Juan Camilo Triana (AV Com Colombia), Alfonso Ramos, Teatro Colsubsidio head of lighting and Humberto Hernandez from AHH
Columbia - Teatro Colsubsidio Roberto Arias Perez is a 1,000-seater venue opened in 1981 in central Bogota that has established itself at the centre of quality live entertainment, culture and performing arts. It’s renowned for high production values and imaginative shows offering a lively mix of concerts, musicals and classical performances.
The theatre has recently purchased its first Robe moving lights - 10 Pointes and 10 x Spiiders. Added to the house lighting rig, these have already started making a difference to how shows can be lit and presented.
The theatre is owned by a large commercial enterprise and independently run, and the new Robes were part of a general lighting upgrade that is ongoing to improve the technology and the levels of production on offer.
The upgrade also includes several LED fixtures, and before these new fixtures, they had six older moving lights, which were removed as soon as the Pointes and Spiiders arrived.
“We specifically wanted lights that would be ideal for lighting the concerts and musical theatre shows,” explained the venue’s head of lighting, Alfonso Ramos, who has been working there since 1982.
“So, we asked the opinions of various lighting designers who we know and work with on incoming shows about what they thought were the best options. Soon enough a pattern started emerging, and that was that many of them were recommending Robe.”
As well as overseeing his busy department, Alfonso also lights any productions that don’t have an LD, so he had a vested interest in having versatile and multipurpose fixtures in the house!
Teatro Colsubsidio stages around 10 - 12 shows per average month, although some shows might run several weeks as a season, other weeks they will have 3 or 4 completely different ones.
The first LD to use the venue’s new Robes was Humberto Hernandez from AHH, a busy and influential lighting designer working in Colombia and internationally. He came into Teatro Colsubsidio earlier in the year to light a Disney-approved production of Beauty & The Beast, and Robe’s local distributor AV Com Colombia pulled out all the stops to get the lights delivered in time.
His next show in there is the tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires and he will also be lighting a Christmas show that premieres in November.
(Jim Evans)

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