RIVER VIEW FROM THE LOBBY OF THE TOM PATTERSON THEATRE
“ When you hang lights , you ’ re always at the mercy of the physicality of the building . Here we got to decide where we wanted fixtures before we even built the theatre . Everything is quite steep , and you ’ re shooting down at the stage , not sideways across the auditorium . Our designers and crew spent a lot of time deciding where the lights need to go to be most effective on the stage . One of those key positions is right down the centre . Our catwalk system allows us to reach almost every single light , loudspeaker , and special effect just by walking up to them . There ’ s no need for ladders or special equipment ,” he says .
“ Our whole lighting rig is all done in a fibre loop , as well as sACN over Cat 6 . We bought a lot of lights based on how they sounded , such as the High End Systems SolaFrame Theatre moving head lights , which are liquid cooled . Given that the room is so quiet , we couldn ’ t have a moving light rig with a ton of fans in it — you ’ d never hear the show . The SolaFrame Theatre is totally silent and provides a phenomenal
PHOTO : CATHERINE BACQUE PHOTO : SCOTT NORSWORTHY quality of light as well ,” Dougherty says .
“ We are fully backed up by generator power and can run complete shows on generator . If the power goes off during a show , we lose only a few seconds before we ’ re back on our feet . We have a lot of emergency lighting transfer switches ( ELTS ) so we can control our own emergency lighting states . In addition , all our consoles and computers are on uninterruptible battery backup . If we were to see a storm coming prior to a show , we could switch over to generator power and run the show on it ,” he says .
Rather than have hazers in the auditorium , to eliminate the noise , haze is piped in through the ceiling over the stage from an MDG Atmosphere APS hazer located in the mechanical room where it is plumbed into the HVAC system . “ We also have a full auditorium purge , so when you ’ re done with the atmospherics , you hit the ‘ Purge ’ button , which kicks the HVAC into high gear exhaust and removes all the atmosphere from the room within a few minutes ,” Dougherty says . “ As readily as we can cue haze , fog or pyro into a show , we can now cue its removal . And it ’ s totally silent .”
The acoustics in the Tom Patterson are designed to support the human voice without the addition of a sound reinforcement system . “ Generally , we don ’ t reinforce voices in the Shakespearean plays , unless it ’ s for an effect or for helping child actors along a little bit with some minor reinforcement , so that most people can ’ t tell they ’ re amplified ,” says Michael Duncan , head of sound at the Tom Patterson Theatre . “ In Shakespeare , the sound system is used primarily for playback and sound effects .”
Ten d & b audiotechnik AL90 medium format two-way cabinets flown over the stage comprise the mains , along with a pair of 21S high performance compact subwoofers . Sixteen d & b audiotechnik 8S loudspeakers on the walls are used as surrounds ; ten 8s cabinets up on the second catwalk point down to cover the audience as overhead effects speakers . “ There ’ s a really nice transition between the overheads and the mains , and that gives you additional locations to place a sound effect so that it ’ s not coming straight out of the mains ,” he says .
“ We chose d & b largely because they sound good and because they are passive cabinets : fewer moving parts with no fans means there ’ s less noise to be heard against the tremendously low noise floor in the theatre — you can really hear a pin drop anywhere . So , the d & b was an easy pick . Every cabinet in the space is passive , except for a couple of legacy boxes from the old theatre , and we have a nice stack of d & b 10D and 30D amplifiers to drive that new rig . The vocal reproduction is incredible . That was part of our vision at the beginning : a big driving force was that in 2020 , we were going to stage Here ’ s What It Takes , a fully-reinforced ‘ 80s rock musical , which sadly didn ’ t go anywhere due to the pandemic ,” Duncan says .
Fourteen Meyer Sound MM-4XP miniature loudspeakers provide front fill from behind the micro-perf mesh in the face of the first step onstage . “ They provide a way to drop the image from the mains , especially when we ’ re doing musicals . They ’ re not really for sound effect playback but more for completing the vocal image and giving a little presence to stage level . They ’ re successful at least five or six rows up before the mains start taking over ,” Duncan adds , noting that the MM-4XPs have some limitations due to their size and location . “ Except for the MM4s , we don ’ t have a lot of trouble getting the sound to transition seamlessly from the ceiling to the walls . We SMAARTed the space , and I don ’ t have trouble making it feel seamless ; most of the time we can transition from zone to zone and it feels very natural .”
Twelve EM Acoustics EMS-51 ultra-compact loudspeakers in the stage are used for effects replay and foldback for performers . “ They ’ re not used for every show , but for Richard III they ’ re underneath a removable grille built into the outside two feet of the deck all the way around the stage . There ’ s also LED lighting that shines through there . Originally , they were going to provide foldback for the musical
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