UNLV engineering program sets the stage

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, March 13, 2003 | 8:17 a.m.

Behind the glitz of the Strip's high-tech production shows is a hidden world unknown to Las Vegas audiences.

While acrobats or magicians dazzle show-goers onstage, computer-operated winches and hydraulics do their magic behind the scenes, driving the shows' visual effects.

With more Las Vegas shows going high-tech, UNLV has responded by introducing a new "entertainment engineering" program that teaches students to apply complex machinery to theatrical shows.

"What we have tried to do is marry theater with engineering and technology, which has really taken Las Vegas by storm," said Brackley Frayer, an associate professor for theater at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Just 20 years ago theater productions relied mostly on painted backdrops suspended by ropes. The field has since evolved to incorporate machinery, computer-aided design, robotics and pyrotechnics.

Lights and filters are no longer moved manually, but through computer programming. And heavy stage props are usually lifted and set down by large winches.

Despite those changes, universities preparing students for stage work have been remiss in teaching students how to keep up, experts say. Instead, most schools keep engineering, computer and theater departments separate.

"(Universities) should have been incorporating these elements in their programs in the mid-'80s," said Jeanette Farmer, lighting director for Bellagio's "O" and project theater supervisor for two other Cirque du Soleil shows. "Here we are 20 years later and they are learning they need to do this."

Farmer, a former UNLV student, said if UNLV's program is developed well it has the potential to be a breakout field for the university.

"You're talking about Las Vegas, where there is no better place to have a technology theater-based program," she said.

The 28 students signed up for the program's pilot class will learn the techniques behind the visual effects.

UNLV will use shows such as "O" as examples of the mix between stunning visuals and solid engineering.

About 500 tons of steel equipment hangs above the acrobats of "O," ready to suspend them and make them appear to fly. The winches that support the equipment resemble those found in a shipyard, only they move with a quiet hush.

Below is a pool that is transformed into a stage several times a night, an engineering feat described by a show representative as something similar to a "French coffee press."

"We need big motors and big hydraulics and many of these structures need to be engineered," said Tony Ricotta, operations production manager of "O." "It would be ideal if these engineers had theatrical insight and vice versa. I feel this class is the first attempt to address all of this."

Besides touring "O," UNLV students will also visit companies around town that specialize in areas such as animatronics, pyrotechnics and other technology-based theatrics.

UNLV's provost, Ray Alden, said the program fits well with the school's research mission.

"I think in terms of application of research, it is a natural," Alden said. "We have the perfect laboratory to work in, being that we are the entertainment capital. It forms a natural laboratory that cuts across all areas of research."

Few schools offer such training, although students who do attend specialized schools are in higher demand by Strip shows than those who come from traditional theater backgrounds.

"The sad fact is, if you have a student and you are just teaching him stage production, when he leaves college the likelihood that he'll land a good job in the industry is slim," Farmer said. "But, if you teach him electronics and computer drafting, he's going to land one of the best paying jobs in the industry."