Entertainment Design

, the magazine dedicated to the working theatre design professional, has announced this year’s Staging Product of the Year honorees, a brand new category created this year. The five winners, picked by a panel of projection and staging designers and technicians, will be honored at this year’s EDDY Awards, to be held Friday, June 27 at John Jay College Theatre in New York.

The winners, which will be featured in the April issue of ED, are:

Projection Technology: The Texas Instruments DLP Dark Chip Enhancement
The Dark Chip process, a new development for the Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processing™(DLP) projection technology, incorporates a black metal layer over the chip substructure to absorb scattered light for improved darkness and a significant increase in contrast ratio. Barco, Christie, Digital Projections, and NEC among others are all incorporating this technology into their projectors.

Rigging: The Tomcat Swing Wing Truss
From its stackable, self-contained transport position to a sleek functional rigging position when flown, Swing Wing is the new intelligent pre-rig. It is a pre-rigged 30” x 30” truss with heavy-duty casters for mobility; up to three lamp bars can ride inside so the fixtures are pre hung, and the 30” dimension allows for larger intelligent luminaires.

Show Control Software: The Medialon Manager
Medialon’s Manager is a show control software that can control and synchronize digital audio and video, lighting, switchers, image processors, videowalls, special effects, etc., all over a network. It offers frame accurate synchronization, even with digital video, DMX acquisition and editing, multitasking, and permanent device position tracking.

Projection Software: The Dataton Watchout
Dataton’s Watchout is a multi-display production and presentation system. Based on standard computers (PC or Macintosh), network and display technologies. You can use it with plasmas, monitors, video cubes, or with video projectors for giant, seamless panoramas. Watchout leverages off existing media production tools and accepts essentially all standard media file formats for still images, video, and audio.

Soft Goods: The Rose Brand Smoke Out
The stretchable Smoke Out® is a gauzy weave made from flame-resitant Trevira polyester that’s designed for use as an overhead canopy or soft ceiling system that is inherently flame retardant. In the event of a fire, the special weave has a meltable line that will open up at 158ºF (70ºC), allowing smoke to escape and water from sprinklers to drop unimpeded.

The EDDY awards, which honor the best in design and technology, are part of the weeklong Broadway Master Classes, a two-part series of professional level training in lighting and sound by the masters of Broadway design. The Broadway Lighting Master Classes, headed up by Jules Fisher, will be held June 26-28; the Broadway Sound Master Classes, headed up by Abe Jacob, will be held June 28-29.

For more information on the classes, call Deanna Andrews at 212-204-1806, or email at dandrews@primediabusiness.com

For more information on the EDDY Awards, call David Johnson at 212-204-1811, or email at djohnson@primediabusiness.com