Ayrton Mistral and Diablo-S Fixtures Enjoy Broadway and Off-Broadway Runs with Lighting Designer Ken Posner

Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Ken Posner selected Ayrton Mistral and Diablo-S fixtures for the Broadway musical, “Beetlejuice,” and the Off-Broadway one-act play, “Long Lost.”  “Beetlejuice” opened in April at the Winter Garden Theatre and has achieved hit status; “Long Lost,” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Marguelies, made its New York premiere at The Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage I with a six-week run. ACT Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton fixtures in North America.

Posner has many notable credits on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in American regional theater. He was the lighting designer for two of the most highly-regarded musicals of our time, “Wicked” and “Hairspray.” 

Posner’s use of Mistrals on “Beetlejuice” marked his first deployment of Ayrton fixtures. His Associate Lighting Designer Anthony Pearson and Moving Light Programmer David Arch collaborated in the decision to use the 300 W spot luminaires after ACT Lighting demo’d the fixtures for them.

“For its compact size Mistral is a very diverse and bright fixture,” says Posner.  “I was especially enthusiastic about its size since the fixtures are built into the scenery, the interior of the house where the majority of ‘Beetlejuice’ is performed.”

Eight to ten Mistrals light the entire large scenic unit while additional Mistrals fill in FOH in the light plot.  “Mistral solved the power limitations we had,” Posner notes.  “Using an arc source was not an option due to electrical requirements.  I also liked Mistral’s great color mixing and customized templates.”

Posner reports that Mistral has become “a reliable” fixture for “Beetlejuice” where there have been no equipment failures.  “The Mistrals have held up really well even though they’re subject to some rough treatment: The scenic unit tracks up and down the stage with some speed,” he reports.  PRG supplied the Mistrals for the musical.

Posner chose a pair of Diablo-S 300 W profile luminaires especially designed for stage applications for the Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “Long Lost.” The scenic design by John Lee Beatty was comprised of three turn tables which transformed the space into five different realistic interiors. Posner found the Diablos to be “the right tool for helping to change the lighting for each location. Given its compact size, the variety we could get from the fixture was great.  The color mixing, template indexing and quality of the edge are all very good.  The shuttering was accurate and consistent.”