. The newest product is the Robin ParFect 100, an LED source ACL beam with value pricing.

At ETC, the crowds have been checking out the Source Four LED CYC fixtures, using the Lustr+ LED engine, which are washing the 7m x 4m cyclorama above the stand. One side of the cyclorama is a painted theatrical cloth lent by the design Realization students on the Technical Theatre Arts program at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, to show the versatility and efficacy of the Lustr+ seven-color mixing system, highlighting colors as the designer intended, while the other side is white to show the units' coverage. Also being shown is the Cobalt control system, which, the company says, is especially suitable for TV studios, corporate events, and live gigs where the lighting is controlled on the fly; it is ETC's first busking desk. And then there's Eos Ti, which takes the place of ETC's flagship Eos desk at the head of the product line. Says ETC controls product manager Anne Valentino: "We took the solid foundation of Eos and built on it to create Ti. And we added hardware adapted from the design of our Gio desk, such as integrated, articulating, multitouch displays, backlit keys and an anodized finish."

Later in the afternoon, d&b audiotechnik hosted a cocktail party in one of the PLASA Awards for Innovation stands, gathering a convivial group of audio-oriented visitors for networking and conversation.

Still later came the first-ever Technical Theatre Awards, celebrating the best of behind-the-scenes skill and talent. Fifteen awards were given out; see the related story on today's edition of the website for all the details.

After the show, some attendees gathered for a fascinating session hosted by Richard Pilbrow on the design of London's National Theatre. Speakers included Richard Brett and Iain Mackintosh, who worked with Pilbrow on the National, which opened in 1976, and Richard Eyre, one of the theatre's former artistic directors. The session was an unsparing and articulate look at the building's failings, and at the process by which the demands of a working theatre were subsumed to the designs of the architect Denys Lasdun. It made for a stimulating end to a stimulating day. -- David Barbour