Chapel Off Chapel is one of Melbourne’s most popular live performance venues. Housed in a former church that opened in 1995, it presents a well-rounded programme of live music, cabaret, theatre, comedy, dance and visual art. The venue has hosted artists such as Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Tripod, and musicals including The Colour Purple, Rent and Blood Brothers. It’s also a main hub for Melbourne Cabaret Festival and Midsumma Festival.

Recently, Chapel Off Chapel went to the market looking to upgrade their lighting rig that was currently installed in the Chapel Theatre. “Firstly, we wanted to reduce our energy consumption with all LED fixtures, the venues carbon footprint is really important to council’s sustainability. Secondly, we needed to acquire some new powerful fresnels and profiles that would give the theatre some new upgraded looks for productions then what we currently had installed,” stated Simon Prentice, Technical Supervisor at Chapel Off Chapel. After looking at the various fixtures on the market, the CHAUVET Professional range really caught the eye of Simon and subsequently Chapel decided to acquire fixtures from the new Ovation range, including:

22x Ovation E-930VW Ellipsoidals
11x Ovation F-915VW fresnels
8x Ovation H-265WW LED house lights
1x NET-X ART-NET to DMX Node
1x WDMX Transmitter

Firstly, they acquired 22x Ovation E-930VW Ellipsoidals. The Ovation E-930VW is a high-performance, variable white ellipsoidal style fixture that utilizes a unique 6-color LED system. “The Ovation E-930VW was a real standout in the ovation range,” commented Simon. “This fixture projects a bright, beautifully flat field of light in nearly any temperature of white with high CRI and CQS.” Simon also talked about the versatility of the fixture, “Each color temperature can be further adjusted for +/- green to perfect the field of light. For times when a splash of color is needed, the fixture can also give you full control of each colour of LED as well.” In addition, the 930VW provides beautiful 16-bit dimming, variable white ERS-style lighting and virtually silent operation for theatre, which was vital for Chapel Off Chapel.

11x Ovation F-915VW fresnels were also added to the lighting rig to complement the E-930VW’s. The Ovation F-915VW is a high-power, variable white Fresnel-style fixture that features a zoom with a 30° – 85° field angle that will enable Chapel to add light where it is needed. “The Ovation F-915VW is another variable white LED Fresnel lighting fixture that is ideal for theatre and production,” Simon added. “The fixture provides a soft, even field of light and a smooth, motorized zoom from 16° to 42° beam angle to give us some great options depending on the show. Simon continued, “The LED engine also delivers tremendous, equal output at all colour temperatures and once again the fixture is very silent which is ideal for all theatre productions.”

To round off the acquisition in the Ovation range, Simon also decided to go with the new Ovation H-265WW LED house light. The Ovation H-265WW is a silent, convection cooled LED house light with a powerful warm white light output and a high CRI, ideal for theatres like Chapel Off Chapel. “The unit also features 16-bit dimming, as well as adjustable PWM to prevent flickering on televised performances. For even more versatility, the yoke can be completely removed, and the fixture suspended, pendant style, from a loop on the back plate,” Simon specified.

After all the Ovation fixtures were all installed into the Chapel Theatre, Chapel decided to go back to the market a couple months later, this time seeking a powerful wash fixture to compliment the new lighting rig. The decision was made to stick to the CHAUVET Professional range and acquire 4x Maverick MK2 Washes. The MK2 Wash has flawlessly even output, custom designed optics, full pixel mapping, virtual gobo wheel with background colors, pre-programmed colors and 7º – 49º zoom range. “We acquired the Maverick MK2 Washes because we could use the fixtures in a variety of ways. We can use them as downlight washes, backlight washes and cross-light washes, as well as for various scene changes for different productions,” Simon emphasized.

With these new CHAUVET Professional fixtures installed in Chapel Off Chapel, the theatre now has an updated lighting rig that will provide each production advanced looks and add an extra dimension for all audiences. In addition, the conventional lighting rig which previously consumed a total of 27.4Kw at 100% will now only use 13.8Kw at the same level thanks to the LED fixtures.

CHAUVET Professional Fixtures supplied by ASL Systems.

Photo Credit: Ibrahim Mustafa (Taylor Henderson Live – Chapel Sessions)

Showtools