Tournee Musical Theater. During the covid19 pandemic, I got in touch with the Opernwerkstatt-Am-Rhein association, a non-profit organization that supports inclusivity. They are specialized in touring musical theater. When I started my work for them as a light operator and designer, the technical assets of the organization needed an urgent update.

In cooperation with MW-Veranstaltungstechnik, I designed a unique tour dollie system, rebuilt the touring cases, reorganized and repaired many things, and did a technical CAD plan. We cut down the preparation time by nearly two to three hours with these changes. We can now start at 11am instead of 9am and have a proper break before the show.

The touring dollies work on a unique concept. Instead of using large and heavy touring truss, which is impossible to sling in theaters because of the weight limitations, we are using regular „Layher sticks“(reinforced steel/aluminum pipes). These are very solid and have a thicker wall diameter than standard trusses. We have our modules readily built on these and only need to hang them and plug our connection cables. The modules travel in a special system, where we can easily slide them out.

We tour throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Since theaters rarely share the same technical configuration, many productions still rely heavily on conventional lighting. To keep our shows consistent and further minimize setup time, I integrated Robe Esprite profile moving lights into the design. Thanks to their internal framing shutters, I can precisely adjust all spot positions and shutter cuts directly from the Front of House (FOH).

The GrandMA2 programming of all shows also needed some work. To keep up with the time and impose more flexibility, I implemented the „flying-faders“ programming concept, fixed many tracking issues, and worked on the creative presentation. Some of the shows I re-programmed entirely with the help of Depence2 visualizer, which is able to reproduce the real lighting and video conditions. In addition we upgraded the hardware video projection setup and added a Resolume Arena to GrandMA2 integration.

Currently we are touring with three shows and keep adding more. It’s a lot of fun working with all artists and people behind the curtain and feels like a bit of family.