Sight and Sound Theater (Lancaster PA)

[JD]

Just caught a show out there (Noah) and have to say I was blown away. Doing my usual instrument count, I lost count at around 460, and was only about half way through. This somewhat jives with their website which notes it has one million watts of lighting and 60,000 watts of sound. ( Behind The Scenes at Sight & Sound Theatres )

Have to plead ignorant that I could have lived in this region for most of my life and never made it out there! (or stupid, maybe?)
Don't know how this gem of a place didn't get visited before. They apparently do a behind the scenes tour, and I intend to make it back there this summer.

Anybody else know some more background, equipment info, etc. on this place? Somebody sold it a lot of stuff

 

[Footer]

Never heard of it. Then again, I tend to try to stay away from anyone who says they are from a church and has those kind of budgets. Speaking of that, anyone know if the LDS conference center is still the largest ETC install in the world?

 

[JD]

Never heard of it. Then again, I tend to try to stay away from anyone who says they are from a church and has those kind of budgets. Speaking of that, anyone know if the LDS conference center is still the largest ETC install in the world?

It's not a church or associated with one. Not even a non-profit. I know they have a board of directors, so it is structured like a corp. They call themselves a "faith-based live theater."
Facility itself is 2000 seat, with average annual attendance of 800,000. They apparently have a second theater of the same size in Branson, MO.
The structure is awe inspiring.

 

[bishopthomas]

Interesting. I never would have thought that to be in Lancaster. Then again, I've only ever been to one place in Lancaster, never explored the town. Here's a picture I found while doing a Google Images search: http://shows.sight-sound.com/StaticContent/images/pict/behind.jpg

 

[JD]

Interesting. I never would have thought that to be in Lancaster. Then again, I've only ever been to one place in Lancaster, never explored the town. Here's a picture I found while doing a Google Images search: http://shows.sight-sound.com/StaticContent/images/pict/behind.jpg

Googling them is like googling Disney. Lots of ticket information and pictures, but very little technical info.
From what I could gather (tricky because they used good blocking) the layout used 12 FOH follow spot locations, had a forty five foot stage height (some of the props needed it!) about 130 foot wide main stage. There are also two wrap-around stages, so at one point, the audience is surrounded by stage on three sides all of which have something going on.

No idea where the sound was hidden but it was thunderous (pun.) There was an extensive catwalk system.

They made good use of a video server system and screens that kept the show going during stage set changes. All in all, they out Disney'ed Disney!

I was reading "Noah", which they have mixed in with a number of other shows over the years, has had 3.2 million audience viewers over it's run, and grossed about 150 million in sales. (definitely, a "for profit" venture.) Best I can see is that it is a privately owned corporation.

Someone sold them a heck of a lot of lighting equipment, so I was hoping it would ring a bell here.

 

[StNic54]

Sight and Sound has been around a long time, and it is one of those places that is more word-of-mouth than anything else. When I first chanced upon them, most of my church friends already had been there or at least knew about it. They have invested heavily in the technical side of things over the years, and it really is no different than any other regional theatre or summer stock. I feel like they may have a stock of shows that get repeated and revised, but they certainly are catering an extremely specific audience. They advertise with places like SETC and USITT, and I believe that Live Design / Lighting Dimensions has done a technical write-up for them in the past (or maybe Church Production, or LSA - all fuzzy to me). It's not unlike Holy Land in Orlando, or for that matter like any number of minor amusement parks that have existed under the radar through the years - Dollywood, Ghost Town in the Sky, Hershey Park, Kings Island, etc. If it's not Disney, Busch Gardens, Six Flags, odds are you may not know too much about it unless you're from those parts

 

[STEVETERRY]

Googling them is like googling Disney. Lots of ticket information and pictures, but very little technical info.
From what I could gather (tricky because they used good blocking) the layout used 12 FOH follow spot locations, had a forty five foot stage height (some of the props needed it!) about 130 foot wide main stage. There are also two wrap-around stages, so at one point, the audience is surrounded by stage on three sides all of which have something going on.

No idea where the sound was hidden but it was thunderous (pun.) There was an extensive catwalk system.

They made good use of a video server system and screens that kept the show going during stage set changes. All in all, they out Disney'ed Disney!

I was reading "Noah", which they have mixed in with a number of other shows over the years, has had 3.2 million audience viewers over it's run, and grossed about 150 million in sales. (definitely, a "for profit" venture.) Best I can see is that it is a privately owned corporation.

Someone sold them a heck of a lot of lighting equipment, so I was hoping it would ring a bell here.

Errr....that would be me, at various points in time.

S&S was a great customer of Production Arts for many years. They bought various smallish systems as they opened smallish theatres in Lancaster.

Then one day their theatre burned down and they rebuilt it. Only at that point did I go to Lancaster and see their operation.

I was dumbfounded--somebody had built the Metropolitan Opera House and Bellagio showroom rolled into one---and it seemed to be well kept secret.

