ProSoundWeb: Needham, Massachusetts-based Arlekin Players Theatre (-ARLEKIN!), founded by noted director Igor Golyak and associated with Boston Conservatory at Berklee, is employing a Pliant Technologies MicroCom XR wireless intercom system in order to effectively communicate throughout its rehearsals and productions.
3 comments:
This was a really bizarre article to read. not because of anything to do with the technology, but because this theater is located in my hometown and yet I've never heard of it before. I did a deep dive because I was admittedly very curious about how I could have never heard of them when they seem to be doing quite well for themselves in terms of reviews at least, and it appears that they are founded by immigrants for immigrants. totally fine, but I'm still a little confused because I have quite a lot of friends from high school who are of that background, and who were interested in theater, who have also never heard of this production company. I must admit, I'm a little disappointed that they don't do more community outreach to the town that they're located in. It would have been really nice to get a chance to see meaningful work produced in my own community. It's just interesting the disconnect that this organization seems to have from its geographical location.
This is just a typical behind the scenes sort of article, replete with just enough good words and endorsements about the intercom system in question. That’s fine. I think what’s interesting about this short article is how elementary a lot of their discussion is. The article describes what a tech rehearsal is or how an actor wore a real headset on stage (wow). I wish this article had focused more on what the actual Pliant system has to offer beyond “long battery life” and “long range”. I would have liked to hear more about the purported “simplicity” of the headsets as well. Does their simplicity come at the expense of the usability of the headsets in various ways? This article is on a sound website, the viewers of which, I would hope, are relatively knowledgeable in live entertainment sound. I think articles like this that separate theater out from other live events and make it sound kind of odd are not beneficial at all. I would much rather an explanation of how the comms help the company that works right outside my home town do their jobs than an explanation of what their jobs are.
This is a really interesting production and utilization of technology. I was really shocked by the needs they expressed for the production, because of how complex and rigorous the process seemed. 10-12 hour tech rehearsals, while actors and parts of the performances went to the street sounds like a lot to manage. I’m really impressed with their technology if it’s lasting that long consistently and managing such long distances of communication. I also like the idea of specialized channels for communication to not busy channels or confuse anyone. On a show I worked on recently, though, when the assistant stage manager would reach the stage manager, I could only hear the stage manager’s response, even though the ASM was who I was closely working with backstage during the production. It seems like an aspect of comms that people don’t take much into consideration, but absolutely should. I also think it’s really interesting that an actor wore the headset as a prop, and actually got to listen to the cues live! That’s always been a part of theatre I’ve wondered about, like putting lines or cues in a prop book or newspaper
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