LED Lighting is gaining a stronger presence in Hollywood and studios around the country.  Great fun to be on the back lots of Paramount Studios in Hollywood with a team from EUE/Screen Gems.

Judy Collins is one of my favorite artists that I had the honor of "lighting" for an eTown show.

Denis Hayes talks about Earth Day, solar energy, architecture, green building and so much more.  The interview is not only fascinating, but he boldly states that eTown Hall is "almost certainly the greenest theater in the entire world".

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) will greatly benefit from a retrofit of the existing house down lighting to LED lighting.  The proposed LED lighting solution will address the maintenance issues that WHBPAC has been dealing with. The house LD is constantly replacing incandescent R lamps where access is limited and difficult. The light level is currently only 2-4 FC and is insufficient for this type of assembly.  With the installation of new LED fixtures, the light level is expected to be 8-10 FC.  The LED system will also utilize new dimming controls, allowing for the easy redistribution of zones and connected loads, all while providing superior dimming and smooth fade operation down to 1%.  Total load saved has yet to be determined, but should be at least half the current connected load. With the cost of electricity in New York, and the heavy use of the theater all year round, payback should be around 2 years in direct energy savings alone. 

Stay tuned to hear how many watts we took off the grid in Westhampton Beach!

Jane Goodall, former eTown E-chievement Award Winner, was interviewed by Nick Forster for a special invitation only taping at eTown Hall this week. Find out more about Jane's amazing international humanitarian mission, her devotion to the animal world and her desire to protect the environment.
Jane Goodall Institute

This photo was taken by me from the lighting board as I ran the show. And yes, LED stage lighting rules!

Check out this video of Dallas Green on opening night. There is a nice introduction by Nick Forster which shows some shots from the stage and the performance hall. (I can be seen briefly getting ready to start the show at FOH.)

eTown Hall is a very technical building.  All of the spaces are acoustically isolated from each other, as well as from the residential neighborhood where it is located.  This presented a great deal of challenges for the lighting applications in all of the spaces.  Lighting was not allowed to penetrate any surface except where additional soffits, ceilings or wall treatments could be accommodated.  More on that later.

To learn more about the technical aspects of the project check out this article by Sam Berkow in FOH online.