The Theater Maker, New Show-Control Software, Launches December 1

On December 1, The Music Maker launches The Theater Maker show-control software for Windows and Mac that brings sound, video, and light together behind one Go button.

The Music Maker is the music company of Emmy-winning composer, pianist, and music director Sacha Hoedemaker. The team composes, plays live, and works behind the scenes as music directors and technicians. The Theater Maker is the software the team wanted to use itself and is constantly updated with new features, suggested by its users and teams working with the software.

"We work in theatres ourselves, as composers, musicians and technicians," says Hoedemaker. "We kept missing the same things: seeing your light before the rig is hung, a run of show that belongs to the show instead of a spreadsheet, and a price you do not pay again every year. So, we built it ourselves. And because we use it ourselves, it gets better fast. When we need something on a show, The Theater Maker gets it."

In The Theater Maker, you draw the stage, place the lights, and see every look in a live plan and a 3D view with haze, so a lighting design can be ready before a single lamp goes up. It controls lights through ENTTEC DMX USB interfaces and Art-Net and sACN nodes. A show without lights chooses no DMX interface and runs with sound and video only.

Cast, mic numbers, scenes, entrances, props, and running times live in one run of show, printed on white paper in a full version, a sound version, and a stage management version. The software warns when two actors share a mic or when a mic is handed over between scenes.

A stage manager can run Go from a phone or tablet on the show network. Show mode locks editing, Stop All is one key away, and Oops takes back the last Go. Cue mode puts cues on the keys of the computer keyboard or the pads of a MIDI controller.

The Theater Maker will be available for Windows and Mac. Every function can be tried for free for 14 days. Every license covers a main computer plus a free backup computer.