Joe Basinger is the lighting designer at the facility. He's doing stuff on the scale of a Vegas showroom. If I recall correctly, the proscenium is 110' wide, with two additional side stages. They have a full automation department. They produce all the media for their shows in house. They have live animals on stage. I think there are over 300 full time employees in the production department. They have very high standards.

Then they did it all over again in Branson, Missouri.

All in all, it's an amazing operation.

ST

 

[JD]

Very impressive indeed Steve!
I would take that as an indicator that there is a lot of ETC in use there.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

12 shows a week - brutal.

 

[chausman]

Mission Statement - Our purpose is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sow the Word of God
into the lives of our customers, guests and fellow workers by visualizing and dramatizing the scriptures
through inspirational productions, encouraging others and seeking always to be dedicated and wise
stewards of our God-given talents and resources.

"Like a church, but not really".

They're hiring. Sight & Sound Theatre Shows in Lancaster County, PA and Branson, MO

And the tour is cheap. $5 in Branson, $10 in Lancaster.

 

[Cruiseduck]

"Like a church, but not really".

They're hiring. Sight & Sound Theatre Shows in Lancaster County, PA and Branson, MO

And the tour is cheap. $5 in Branson, $10 in Lancaster.

I had a boss who worked for them. Said they do some interesting shows. Not a bad place to work apparently, if you can deal with a high Ned Flanders count. It is in Lancaster PA which makes central New York look cosmopolitan. You also can't argue with their budgets. Apparently it's one of those "oh you want that? Buy two, one might break." Outfits.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Very impressive indeed Steve!
I would take that as an indicator that there is a lot of ETC in use there.

Yes, indeed!

ST

 

[kesowul]

Interesting that this thread has opened up here. I just left working for Sight & Sound after over 5 years and most recently as one of their Associate Lighting Designers. The team of people who work on the productions are amazing people who do awesome work. The lighting rigs typically consist of, on average, 1500 conventional lights and 100 moving lights (it is a Clay Paky house). As for Noah, there are around 500 lights just in the interior ark sets. BTW thanks ETC for v2.0 on the Eos. I created the magic sheets for this show and it helped to save an enormous amount of programming time.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Interesting that this thread has opened up here. I just left working for Sight & Sound after over 5 years and most recently as one of their Associate Lighting Designers. The team of people who work on the productions are amazing people who do awesome work. The lighting rigs typically consist of, on average, 1500 conventional lights and 100 moving lights (it is a Clay Paky house). As for Noah, there are around 500 lights just in the interior ark sets. BTW thanks ETC for v2.0 on the Eos. I created the magic sheets for this show and it helped to save an enormous amount of programming time.

You are welcome! Glad to hear the Magic Sheets feature was useful to you. We are getting similar feedback from all over the industry.

Cheers

ST

 

[sarahsliefie]

I am currently working for S&S as Mechanical/Structural Supervisor. If any one is in the local and wants to come see the place let me know. It is beyond belief and then so much more. There are 5 shops with a couple as large as a foot ball field. We do not waste money, but we do not pinch it ether. anyone who knows theater would be blown away by what we do each and every day back stage. Just wait for next years production. 25 shop crew working on one set for two years full time, and we still have to farm some of it out. Ya it is that big.

 

[JD]

I am currently working for S&S as Mechanical/Structural Supervisor. If any one is in the local and wants to come see the place let me know. It is beyond belief and then so much more. There are 5 shops with a couple as large as a foot ball field. We do not waste money, but we do not pinch it ether. anyone who knows theater would be blown away by what we do each and every day back stage. Just wait for next years production. 25 shop crew working on one set for two years full time, and we still have to farm some of it out. Ya it is that big.

My intent is to get up there (Lancaster) this summer to take the backstage tour. Would love to see things in a bit more of an extensive fashion. Was quite blown away when we came up earlier this year to see Noah. (And after 40 years in lighting and stage, that takes a lot!)

 

[avkid]

Oh man, I was just in Lancaster last week...
If only I had kept up on my Controlbooth.

 

[sarahsliefie]

My intent is to get up there (Lancaster) this summer to take the backstage tour. Would love to see things in a bit more of an extensive fashion. Was quite blown away when we came up earlier this year to see Noah. (And after 40 years in lighting and stage, that takes a lot!)

Let me know when you are coming you can email me at [email protected]

 

[JD]

I most certainly will! Thank you.

 

[museav]

Just caught a show out there (Noah) and have to say I was blown away. Doing my usual instrument count, I lost count at around 460, and was only about half way through. This somewhat jives with their website which notes it has one million watts of lighting and 60,000 watts of sound. ( Behind The Scenes at Sight & Sound Theatres )

I'm sure the lighting and sound systems are impressive, however all that tells you is that they potentially draw a lot of power, it says nothing about their performance or the associated results.

People always like to advertise how many watts of lighting or sound they have but I am personally much more impressed by someone being able to achieve the same results as efficiently as possible rather than potentially bragging about how inefficient the systems are.