How Walnut Street Theatre Embraced Innovation with Follow-Me

When facing technical challenges, knowing those who hold the solution have your back is critical. “A product can be graded in several ways, including, among others, performance and support," says Matt DeMascolo, Production Technical Supervisor at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre (WST).

In meeting such challenges at WST, DeMascolo, gives both the theatre's new Follow-Me system, and the Follow-Me team, a very high grade. "They've been supportive, attentive, eager, ready, and willing to help resolve issues, answer questions, and even remotely log in when a little extra help was needed.” That level of support can be hard to find in an industry where technological change is increasingly fast-paced. “So it makes all the difference in the world to know the product engineers are always there for you,” he adds.

It’s fair to say WST has always been there for theatre patrons coming to the heart of the city for entertainment, presenting a wide range of programming from ‘delightfully wicked plays such as Noël

Coward’s Blithe Spirit and classic musicals like Holiday Inn to modern musical extravaganzas such as Mamma Mia! and Saturday Night Fever.

Founded in 1808, the 957-seat theatre is now in its 216th season. WST isn’t just America's oldest theatre, it’s the longest continually operating theatre in the English-speaking world, the Official State Theatre of Pennsylvania, and a National Historic Monument. Currently, WST welcomes over 200,000 patrons annually and serves the community via children's shows, workshops, and a wide range of community outreach programs.

WST’s commitment to increasing their in-house capabilities, expanding on the type of productions they mount, and their audience's experience, has always been a key part of the theatre’s mandate, a commitment that's clearly reflected in the decision to integrate Follow-Me’s system to accommodate the demands that upcoming shows like Jersey Boys and Dreamgirls, which required additional flexibility and fixtures. “We just didn’t have enough follow spots to do what we needed on those shows. And the fixtures we did have in-house weren’t as bright as we needed them to be."

While WST explored several options to address the issue, including renting or buying additional spots, they ultimately opted for a more flexible (and economical) Follow-Me system comprised of a Follow-Me Rack Server, Track-It Server, 3D Mouse Consoles, 30 Track-It Tags, and 16 Track-It Anchors. “By adding the Track-It system, we not only resolved our challenge, we opened the door for an even more creative palette.”

Formerly, DeMascolo worked with York, Pennsylvania-based Production Express Inc., which handled the sale to WST. “When I was at Production Express, we bought a Follow-Me system for our rental inventory - not the automated tracking system we have here – it was manually run from a mouse controller, but it was an ideal solution for venues like schools that either didn’t have follow spots or didn’t have good locations to put them, but could hang moving lights.”

For WST, it’s an elegant and economical fix – allowing them previously unattainable flexibility. “The beauty of the system is that you don’t have to have a dedicated follow spot fixture. With Follow-Me any moving light in your entire rig can become a follow spot. It doesn’t even have to be out front. All you have to do is put it in three-dimensional space, input the data into the system, and any light becomes a follow spot but can also be switched back to functioning as a regular moving light seamlessly.”

That enables designers to apply a greater range of creative effects and looks than they previously could. “You can get different angles and effects than what you may be able to get from a traditional follow spot." By applying a heavy backlight to silhouette an actor rather than lighting them from the front for dramatic effect, for example, or tracking an actor automatically if they turn and walk upstage and highlight them "walking into the light instead of away from it.”

Given the wide range of productions inhabiting WST, there were some challenges to the installation, notably deciding where the Track-It Anchors – which continuously communicate over Ultra Wide Band (UWB) with the tags worn by performers to calculate their exact position on stage – would live in the performance area.

“Once you get it locked in, it’s really easy to use, but there’s a lot to consider during the initial setup because we really wanted to get it right.” Among those considerations: constantly changing scenic elements and lighting plots, as well as working around various obstructions and building limitations to ensure the tags could “see” the anchors and vice versa – wherever a performer was on stage.”

Again, DeMascolo praises the Follow-Me team for aiding in that effort, and the integration of a system that's both a game-changer for WST, and a testament to the impact of building on the theatre’s historical legacy with modern innovations.

Essentially, Follow-Me is a powerful multi-tool – one DeMascolo, an LD himself, recommends wholeheartedly and credits for dramatically expanding the power and efficacy of WST’s existing inventory. “It’s a great tool for our toolbox. Having full color, iris, and zoom control over the spot units, and being able to use different angles and even textures, we can give designers as many tools and options as we can so they can create the best-looking shows possible here. Having the Follow-Me system not only helps accomplish that, it opens the door to a more creative look for our audiences.”

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Photo Credit: M. DeMascolo, M. Garvin

About A.C. Lighting

A.C. Lighting is a value-added distributor of world-class Lighting, Networking, and Grip technologies for the theater, film, television, worship, exhibition, and commercial markets.  A.C. Lighting Inc. is a  North American distributor for premier brands, including Chroma-Q® LED lighting, Vista by Chroma-Q lighting and media control surfaces, PROLIGHTS high value and high-performance range of lighting, video and effects products, Luminex Networking Intelligence manufacturer of data distribution equipment, Manfrotto and Avenger: Professional Lighting Stands and Accessories, Follow-Me Remote Follow Spot Control Systems, LumenRadio wireless lighting controls, Jands StageCL and Prolyte staging and trussing.

For more information, please visit www.aclighting.com or call 416.255.9494

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About Follow-Me

From the Netherlands, Follow-Me BV manufactures remote follow-spot and performer-tracking solutions. A Follow-Me 3D system is scalable and can manually track from 1 to 6 performers with unlimited fixtures, by adding Follow-Me Track-it, unlimited performers can be both manual and auto-tracked from a single Follow-Me system. Follow-Me is fixture-independent: it can control any brand of moving light via Art-Net, sACN & incorporate PSN.

Follow-Me systems are used internationally, currently, a wide array of applications ranging from international tours with artists such as Genesis, TV shows like The Masked Singer, theatrical productions, EXPO 2021 Dubai, theme parks, and many other acclaimed applications.

For more information, please visit www.aclighting.com or call 416.255.9494