FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Scott Carpenter
336.722.9660 or scott@capturevalue.com
UNCSA TO HOST ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
WITH CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (August 31, 2009) – The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts are hosting the UNCSA Southeastern Regional Entertainment Technology Conference October 8-10, 2009 on the UNCSA campus in Winston-Salem. This three day conference will be presented by members of the technical operations team of Cirque du Soleil and their partners Stage Technologies and Meyer Sound Laboratories. The conference is open to students and faculty of university theatre departments.
The UNCSA Southeastern Regional Entertainment Technology Conference is the first of what Cirque du Soleil hopes to be many regional conferences highlighting the unique, extensive and carefully orchestrated technological requirements that go into a Cirque du Soleil production. The conference is a rare opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at Cirque du Soleil productions—perhaps some of the most complicated entertainment experiences being performed today. Conference topics include audio, stage automation, projections, rigging, theatre operations as well as wardrobe and wig/makeup.
Cirque du Soleil has identified a need to hire hundreds of theatre technicians over the next several years to perform the technical elements of its current and future productions. Cirque du Soleil has organized this conference to help faculty members, students and other interested individuals learn more about the requirements and skill sets needed to prepare for a career in the entertainment theatre industry and more specifically for a career in technical operations with Cirque du Soleil.
“We are delighted to bring this conference to the UNCSA campus. It fits perfectly with our mission of training talented students for professional careers in the arts,” Kenan Institute for the Arts executive director Margaret Mertz said. “It will be a great opportunity for our design and production faculty and students to gain first hand knowledge about the specifics of working for this internationally acclaimed organization.”
“It is significant that a commercial entity like Cirque du Soleil has reached out to university training programs in the United States, and specifically to a professional conservatory such as UNCSA, in order to help meet their employment needs for well trained entertainment technicians over the next several years,” UNCSA assistant dean of Design and Production Dennis Gill Booth said. “This has the potential to significantly alter the manner in which technical theatre and entertainment engineering is approached at our major educational institutions.”
Presenters at the conference include:
Eric Ludacer - Head of Projections “The Beatles LOVE”
Ludacer started his career with Cirque Du Soleil in late 2005 as an on-call follow spot operator for the production of “La Nouba” in Orlando, FL and has worked his way up to the Head of Projections for “The Beatles LOVE.” Before joining Cirque, Ludacer spent many years touring nationally and internationally with shows such as “Miss Saigon,” “42nd Street,” “Les Miserables,” and “The Who’s Tommy.” He has also worked on the installation team for Universal Studios Island of Adventure and as the House Electrician for the Progress Energy Performing Arts Center. Ludacer is a 1998 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Lighting Design.
Michael Peters - Assistant Head of Rigging "O" at the Bellagio
Peters started as the lead rigger of the maintenance crew for “O” six years ago. For the last two years, he has been the Assistant Head of Rigging. Peters worked for Royal Caribbean International on several of their ships for about three years. He ran production shows, performed maintenance and handled all the “Flying by Foy” equipment, and performed installs on new ships. Peters has also worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Peter Britt Music and Arts Festival, the Lied Center, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He has a BFA from Southern Oregon State College in Technical Direction and a MFA in Technical Direction from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Roger J. Stricker - Hair and Makeup Supervisor “Zumanity”
With over 25 years of show business experience, Stricker is a two-time winner of the Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Guild Award, and has worked with Cher, Frank Sinatra, Ellen Burstyn, and Shirley MacLaine. Audiences around the world may have seen his work on productions of “The Lion King,” “Rent,” “The Producers” and many other Broadway Productions. His work has been featured in a variety of high-profile publications, television programs, and award shows including InStyle, Marie Claire, Playboy, Vanity Fair, “The Tonight Show,” “The View,” “Last Call with Carson Daily,” “E!” “Daily 10,” “Chelsea Lately,” “The Tony Awards,” “The Grammy Awards” and the “BMI Urban Music Awards.”
Leu Strope - Operations Production Manager “The Beatles LOVE”
Since June of 2007, Strope has been the Operations Production Manager for “The Beatles LOVE” by Cirque du Soleil. He has toured domestically and internationally with two of Cirque du Soleil's Big Top productions. He also spent three years as the Production Manager of the Carolina Ballet and several seasons with the Arizona Theatre Company. Mr. Strope holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA from the University of Arizona.
Other presenters include: Gemma Guy - Stage Technologies and Mac Johnson - Meyer Sound Laboratories.
For more information and details on the conference, visit http://faculty.uncsa.edu/techconference.
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (http://www.uncsa.edu) is the University of North Carolina’s conservatory for the arts, dedicated entirely to the professional training of students possessing exceptional talents in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA offers students focused, intense, professional training at the high school, baccalaureate, and masters levels in its schools of Dance, Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking and Music.
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts incubates projects that sustain artists at every point in their creative development through strategic partnerships that capitalize on visionary thinking in the arts. For more information, visit http://www.kenanarts.org or call 336.722.0030.
Cirque du Soleil is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009. From the 20 or so tumblers the company featured when it all began in 1984, Quebec-based Cirque du Soleil has become a leading provider of quality entertainment with 4,000 employees, including 1,000 artists who hail from some 40 different countries.
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