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Historic St. George Theatre upgrades with Ayrton lighting rig

Staten Island’s St. George Theatre recently invested in 33 Ayrton Khamsin fixtures and eleven Ayrton Huracán Washes for the performing arts venue’s latest equipment upgrade. The 1,900-seat theatre opened in 1929 as a movie and vaudeville house, and it was renovated in 2004 and has been hosting educational programs, architectural tours, television and film shoots, concerts, comedy, Broadway touring companies and children’s shows.

The theatre’s most recent upgrade, to replace outdated lighting fixtures, saw fifteen Ayrton Khamsin units mounted on the FOH truss and sixteen Khamsins spread on the third and fourth electric and upstage truss; two more are on hand as spares. Eleven Ayrton Huracán Wash fixtures are on the downstage truss and second electric. Barbizon Lighting - New York sold the fixtures to the theatre. David Winnick, Systems Integrator with Barbizon’s System Division, has been freelancing at the St. George for the last few years and assisted with the project.

A multi-million dollar grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs enabled the theatre to revamp all of its theatrical lighting. Michael Abrams, a lighting designer, programmer and master electrician, designed the new rig and served as the theatre’s Head Electrician for the install. The Khamsins’ main function is “primarily ‘flash’ or ‘specials’”, he says.

As for the Huracáns, he explains: “With my old system, I didn’t have any strips for our cyc or full black, so I used washes to light it but, of course, there was still a circle beam. With the Huracáns, even though I also purchased strips, I have the opportunity to light them from the front and shutter without spill. We have also used them for downlight or backlight specials, while still being able to use the Khamsins for the crazy stuff.”

He notes that the new fixtures are so bright that he typically runs the rig at fifty percent to achieve “a tolerable level for guests and still have a bright light. I would rather have something too bright and bring it down than not have enough output”.

Barbizon Lighting also replaced the theatre’s GrandMA2 console with a GrandMA3 full-size with 8-port and 4-port nodes and an RPU. “Incoming tours and shows are most often running on the GrandMA3 platform”, says Winnick. IATSE Local One stagehands performed the install, including Marvin Bernabel, Carolyn O’Brian, Sheldon Lewis, Phil Tabbitas and Phil Tabbitas, Jr. At the St. George Theatre, Pete Mastropaolo is the Operations and Production Manager.

(Photos: Ayrton/St. George Theatre)

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