Rowville's New Theatre Space
For
over 9 years now, Rowville Secondary College has been lobbying for a new performing
arts space for their artistically inclined students. Understanding that a venue
of this magnitude doesn’t just ‘fall from the sky,’ they allocated
some funding about 5 years ago and began a building fund into which parents
could contribute towards the venue.
February 2007 and the school are able to sit back and admire their brand new,
500 seat, state-of-the-art performing arts centre, with a full appreciation
of the hard work and planning that got them to that point. The venue, now considered
one of the more impressive Performing Arts Centres in the City of Knox, was
designed by Edward Adams of Smith & Tracey Architects. After the initial
specification was released, school principal Mr. Glenn Fankhauser gathered all
the relevant stakeholders together to discuss the technical requirements for
the venue, which included the appropriate teachers that would be using it.
Music, dance and drama were all given equal consideration and budgetary space,
allowing for a very measured technical specification.
It was at this stage that Lightmoves were invited in to discuss requirements
for the proposed lighting, sound and video elements. These technical elements
needed to be of professional standard; but still achievable within the designated
budget. Lightmoves Theatre Technology specialist Peter Gray ran through a number
of different options with the school and the architects. “Peter was fantastic
in advising us and helping stretch our budget to best advantage” says
Mr. Fankhauser. Once all decisions were made and the design was finalised, Lightmoves
- through the help of onsite ele
ctricians
ED&C - supplied and installed lighting, sound and video equipment along
with the relevant infrastructure.
The lighting infrastructure includes Circuit Tube, Patch Panel, two LSC IPro
dimmers and one IPak Dimmer. The lighting rig includes a range of Prolite Fresnels,
Profiles, cyc floods and effect lights and is controlled by an LSC Maxim lighting
console, with the option of using Enttec’s Lightfactory PC Software. To
enable the space to be used for lectures and as a cinema, Lightmoves supplied
a Screen Technics motorised Projection Screen to accompany a Panasonic Video
Projector. This is complemented by a professional quality sound system that
includes Turbosound loudspeakers & Mackie sub woofers and amplifiers by
Australian Monitor. The sound is controlled by a Soundcraft mixing desk and
Lexicon and DBX signal processors. Lightmoves also supplied a range of Shure
microphones including handheld, wireless and
lapel, complete with all accessories and patch points required.
A venue with such professional facilities as this requires staff with a comprehensive understanding of how to operate the equipment within. Before the venue was officially opened, Peter Gray hosted a number of comprehensive training sessions to ensure that all the school’s operators were comfortable and confident with the systems that they were to spend so much time using.
After many years of planning, Rowville SC finally has an appropriate home for their Performing Arts; a fact that is generating plenty of excitement around the school. As Mr Fankhauser describes, “There is a real buzz in our school community created by the Performing Arts Centre. Parents, students, staff and visitors have been excited and even professionals have spoken glowingly of the facility.”
For more information on Theatrical Installations, or the technical aspects
of this project, please contact Peter Gray of Lightmoves on 9701 2500.
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