Martin Stagebar 54 Tours with Jill Scott

	All photos copyright KLM Studio- Kimberly Miller/ photographer. Used by permission. Photos: New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Martin Thomas of Relentless Lighting Design is using Martin's new Stagebar 54 LED luminaire on Jill Scott's spring tour. On the road in support of her album, The Real Thing, the first leg of the U.S. tour runs February to April before scheduled dates in Europe and Asia. Creative Stage Lighting Co., Inc. is the tour lighting vendor, with additional tour support from Masque Sound and a kabuki system from FRAGOSO, Inc.

Thomas designed the show in Vectorworks 11 and programmed the system on the Avolites Diamond 4 Vision console. The lighting system includes Martin MAC 700 and 2000 Profile fixtures, along with the Stagebar 54 LED units. Vari*Lite VL 3500 Wash fixtures, ETC Source Four Ellipsoidals, and MR-16 strips round out the system design.

Thomas' multiple roles included lighting and set design duties as well as lighting programming. "The show is based on classic concert principals -- lighting accents and precise cue timing, as well as extremely saturated palettes," he comments.

Thomas uses four Stagebar 54s as skirt toners for the band risers; two to uplight the offstage soft goods and two as a ground wash for the drum/percussion area. The Stagebar LED functions as either a pixel bar for displaying imagery or as a wash luminaire for floodlighting surfaces. With five colored diodes (red, green, blue, amber, and white) instead of the usual three, the Stagebar offers a broader range of colors, the company says.

"The Stagebar 54 color rendition and output is superior to other products I have used," Thomas says, "and, with the large amount of softgoods being used in the set design, being able to illuminate them evenly and with the correct amount of luminescence is what makes this show stand out from the recent trend of 'flash harder and brighter' effects-based shows that are directed at the audience.

"Jill is very specific in that she dislikes her audience to spend most of the evening avoiding glaring lights -- this show is about illuminating the artists and the set in beautiful colors and patterns.

"The StageBar 54's have an intensity and color saturation that is perfect for this production -- being able to create multiple moods using color helps translate the performance of the artist and her words -- an extremely important part of her performance - to the furthest reaches of the venues, which range from 2000 capacity theaters to large arenas."

Thomas uses 12 MAC 700 Profiles upstage in a tier configuration to replicate a wall of light -- their focus creating an additional impact that is more "atmospherically architectural" than the look created with the uplights that focus primarily to the layers of soft goods. And because there is no video in the show, the upstage center area is graphically represented with light, he adds. Five MAC 700s are located in a half-circle truss over downstage center and are used to frame Scott. The remaining 700s are positioned to add linear definition to the stage area and to accent multiple solos by the other artists.