Friends of The Playhouse Theatre Fund New Theatre Lights

THE PLAYHOUSE Theatre in Weston-super-Mare is benefitting from nearly £10,000 worth of new theatre lights thanks to the fundraising efforts of a voluntary organisation.

The Friends of The Playhouse Theatre, was founded in 1991 to promote and help support the theatre by selling programmes, taking tickets and welcoming patrons to the Playhouse Theatre.

In addition to these essential roles, the group continuously fundraises to help with essential maintenance costs the High Street theatre faces.

Over the past years they have raised funds which have contributed to providing the stair lift and hearing aids, a new piano, stage and sound equipment plus stage curtains.

In December the group presented the Playhouse with 20 new radios with separate ear pieces to allow regular communication between the Friends during performances.

Now they have given the theatre new stage lights costing just under £10,000, which are in the process of being rigged up for the next show on February 2.

Pete Tilke, Playhouse Theatre Technician, said: "The Friends of the Playhouse have presented us with 12 new LED intelligent Fixtures for stage lighting Purposes.

"At a cost of just short of £10,000, we believe the lights will benefit the theatre and visiting touring companies in the future.

"We are truly grateful to the Friends for these items of equipment, as not only does it set us technically far above other theatres of our size, but also helps the theatre operate with lower energy costs using the new LED Technology."

Peter Undery, Playhouse General Manager, added: "The Friends of The Playhouse do a wonderful job supporting the theatre.

"We were delighted to receive new radios before Christmas and now we are thrilled to once again benefit from their fundraising efforts with these new lights."

The Friends are always looking for new members to help and anyone interesting in joining can obtain a membership form from the Box Office.