Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre is one of the most historic venues in American theatre. Founded in 1808, it is the longest continually operating theatre in the English-speaking world and hosts a diverse program of productions each season, welcoming more than 200,000 audience members every year.
To support its ongoing commitment to innovation and production quality, the theatre recently upgraded part of its lighting system with the introduction of 18 PROLIGHTS EclProfile CT+HP fixtures, supplied by A.C. Americas, PROLIGHTS official distributor for North America.
As part of the upgrade, Production Technical Supervisor Matthew DeMascolo led the replacement of the theatre's previous LED profile fixtures, which had reached the limits of their performance after more than a decade of use. The new PROLIGHTS EclProfile CT+HP units were selected to deliver higher output, improved colour rendering and greater flexibility for theatrical productions.
“I've never had much interaction with PROLIGHTS gear,” explains DeMascolo, “but once I was introduced to this product, I knew it would be the perfect fit and never looked back.”
The theatre required a robust LED profile fixture capable of keeping pace with the output of modern LED moving lights, as many of the other fixtures in the rig are incredibly bright, while still maintaining accurate colour reproduction and smooth dimming behaviour. According to DeMascolo, the EclProfile CT+HP successfully met those demands.
“We needed something very robust that punches through with very saturated colours, while allowing us to mix soft pastels and maintain a tungsten feel,” he says. “Dimming of the source is one of the most important parts of any theatrical LED unit, and the CT+HP did not disappoint.”
The fixtures also integrate seamlessly with the theatre's ETC console system, offering precise colour control and reliable performance within the existing lighting infrastructure.
The creative potential of the new fixtures was demonstrated during the theatre's production of Million Dollar Quartet, where lighting designer Ryan O'Gara of O'Gara Design Group was among the first to use the new system.
“The units were very bright, had a great dimming curve, and I was able to mix a great assortment of colours to meet the show's needs,” says O'Gara. “I can't wait to use these again, and can only say good things about the fixture.”
“Lighting designers tell stories through pictures, and emotion is often dictated by colour,” DeMascolo explains. “Colour brings out emotion. So, having the colour spectrum of this particular fixture increases the range of emotion that can be told through light.”
Since then, the EclProfile CT+HP fixtures have also been used in additional productions at the theatre, including A Christmas Story, where they proved equally effective in delivering strong colour looks for large musical numbers while also supporting more natural interior scenes.
“The way this fixture is designed, the colour option modes, the colour mixes, the way it fades and operates, provides a much broader spectrum of light and colour rendering than any previous fixture we've had,” DeMascolo adds. “The audience may not understand the technical details, but it deepens their emotional connection to the performance.”
With high output, smooth colour mixing, precise beam control and intuitive operation, the PROLIGHTS EclProfile CT+HP fixtures are now an integral part of Walnut Street Theatre's lighting system, supporting a wide range of productions and lighting design styles.
For more information, please contact: marketing@prolights.it
