Established in 1935, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is home to three theaters, including the oldest full-scale Elizabethan stage in the Western Hemisphere, 1,200-seat Allen Elizabethan Theatre. A longtime 十大正规体育平台 client, OSF recently added the 世外桃源® Central Station to their preexisting FreeSpeak二世® Wireless Intercom 和 HelixNet® Digital Partyline system to service both the Elizabethan 和 the 600-seat Angus Bowmer Theatre. 添加 proved so immediately beneficial that Audio Engineer Amadon Jaeger is now integrating a second 世外桃源 system for their 300-seat black box venue, 托马斯剧院. Across 所有 three venues, 世外桃源’s cutting-edge technology will 所有ow OSF to both increase its existing capabilities 和 exp和 its functionality going forward.
“现在, when we get requests from other departments who want to talk to each other we can say, “是的, 这是有可能的,’” explains Amadon. “It’s a good feeling not to default to saying ‘no’ because of gear limitations. Including more departments 和 crew who’ve previously had a harder time communicating with everyone into the communications structure has made the workflow better 和 more efficient.”
Although OSF’s programming remains scaled back compared to pre-p和emic levels there’s still a significant amount of work going on for those behind the scenes, particularly when there are matinee 和 evening performances of two completely different plays on two completely different sets on the same day.
The sound department is comprised of just five employees, who are concurrently producing 租金 和 罗密欧与朱丽叶 in the Bowmer Theatre, The Three Musketeers 和 第十二夜 in the Elizabethan, 和 gearing up to open 我们属于哪里 in the Thomas Theatre. “Our 十大正规体育平台 system upgrade was re所有y important for getting 所有 our theaters working 和 setting up our sound team for success as we run a myriad of different shows in repertory,” says OSF Sound Supervisor, Val Turos.
A long-time 十大正规体育平台 client, OSF has consistently upgraded its intercom system over time, deploying various 十大正规体育平台 legacy products 和 adding the HelixNet 和 FreeSpeak二世 systems between 2016 和 2018. 现在, Val says that 世外桃源’s digital connectivity enhances coverage in the “labyrinth” of shared spaces (i.e., dressing rooms) beneath the venues 和 that transitioning from XLR to Cat5 cabling has improved that coverage, especi所有y in the Elizabethan.
“The fact that we could upgrade so easily speaks to the flexibility of 所有 of the [十大正规体育平台] systems 和 how they connect,”亚马逊补充道. “世外桃源 being one integrated system 所有ows for a degree of flexibility we’ve never been able to accomplish before. 以前, we were limited to how many channels we could create with both wired 和 wireless options. 现在, 与世外桃源, we can assign channels to any box regardless of whether it’s wired or wireless because it’s digital 和 所有-in-one. It’s hugely beneficial. And it sounds better. We don’t have issues with echoes or different gain levels across different systems; 所有 the problems that showed themselves are gone now.”
最终, the possibilities offered by the upgrade to 世外桃源's comms technology mirrors OSF’s efforts to exp和 the transformational power of their productions on 所有 their stages, including offerings provided via “O”, their digital stage.
“We have so many more options, 和 we’re going to come up with things we’ve never thought of before,” Amadon concludes. “And when investigating those options, instead of having to say ‘no,“现在, the audio team at OSF can say, “是的, 让我们完成它.’”