Summary

Watchung Hills Regional High School already featured a beautiful, high-end performing arts center, supported by a knowledgeable and deeply engaged PAC Manager who knew exactly what he wanted from the lighting system. In addition to supporting the school’s own productions, the venue is used extensively for dance recitals, community performances, and outside rentals, making flexibility, reliability, and ease of use just as important as creative power. This project focused on elevating an already strong venue with best-in-class control, power, and fixture technology to support everything from student productions to professional rental events.

To support the next generation of performances, we modernized the ETC lighting power and data infrastructure throughout the venue. The system was upgraded with three ETC Sensor 3 retrofit kits, each equipped with 20 relay modules and new CEM3 control modules, providing precise, dependable control of every circuit. A new ETC ERN enclosure with Paradigm Architectural Processor now anchors the architectural and theatrical control environment, creating a unified, intelligent backbone for the entire space.

Eleven two-button control stations were installed around the theater, along with two ETC Paradigm touchscreens located at the stage and in the control booth. These interfaces give staff, students, and visiting groups intuitive access to lighting presets, work lights, and performance modes without needing to operate the lighting console. An ETC transfer switch was added to support emergency lighting circuits, and multiple portable ETC DMX/RDM Response Gateways allow fixtures and control devices to be connected anywhere in the room with maximum flexibility.

Building on this strong infrastructure, we furnished a premium theatrical lighting system tailored to the PAC Manager’s vision for a best-in-class venue. The front-of-house and special-focus system includes twenty-six Chauvet Ovation Rêve E-3 multicolor LED ellipsoidals with HD lenses for exceptional color rendering and crisp beam control. Forty COLORado 2 Quad Zoom LED wash fixtures provide powerful, variable-beam coverage across the stage, while twenty-four COLORdash PAR H18X RGBWA+UV fixtures deliver rich, saturated color and smooth washes for concerts, theater, dance, and special events.

To add motion and visual impact, the system includes eight Chauvet Maverick Force 2 Profile moving head fixtures and four Maverick Storm 4 Profile IP65 moving heads, offering high-output beams, gobos, and dynamic effects for larger productions and rental events alike. Six ETC Source Four fixtures were upgraded with 4WRD Color II RGB LED retrofit engines, extending the life of existing inventory while adding full color-changing capability.

All lighting was supplied with professional-grade clamps, safety cables, DMX cabling, and powerCON TRUE1 combo cables, ensuring a safe, flexible, and production-ready installation.

The result is a refined, high-performance lighting environment that matches the caliber of Watchung Hills’ performing arts program while also supporting its role as a community performance venue. With modern ETC control infrastructure and a powerful Chauvet LED fixture package, the PAC now delivers exceptional creative freedom, reliability, and ease of use for students, staff, and visiting groups alike.