ABSTRACT
Lighting manufacturers listen to the practitioners and designers in the field and are seemingly in a race to meet the market needs in research and develop new automated lighting technology to make it better, brighter, faster, and to improve its affordability. Most touring productions have automated lighting. There is the ongoing argument that the beloved PAR, which is still widely used, will soon be replaced with more energy efficient and effective, controllable multieffects and features of MLs and LED fixtures with as much as, or more optical punch than, the PAR. There is vast financial opportunity to open markets that drives manufacturers to supply all disciplines from professional touring to small clubs and high school theatres with new lighting developments. The invention of the ML and its subsequent evolution has
changed concert touring, theatrical and architectural lighting forever.
