SWAMPSCOTT — During the latest School Committee meeting on Thursday evening, Cable TV Coordinator for Swampscott TV JoE Douillette gave a presentation on new upgrades to the auditorium in the high school.
Douilette also serves as the Media Arts instructor for Swampscott High School.
He started the presentation by reiterating the original vision for the upgraded auditorium. “The vision from the beginning was to renew and upgrade the theatre, to provide the school and town with a professional class facility, with a long-term management and maintenance plan,” he said. “As we’re investing close to a million dollars, I want to make sure that (statement) stayed first and foremost.”
He noted that the light system has been replaced, as well as a pole above the stage area to sustain the lights. “The place was closed for two weeks, they ripped out all the electronics, all the dimmers for every light,” he said. “They replaced it with all modern electronics; they’re all LED now.”
Douilette said that the audio system has also been rewired. “A lot of it’s digital now, and they ripped out the entire back console and replaced it with new sophisticated audio equipment,” he added. Another element of the upgrades was the replacement of the light board with a state-of-the-art light control board.
The auditorium also moved from conventional lighting to LEDs. “We do have five moving lights, which we don’t know how to use yet — but you’ll be seeing those soon,” he quipped.
Douilette cited the school’s most recent musical, where he said that “the lighting was gorgeous.”
“We used to need three lights to make one color, because you needed a red, green and a blue gel on three lights to mix the color you want — so now, you can put one light in, and it can do a million different colors,” Douilette said.
He then explained that the town received an Efficiency Incentive grant from National Grid for $191,000 to help defray the cost of the lights. After that, Douilette showed the committee a rendering of the planned acoustical treatment to the auditorium, which will vastly improve the way sound reaches the ears of those in the audience.
“We’ve had to go back and forth with the acoustic designer, (Director of Facilities) Max Kasper and I have been working with Emery Construction, and all that’s being delivered as we speak to the middle school by mistake,” he said.
There will also be brand-new speakers on either side of the stage to amplify the sound to the next level. The school won’t receive the speakers until August — but Douilette said they’ll be the only high school in the country with these new state-of-the-art speakers.
Douilette thanked Managing Partner of Parsons Audio Roger Talkov, a Town Meeting member and a Swampscott High School graduate from 1979, for his work assisting with the upgrades. A projector and screen are also in the works to make a new hybrid meeting space.
He ran quickly through the timeline in order to catch up with the committee on what’s happened so far. “The stage has been refinished, the curtain’s been replaced, infrastructure wiring… The microphones are in, audio infrastructure has been installed, lights have been installed, and we’ve received the National Grid grant,” Douilette explained.
A few more steps are left to be taken — such as training for using the lights, the installation of cameras, acoustic paneling, the projection and screen — before the school can determine what the first premiere show will be.
Douilette then listed some considerations for the future, such as scheduling, repairs, upkeep, and storage, as well as discussions about an auditorium production manager. He also listed possible new names for the auditorium, ranging from “Fishermen Auditorium,” “Sculpin Stage,” “Red Rock Theatre,” and others. However, Douilette suggested sticking with “Swampscott Auditorium.”
