Claypaky Scenius Unicos Shine at Mohegan Sun

	Bobby Brown performing at Mohegan Sun.

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 and 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 making this unit a DMX node we can stretch the abilities 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."

Mohegan Sun Arena is now ranked consistently among the top venues in the world according to Billboard Magazine, Pollstar and Venues Today. It has won "Casino of The Year" at the Country Music Awards in 2008, 2010, and in 2013, was voted "Arena Of The Year" at the G2E Global Gaming Conference in Las Vegas. Mohegan Sun Arena was also ranked among the top 10 arena venues in the nation for 2014, regardless of size. In 2015, Mohegan Sun took home the IEBA award for "Casino of the Year." Mohegan Sun also won "Casino of the Year" in two categories at the 2013 and 2016 Academy of Country Music Awards. For more information on concerts and other great events, visit Mohegan Sun. For information on this week's schedule, call the Entertainment and Special Events hotline at 1.888.226.7711, ext. 27163.