Drayton
Entertainment began 26 years ago when Alex Mustakas , who still runs the company as artistic director and CEO , convinced the town to convert an old opera house built in 1902 into the 375-seat Drayton Festival Theatre . From its modest beginning , offering only three productions over nine weeks in its first year , Drayton Entertainment has grown immensely , now operating seven theatres that range from 100 to 650 seats in rural communities and small cities : the Dunfield Theatre Cambridge in Cambridge ; the Huron Country Playhouse and Playhouse II in Grand Bend ; the King ’ s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene ; and the St . Jacobs Country Playhouse and the Schoolhouse Theatre in St . Jacobs , in addition to the Drayton Festival Theatre .
As well , the scope of productions has grown , with Mustakas and company staging 17 different shows in 2017 that run from March to December , traveling within their own circuit of theatres .
But while the number of shows has grown , Drayton Entertainment has remained close to its original mission of offering comedies , musicals , and dramas that appeal to all ages and tastes . For the 2017 season , Drayton Entertainment is staging , among others : Andrew Lloyd Webber ’ s iconic Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ; Million Dollar Quartet , about the infamous day Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Johnny Cash , and Carl Perkins wound up in the same Memphis studio ; Disney ’ s Beauty & the Beast ; and Marathon of Hope , about Terry Fox ’ s inspirational journey .
Mustakas recalled in a Toronto Star profile a few years ago how the communities in which Drayton Entertainment operates had not been exposed to a lot of theatre , but he knew it could work when , during the initial discussions with the community in the early ‘ 90s , “ There was a gentleman in the back row , a prominent farmer , who was stone-faced . Then he said , ‘ Our kids grew up on hockey , but why not expose them to theatre ?’ Then I knew we had something special .”
But what makes Drayton Entertainment special is not just that it ’ s bringing theatre to small towns ; it ’ s that it ’ s world-class theatre . Practically every theatre outside of Broadway deals with budget restrictions , but this doesn ’ t stop Drayton from hiring some of the best actors , musicians , directors , and technical professionals in Canada .
And , of course , world-class productions and professionals require quality tools to do the job .
Looking to upgrade and replace some dated and worn gear , Drayton Entertainment made a major investment in audio ahead of the 2017 Season . This includes three new Allen & Heath dLive S7000 digital consoles with DM64 digital heads , eight new Apple Mac Mini computers with Behringer FCA610 interfaces to control eight channels of Figure 53 ’ s QLab , and the largest single acquisition of Sennheiser 2000 Series wireless microphone systems in Canada . All of this was sourced from Drayton Entertainment ’ s long-time audio partner , Angus Audio , in Cambridge , ON .
With seven theatres and usually four shows running simultaneously , the allotment of gear is often determined by the shows ’ needs . “ The current scenario is that the dLives are going on the three large musicals and then we have a [ Behringer ] X32 that goes on a smaller musical ,” explains Allan McMillan , Drayton Entertainment ’ s head of audio . “ So it ’ s really that the gear , and the same with the wireless , is spread out by show . The comedies will remain on the Allen & Heath GL consoles , our analog consoles . We ’ re not in a position right now where we have a dLive in every venue , though that ’ s where I think we ’ re going in the future .”
While there are obviously many advantages to switching from the analog GL consoles to the digital dLives , McMillan immediately enthuses that the dLives ’ more compact footprint – 4 ft . compared to the GLs ’ 8-ft . span – has allowed them to move the mix position in some of the theatres . “ Some of our mix positions in the theatres are not ideal , but now that we ’ ve gone digital , the footprint that we would take up to get an ideal mix position is improving . So already this year , one of our venues at Drayton , they ’ re moving the mix position because the console ’ s footprint is the size it is , it ’ s been seat-neutral ,” he explains . “ So we ’ re not losing any seats and audio
SENNHEISER 2000 SERIES WIRELESS TRANSMITTERS
can now actually be in the line of sight of the PA and hear what we ’ re doing . So that was a big plus for us , for sure .”
When reviewing Drayton ’ s options to replace the GLs , McMillan emphasized reliability and that the automation system needed to be easy to use in addition to the fader count and the number of inputs on the digital heads . That ’ s according to Jason Blair at Angus Audio , who oversaw this most recent purchase . “ Al really wanted to have access to as many channels of vocals [ as possible ] and still have control of the band channels without flipping to another page ,” says Blair . “ We looked at a few other consoles , but unfortunately , the number of faders needed brought the footprint of the console up . The [ Midas ] Pro6 and the S7000 have the same dimensions ; however , the S7000 has 36 faders that can be assigned to channels
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