Mohegan Sun , the vast casino, hotel and entertainment complex in Uncasville, Connecticut, has purchased Claypaky Scenius Unico fixtures for the Mohegan Sun Arena. ACT Lighting Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky products in North America.
The award-winning 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena hosts well over 100 concerts, sporting events, corporate events and trade shows yearly. The Unicos have been added to the vast inventory of fixtures to be used in the arena and across the property. Mohegan Sun acquired the fixtures, their first Claypaky moving lights, from Gateway Productions in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The Unicos replace a complement of ageing wash lights.
“Instead of getting a direct wash replacement we were looking for a multi-functional light that would offer customers more versatility,” says Gordon Painter, Lead Lighting and Video Technician with the Sports & Entertainment Department. He researched Unico and obtained a demo unit for a shoot out with several other brands of fixtures.
Unico stood out from the pack for a number of reasons. “We liked its smooth, rich, vibrant colors full range of colors from deep tones to pastels,” says Painter. “It has shutters, an animation wheel, gobo, and color-wheel – a little bit of everything that allows the fixture to be used for almost any application on the property.”
He notes that Unico was “Visually brighter than any other light we demo’d. It’s very well built, a great example of Italian design. And it’s very easy to work on for maintenance and repairs.” Painter also cites Unico’s ability to serve as a DMX node “ By By making this unit a DMX node we can stretch the ability’s of our network to DMX controlled lights.”
Unico made its debut in the arena in early March on a private show headlined by singer Colbie Caillat. Her star turn was quickly followed by the stylish revue, “Cirque Dreams Revealed.”
“It’s our goal to be as versatile as possible and provide designers with the flexibility to do whatever they need,” Painter says. “With Unicos in our inventory designers have a wash, beam or gobo right there ready for them.”
Francesco Romagnoli, Claypaky Area Manager for North and Latin America, added, “Mohegan Sun has been a great client of ours for years. We’re happy to provide them their newest compliment of lights.”