Continued

Auxiliary audio systems are controlled via a Crestron system which acts as a matrix for paging and dedicated audio, broken up into seven zones. Both theaters share a lobby area, not architecturally delineated from the library itself; this area is divided into zones for McColl and Wachovia, with the remainder of the space as well as the rest of the building zoned for administration. "Crestron touch panels [TPS4500's] in each Control Room allow me to route any number of audio sources to the paging system, including Show Relay," says Coble, "and a number of Crestron wall panels [TPS-3000L's] throughout the building can assign audio program or paging to any or all zones."

Crestron TPS-3000L remote touch panels integrated into a portable equipment rack allow the stage managers to page personnel during rehearsals. These racks also contain a 4-channel Clear-Com intercom system.

Technical video is patched manually to remote locations through patch bays. "We have complete control of the camera," says Coble, "pan, tilt, and zoom via a control surface located in the rack. Video can be patched into locations like the Green Room, Dressing Rooms, Lobby areas, Production Manager's, and the Technical Director's Office. We can also patch video from one theater to the other." The infrastructure is in-place for later expansion cabling to connect the McColl control room to the projection booth in the theater for future video upgrades.

ImaginOn unites the notions of a young people's "library" and a young people's "theater" in a radical new way that doesn't simply locate them in a shared space. The two enterprises are melded into a single experience, the "destination" for young people and families that the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County and the Children's theater envisioned, and a dynamic new identity for both.