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UVLD’s David Seitz lights Prestonwood’s “The Gift of Christmas” with Elation Paragon

Each December, Prestonwood Baptist Church transforms its Plano campus in Texas into the setting for one of the largest holiday productions in the United States. This year the presentation was powered by Elation’s Paragon LED profile fixtures. 

With over 1,200 cast and crew members, live animals, flying performers, massive scenic elements, and nearly two hours of nonstop music and storytelling, “The Gift of Christmas” is a signature seasonal event for thousands of attendees. For the 2025 production, Lighting Designer David Seitz (UVLD) relied on fifty Paragon M fixtures to help bring the visually complex presentation to life.

UVLD creates lighting designs for corporate events, television, and special events and has been a long-time creative partner of Prestonwood. “This show is always evolving”, says Seitz. “We work on it basically year-round. We’re constantly tweaking and refining it, so having fixtures that give us flexibility is critical.”

Seitz, who has worked on the production for more than a decade, led the lighting design alongside UVLD colleagues Technical Director Greg Norgeot and Production Designer Matt Webb. Webb, who grew up attending the church, has been involved in the production for decades, including serving as a former lighting designer.

Staged in Prestonwood’s 7,000-seat worship center, “The Gift of Christmas” spanned fourteen performances plus rehearsals and incorporated actors, dancers, choir and orchestra, flying drummers, live camels, donkeys, alpacas, peacocks, and immersive large-scale projection and video content.

The production unfolded in two distinct parts. The first embraced a bold, colorful North Pole theme featuring Santa Claus and high-energy musical numbers. The second transitioned into the story of Jesus, culminating in a live nativity scene. “We might go from 1,000 people on stage to a moment where there’s one performer in the middle of the audience singing”, Seitz explains. “It’s powerful in both ways - whether it’s a huge cast and orchestra or a single soloist.”

For this year’s show, UVLD revamped parts of the lighting system and now runs a nearly 100-percent LED rig. Working closely with longtime rental partner Gemini Light Sound and Video of Dallas - part of Live Events Productions - the team evaluated inventory options and selected the Paragon M. The Paragon fixtures, supplied by Gemini, formed the backbone of the overhead rig, appearing across six trusses from downstage to upstage. “They were front and center”, says Seitz. “They basically replaced a traditional profile system and became a do-it-all fixture for us.”

Seitz had early exposure to the Paragon during its development, providing feedback on prototypes before its official release. “Nick Saiki at Elation brought me in early on”, he recalls. “I got to see the iterations, from where it started to where it ended up.” Before committing to the fixtures for the show, Seitz visited Gemini to review the final production units.

One of the Paragon’s standout features for Seitz is its TruTone variable CRI system, which can adjust from CRI 73 to CRI 93. “We’d tune it up to 90 CRI when we wanted beautiful skin tones, then tuned it down when we wanted more punch”, he says. “Having that option was huge.” This flexibility proved essential in a production that ranged from theatrical storytelling to high-energy EDM-style numbers.

For a production built to maintain its technical infrastructure for years to come, adaptability was key. “We’re intentional about how we allocate both budget and programming resources”, notes Seitz. “When we integrate new fixtures into the rig, we expect that investment to serve us reliably for eight to ten years.”

The show’s 160-foot-wide stage featured massive projection panels that stretched its length and were 34 feet high, forming a curtain and canvas for video mapping and scenic visuals. Combined with layered scrims and LED walls, the environment presented significant lighting challenges.

One new number introduced this year involved multiple projection scrims with performers positioned behind them. “It was tricky because we were creating this 3D environment between the LED wall in the back and the scrims that are layered in”, says Seitz. “We needed lights that could go from precise framing cuts to side light and backlight instantly. The Paragon could do that.”

They then used the same lights to illuminate around the scrims for textured gobo looks. The fixtures’ framing shutters, animation wheel, and gobo system allowed for rapid transitions. “We’d go from big gobo moments to narrow cuts on a scrim, then immediately back to lighting people”, Seitz explains.

He explored nearly every feature of the Paragon M throughout close to 5,000 lighting cues. “There isn’t a single element in those fixtures that went untouched”, he says. “They handled everything  -  beamage, scenic breakup, aerial effects, animation, and performer lighting. With the show in constant motion, the rig needed to be extremely flexible.”

Beyond lighting design, UVLD played a broader role in overseeing the production, working closely with Prestonwood’s staff and volunteer-based technical teams. Seitz also collaborated closely with the show’s composer, Jonathan Walker, integrating original music and lighting at a technical level. “He writes with lighting in mind”, says Seitz. “For our ‘Drummer Boy’ number, which has flying drummers fly over the audience, I take MIDI triggers from the drummers and manipulate lighting in real time. It’s amazing to be part of those creative decisions.”

Apart from Seitz, Webb and Norgeot, the team also included Nick Deel (Production Electrician), Michael Olivarez (Assistant Electrician), Scott Essancy (Assistant Electrician), Bryan Bailey (Prestonwood Baptist Church Director of Media), Rodney Bailey (Prestonwood Baptist Church Lighting Technician), Matthew Hughes (Follow-Me Department Lead), Amber Hess (Follow-Me Operations), Ben Coleman (Follow-Me Technician), and Follow-Me Operators Bill Mantz, Bill Russell, CG Maclin, Erin Priddy, Mark Holloway, Michael Fuhrman, Soma Badugu, Stephen Brown and Tayden Pendleton.

(Photos: Iris Lee)

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