Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2006 - 38

other proprietary non-projection systems. Since PLASA is an international exhibition, the prototypes were seen and evaluated by a wide range
of users from all over Europe. By the time Keystroke was released on the
Rosco Web site in October 2005, the user manual was already translated
into Spanish as a result of interest generated at PLASA.
Dudgeon then placed Keystroke on Steven Schwartz's Off-Broadway
family musical, Captain Louie, where it was employed to trigger the DVD
playback from the PC running CyberLink's PowerDVD software. (Captain Louie, which opened for a limited engagement at the Little Shubert
Theatre on October 31, 2005, is currently preparing for a national tour.
It is based on The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats, with book by Anthony Stein,
music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It was produced by Meridee Stein,
Kurt Peterson, and Bob Reich. Meridee Stein also directed.)
Three years to the month after the discussion of an idea for a new
product at a holiday party, a new commercial product, Keystroke, was officially introduced to the entertainment technology world at LDI in Orlando on November 11, 2005.

The Future of RAMBox Inc.
RAMBox Inc. underwent some changes as it entered its third year of operations in the fall of 2005. Five new engineering students joined the
team as did a new faculty sponsor, William Eads (Adjunct Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at CSU), who replaced Mahan who
was spending the year in India and Nepal as a Fulbright scholar. This
year, however, no theatre students were involved in RAMBox Inc. (Cleveland had left Colorado State to join the California State University,
Northridge, faculty).
It remains to be seen just how sustainable the RAMBox project
model is under such varying conditions. The third RAMBox team has so far
tackled Dudgeon's suggestion to implement optoisolation in the existing
products before moving forward to design new ones and they have submitted their own invention disclosure to CSURF. Cleveland is currently attempting to create links with new colleagues in the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at CSUN and hopes to interest some
theatre majors there to collaborate on innovating additional new technologies.
Several factors will probably be critical to the continued success of
RAMBox Inc. The relationship between the theatre students and the engineering students created a unique, stimulating environment which inspired the engineering students to deliver working technology to a
degree that is uncommon for senior design projects. The theatre students, likewise, participated in a unique learning experience where they
helped create new technology to meet their own needs. The team of students and faculty advisors developed open communication paths in
which all parties were free to contact one another when stuck on a particular problem. There was a continuous flow of ideas, although, given
the differences between the worlds of electrical engineering and theatre,
there were times when one was not sure what the other person was talking about.
Project management was intentionally left in the hands of the students. Each semester, the two groups of students set their own goals and
work schedules. One student observed that it was both exhilarating and
daunting to hear from a faculty advisor, "You've defined the problem,

now go solve it!"
Another factor which contributed significantly to the early development
of RAMBox Inc. was the strong personal relationship between faculty members from very different backgrounds. Friendships aren't easy to replicate.
The authors are optimistic that the RAMBox Inc. project model will
be adopted by other universities. There are senior engineering students
in hundreds of ABET-certified departments across the country which
need to complete year-long Senior Design Projects. In the technologydriven world of theatre production, theatre students collaborating with
teams of engineers to develop and enhance new technologies should be a
marriage made in heaven. Give a customer with a problem to a team of
bright student engineers and theatre designers, and they might just make
that customer happy! ❖

References
Barbour, David. 2005. "The Month That Was: small is beautiful."
Lighting and Sound America, December.
Browning, Bill. 2006. "Product Review: Keystroke." Theatre Design &
Technology, Winter.
Cleveland, M. Barrett. 2003. "Tech Expo 2003: Illuminating a Production
with Digital Multimedia." Theatre Design & Technology, Spring.
Cleveland, M. Barrett and Mark Shanda. 1989. "Retrofitting Projectors to
Interface With a Microcomputer Lighting Controller." Theatre
Design & Technology, Fall.
Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs by the ABET Board of
Directors. (2005, October 29) Retrieved December 28, 2005,
from: http://www.abet.org/Linked Documents-UPDATE/Criteria and
PP/E001 06-07 EAC Criteria 12-19-05.pdf

Acknowledgements
This project was supported by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Theatre Program at Colorado State University.
Student participants included Robert Burke, Steve Decker, R.J. Duran,
Chris Hoover, Adrienne Iguchi, Matt R. Johnson, J.K. Kim, Kevin Peach,
Terrell Phillips, John Rhoades, Emily Shideler, and Bryan Thompson in
the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Jennifer Chan,
Elliot Cooper, Bryan Morton, and Eric Stone in the Theatre Program. M.
Barrett Cleveland, theatre department, and John E. Mahan, engineering
department, were faculty advisors. Gary Amato and Tara Marostica represented the Colorado State University Research Foundation.
Jennifer Chan graduated from Colorado State University in 2005
with a double major in computer science and theatre and is now
Senior Communications Software Application Developer/Analyst
for Avaya Inc.
M. Barrett Cleveland is Production Manager for the Department
of Theatre at California State University, Northridge,
Matthew R. Johnson graduated from Colorado State University
in 2005 with a degree in electrical engineering and is currently
employed as an engineer in the defense industry.
John E. Mahan is a professor in the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at Colorado State University.
THEATRE
SPRING

2006

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY

http://www.abet.org/Linked

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