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Sennheiser Supplies Wireless Mics to Baton Rouge Little Theater After Hurricane Gustav
Although Baton Rouge was a safe haven for those fleeing Louisiana's hard-hit coastal cities during and after Hurricane Katrina, it took as much of Hurricane Gustav's punishment as any other city in the beleaguered state. The 350-seat Baton Rouge Little Theater, the capital city's premier performing arts center since 1948, sustained water, wind and structural damage to its exterior and grounds. Much worse, ticket sales plunged from sold-out to nothing a few days before the hurricane hit and for two weeks during the cleanup. The missing income, coupled with an understandable reallocation of city funds from the arts to more immediate matters, pushed BRLT's budget to the breaking point.
"Despite the tremendous challenge to our budget, we knew that going forward with our planned production of ‘Chicago' would serve as a welcome escape in the hurricane's aftermath for the community that attends our shows with such dedication," said Keith Dixon, BRLT's managing artistic director. A logistical feat in itself, the theater pushed the opening date back by a week to allow time for rehearsals and repairs, reassigning days to some 2,500 subscribers.
Nevertheless, ‘Chicago' probably wasn't the ideal show to produce on a tight budget. "We had a twelve-piece band on stage behind the performers," explained Dixon. "The band sounded great and, as bands often do, it sounded loud. We needed to get the vocals and dialog of our eighteen performers up and over the band without compromising fidelity. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford the pricey rental fees for the ten additional Sennheiser wireless mics that we needed to complement our own stock."
To their surprise, Sennheiser agreed to loan the theater ten channels of ew 312 G2 wireless body packs with ME 2 lavalier mics so that the show could go on with fidelity worthy of their efforts. "Without those mics, I'm sure we would have had lines and vocals obscured by the music," said Dixon. "Those are the sort of technical distractions that can really pull an audience out of the world we're trying to create on stage. As it was, all of the channels were totally solid. We had no feedback issues. All in all, it was a great performance."
In fact, every show was sold-out! "I was pleased to hear that their production went off without a hitch," said Robb Blumenreder, Sennheiser's industry team manager for music industry, Neumann and Klein + Hummel. "Being a former member of a theatre group and a product of an extensive musical program in my home town of Southington, Connecticut, I know that the arts are often the first thing to get cut when budget times are tough. But they're also an incredible way to inspire and give hope to the community - especially after events like Hurricane Gustav. Due to their special circumstances, Sennheiser was more than happy to lend a helping hand to the Baton Rouge Little Theater."
5th December 2008
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