LA PROPOINT TAPPED BY OAKS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL TO PLAY A LEADING ROLE IN CREATION OF NEW MULTIMILLION DOLLAR PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Company installed Desisti theatrical rigging and Genlyte lighting system at Bedrosian Pavilion
Guests to enjoy new facility at dinner concert August 30
(Sun Valley, Calif.) August 27, 2007 – How do you light a space that is often a volleyball court, occasionally a conference hall, and still other times a theater—the site of elaborate student productions? The first step may be to tap the expertise of LA ProPoint, Southern California’s leader in the design, engineering, fabrication and installation of stage and show systems.
Since spring 2006, LA ProPoint has been immersed in creating the flexible, multipurpose rigging and lighting system for Oaks Christian School’s newest building on campus, the Bedrosian Pavilion, named for school board member and donor John Bedrosian. Located in Westlake Village, California, Oaks Christian School is a private, nondenominational middle and high school with a reputation for academic and athletic excellence.
Recently, the school set its sights on establishing a comprehensive performing arts program, and hired Kip Kibler to serve as construction manager for a new, $16 Million facility—a combination gymnasium and auditorium. Kibler, in turn, sought a collaboration with the lighting and rigging experts at LA ProPoint.
“Based on my successful past experience working with the LA ProPoint team on the REDCAT Theatre in LA’s Disney Hall, I knew I needed to bring them on again as the theatrical rigging contractor for the Oaks Christian School project,” said Kip Kibler. “School leadership chose to make a significant investment to create both a modern gym and a high-end theatre space. Lighting a multi-purpose arts and athletic center is a unique challenge, one that LA ProPoint has the experience and the skills to tackle.”
“At the Bedrosian Pavilion at Oaks Christian School, our scope of work included not only the theatrical rigging, but also the theatrical lighting, the drapes, and the lighting control system,” explained Harvey Sweet, LA ProPoint’s vice president of sales and an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in theatre production, consulting, and theatrical rigging.
LA ProPoint worked closely with the theatre consultant on the project, The Ruzika Company, throughout the design and installation process to ensure that all lighting and rigging decisions served to create the intended vision. LA ProPoint installed:
- A straight-lift, manual, winch-operated fire safety curtain
- 14 motorized linesets (manufactured by Desisti Rigging Automation) and 9 stationary linesets for stage lighting and drapes
- 244 theatrical lighting circuits, including house lighting circuits and worklights
- A modern dimming system that uses IGBT dimmers to manage current in a noiseless, electrically and electronically efficient manner, minimizing the amount of copper wiring necessary to power the system
- No-technicians-necessary wall-mounted lighting control stations located backstage as well as at the theater entrances that allow lay users to select one of eight possible, programmable lighting “looks” to illuminate the stage in different ways as the room’s functions change
Additional compelling features of LA ProPoint’s latest project include:
- Six ceiling-suspended 8’ by 8’ tension grid panels that can provide access to lighting positions used to front light performers on the stage, but won’t interfere with high-flying volleyball and basketball activities
- Huge, rich, velour lift curtains hung at either side of the room that can be raised for athletic events or lowered to create a soft physical feel and improved sound quality for theatrical performances. The curtains are motor operated panels of fabric approximately 24’ high by 92’ wide. Each weighs in excess of 500 pounds
- A fully functional TV studio on the lower level of the facility in which LA ProPoint has provided a lighting pipe grid, green screen and drapes
- A green room with lighting grid that will be used by acting classes
“Ultimately, our goal with the Oaks Christian School project was to design systems of professional quality that could be used easily by experienced technicians, drama students, and schoolteachers and administrators alike,” said Mark Riddlesperger, founder and president of LA ProPoint. “Whether the Bedrosian Pavilion is scheduled to host a production of Romeo and Juliet, a teacher training, a school board meeting, or a championship basketball game, Oaks Christian School now has a building—and a rigging and lighting system—that will meet all its needs.”
“It is highly rewarding to think that with the completion of this project, we just may be handing the facility over to teenagers who will one day be our entertainment industry colleagues,” added Harvey Sweet.
Oaks Christian School has planned a by-invitation-only dinner and concert, which will be held at the Bedrosian Pavilion on August 30.
About LA ProPoint
Since 2002, LA ProPoint has been a leading provider of design, engineering, fabrication and installation of stage and show systems for all aspects of the entertainment industry, from concert halls and theme parks to outdoor amphitheatres and movie sets. Strategically headquartered in Southern California in the city of Sun Valley, the company has a huge reach. Its highly skilled, experienced technicians, fabricators and craftspeople regularly take on far-flung projects from the Hollywood Bowl and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.