Built in 1964 and located off Canada’s New Brunswick/Nova Scotia coast on Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre of the Arts is – among other honours – home to the world’s longest-running annual musical production.
Anne of Green Gables – The Musical recently wrapped up its 51st consecutive season making way for a comprehensive renovation of the centre’s 1,100-seat centrepiece Homburg Theatre, which includes the addition of new balconies. One of the priorities of the project was the enhancement of the venue’s sound system.
A US$375,000 contribution from the Government of Canada, through Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s (ACOA) Business Development Program was largely split between two key purchases – the expansion of an existing L-Acoustics loudspeaker system and the addition of two new DiGiCo mixing consoles. The venue’s system installed in 1999 comprised four L-Acoustics ARCS enclosures configured in a centre cluster, with left and right side stacks comprising three ARCS each, collectively powered by three LA4 amplified controllers. An LA8 drove four stacked SB18 subs, while five compact MTD108a coaxial speakers served as front fills. Two ARCS Wide per side, installed at a later date, covered the upper balcony and were powered by a single LA4.
This system has now been enhanced with the addition of 20 Kara(i), the fixed installation version of L-Acoustics’ Kara touring enclosure, flown ten per side on either side of the centre cluster. Four SB18 subs per side are hung next to the new speaker arrays, powered by additional LA8 and LA4X amplifiers, including a new LA8 for the existing centre cluster. The updated sound system is rounded out with the installation of a DiGiCo SD7T FOH console loaded with the theatre software package and a DiGiCo SD10 to mix the existing L-Acoustics 112XT wedge monitors. Toronto-based dealer Westbury National supplied all of the new audio gear.
‘The new system has made quite a difference,’ observes Confederation Centre Head of Audio, Kevin MacLean, who installed it with the assistance of his predecessor, Ron Gorveatt. ‘We now have a proper line array system, and, with the centre cluster, the theatre can move between using just the left and right hangs for music and adding the centre cluster for speech intelligibility for theatrical productions. Also, our new consoles are intuitive and very flexible for any FOH or monitor engineer to use. Literally, any touring music or theatre act can just get off the plane or bus and come in and play.’
The system has performed so well that MacLean is already planning a second phase, which will see the ARCS and SB18 enclosures upgraded to ARCS II and SB28. ‘Budgets are always a consideration for a facility like this,’ MacLean acknowledges. ‘But what we were able to accomplish with the budget we had says a lot about L-Acoustics’ value. We have a true multipurpose sound system that perfectly matches this multipurpose theater. Good sound is critical to helping us continue to be successful, and that’s what L-Acoustics provides.’
The Centre offers programming year-round – ranging from cabarets, choral music and lectures to dance shows, theatre and live concerts – and showcases international, national, regional, provincial and local community talents. In addition to staging Anne of Green Gables – The Musical as part of The Charlottetown Festival, which has been held every year since 1965 and brings large-scale musical theatre productions to the main stage, the venue has also recently hosted productions of Alice Through the Looking Glass, Cinderella: A Fairly Tall Tale, The Founding Father, Canada ROCKS! and Ted Dykstra’s Evangeline.
