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Elation lighting system brings new creative options to Hale Centre Theatre stages

As Head of Lighting and Video at Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy, Utah, Jaron Kent Hermansen has played a defining role in shaping the visual design of the venue’s performance and educational spaces. The designer was instrumental in the recent specification and integration of Elation Paragon fixtures in the Centre Stage and KL Core IP, KL Par FC, and Fuze Wash 500 fixtures in the newly opened Mountain American Arts & Education Beehive, which marks an expansion of its education program.

Associated with the Hale Centre since 2019, Hermansen was thorough in his background work before deciding to outfit the Hale Centre stages with Elation products. Working closely with Elation and Barbizon Lighting Company, he ultimately specified the fixtures after extensive testing and consultation. Key support came from Barbizon’s Peter Maurelli and Michael DeGrazio, and Elation’s William Irwin, who assisted in final system tuning and integration.

The Centre Stage features twelve Paragon M and twelve Paragon S fixtures for the in-the-round performance space. The Paragon S, positioned at VOM header level, are used for aerial textures and color, while also serving as the primary side light workhorses. The Paragon M work from overhead center ring positions.

In “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, which had its closing night at the Centre Stage on April 25, 2026, the Paragons were central to creating dramatic scenes of upheaval, including moments where it felt like the entire world was on fire. In the production’s “Hellfire” sequence, Hermansen and his team used the Paragon to construct a controlled perimeter of fire and light, blending flame with atmospheric lighting to create an almost physical sense of heat and tension.

“The goal wasn’t to make it look like a lighting trick or stage effect, because that would weaken the impact”, notes Hermansen. “Instead, everything was designed to feel real, an environment the audience couldn’t look away from. Fire worked alongside the glow of the Paragon units, so even when flames weren’t active, the space still felt hot and alive. Lighting from above into a fog-filled pit created an ominous void. At that point, it stopped reading as an effect and started to feel like hell itself.” Also, at the end of the play, when Quasimodo dumps burning iron onto the people below, the Paragons are used to create a glowing effect onto a fog curtain.

The Paragons are used to light the stage in tandem with projections, carefully matching the two for a nearly seamless result. In fact, Hermansen recalls walking into the space after the team had been working on it for a while and being unable to tell the difference between the projection and the Paragon effect.

The newly constructed Beehive Stage, a 300+ seat proscenium theatre with expansive LED architecture, opened in January 2026 with a youth production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Built to house the Hale Centre’s education program, the Beehive Stage presents both mainstage and youth productions, allowing emerging theatre technicians to manage youth shows and giving them hands-on experience with AV gear.

The venue includes a full LED scenic environment: an LED proscenium arch, dual LED legs, and a 50 ft x 26 ft LED wall. Here, the designer specified 52 KL Core IP units fitted with third-party shutter barrels. The whole idea behind the abundance of LED walls on the Beehive Stage is to integrate scenery and video seamlessly, or intentionally, between the two. “The LED walls are very punchy and bright, but the KL Cores really hold their own against them, especially when I have them coming through as side light”, says Hermansen. “They also color-match well. I rely on them to do a lot of the heavy lifting.”

Used across front light, side light, and top texture positions, the KL Core system provides saturated color for productions like “Hallmarked”, the theatre’s original musical currently running in the space. To ensure consistency across fixtures, Hermansen also specified 24 KL Par FC fixtures for the Beehive Stage, leveraging the same RGBMA color engine as the KL Core units to maintain uniform color tones. In addition, four Elation Fuze Wash 500 moving heads, also with RGBMA color mixing and suggested to Hermansen by Associate Lighting Designer/Programmer Collin Schmierer, provide soft, painterly fill and blending light.

“Hallmarked” runs on the Beehive Stage until June 6, 2026, with the next production, “Our Town”, opening July 6.

(Photos: Nate Bertone/Nile Hawver/Leavitt Wells)

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