Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, has purchased 54 Selecon Pacific fixtures. The fixtures were sold by A.C. Lighting's dealer, Production Advantage, of South Burlington, VT. The Pacifics will be part of the University's diverse fixture inventory, which is a feature of its professional lighting design training program. The new Theatre and Drama Center at Indiana University houses a 450-seat proscenium theatre and a 250-seat "courtyard" shaped theatre. Rob Shakespeare, professor of lighting design, chose the Pacifics after research and testing.
"I had seen their exotic shape in A.C.'s booth at LDI and other trade shows, and the rationale behind their engineering was interesting. Our theatre consultant, Bob Davis, encouraged me to take a closer look," said Shakespeare. "They are novel in shape and engineering, but I really appreciated their quality of light. The high output, range of focus, smooth peak to flat alignment, lamp options, and reduced color aberration sold me on their value within our inventory."
Left to right: MFA lighting students Rob Graham, Laura Dowling, and Becky Hardy on the tension mesh grid of the new Wells-Metz theatre at Indiana University.
Each semester about 25 students participate in the first level of stage lighting courses, another 15 take the course during the summer. In addition to MFA lighting design graduate students and advanced lighting undergraduates, about 75 students in total will handle or design with the Pacifics every year.
Shakespeare concluded: "One of our goals was to expose our student designers and technicians to a palette of fixtures used by the most acclaimed lighting designers in our profession. I hope other training environments have similar opportunities in their future."