The Angus Bowmer Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland has taken delivery of three Robert Juliat Lucy 1200W HMI followspots from Musson Theatrical, Inc. of Santa Clara, California. The OSF’s recent emphasis on musical theater prompted the acquisition, which expands the company’s followspot inventory. OSF previously purchased a pair of Robert Juliat Super Korrigan 1200W HMI followspots for its Elizabethan outdoor theater. The outdoor theater seats 1200, and the Angus Bowmer Theatre seats 601.

“The superior brightness and optics of the Juliat spots made it easy to decide to go with the Lucy followspots for the Bowmer Theatre,” says master electrician Noah Beauregard.

Lighting and video department manager Michael Maag worked closely with Musson’s director of sales and marketing Dinna Myers to specify the best fixture for the job. “Every time I run into competitors’ spots, I find that they just don’t quite come up to the quality of the Robert Juliat equipment,” Maag reports. “We wanted to make an investment in fixtures that were going to hold onto their value and maintain their superiority. The Lucys offer a bright, even field; they overcut everything else and do their job.”

Robert Juliat’s Lucy followspot features a high-performance double condenser optical system in a compact and efficient design with a silent magnetic ballast. It offers a 100 percent closing iris in a removable cassette, 100 percent closing mechanical dimmer, “A” size gobo holder and six-way color changer system fitted with removable filter frames.

According to Maag, the fixtures, which have just arrived, will be positioned in front of house. Two will be housed in the projection booth, joining the projector and mounted at a high angle. The third will be in the control booth at a lower angle to cover the balance of the stage’s three-story sets.

“The compact size of the Lucys was a big selling point,” notes Maag. “The theater doesn’t typically accommodate followspots. We needed something that was compact enough to fit in the theater and had the lumens to punch through. The Lucys were perfect on all counts.”

The Lucy followspots will make their debut in February with the OSF’s production of the outrageous “Animal Crackers.” They will also be used on the company’s production of the musical “Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella.”