Vari-Lite

Vari-Lite, Inc. was founded in 1981 on the belief that creative engineering can join with creative lighting to bring a new dimension to any performance or presentation. Inspired by the magic of moving light and changing color, we set about creating complete lighting systems that add subtle nuance or brilliant spectacle to any event. We offer designers the ultimate tool for creating lighting moments to remember. Since 1981, Vari-Lite has led the world in automated lighting technology; developing pioneering products with an unrivaled reputation. Today, lighting professionals in theater, television, concerts, motion pictures, corporate shows and advertising, look to Vari-Lite for inspiration. Vari-Lite International, Inc. is a leader in the field of automated lighting systems. The company produces motorized lights that can be controlled with computers to change the direction, size, color, and pattern of light. Vari-Lite systems are used extensively by touring musical groups, Broadway shows, television and movie studios, and at corporate events. Prior to the year 2000, the company's equipment was only available for rental. Now, however direct sales are offered to churches, amusement parks, regional theater groups, and other new markets. Vari-Lite went public in 1997, with the company's founders and early investors (including members of the rock group Genesis) continuing to own slightly less than half its stock. Subsidiaries of Vari-Lite International include Showco, which rents and operates concert sound systems, and IGNITION! Creative Group, which provides lighting for corporate events. Vari-Lite's roots go back to the late 1960s, when college friends Jack Calmes and Rusty Brutsche played in a Texas-based blues band. The seeds of a business were sown when they built a sound system for their shows that was so good, other acts began to rent it from them. In March 1970 Calmes and Brutsche joined with engineer Jack Maxson to incorporate Showco, the purpose of which was to provide sound systems for regional rock concerts. The company was started out of Maxson's garage and initially consisted of two trucks and two sound systems. At this time, touring bands typically used different sound gear at every venue, which not infrequently led to technical snafus and disgruntled customers. A few months into the company's first year, Showco provided such impressive sound for a Three Dog Night concert in Dallas that the band asked for its help at other venues. This job led to others in which the company traveled with touring artists, setting up the sound system for each performance. Showco was soon working with such major acts as Led Zeppelin and James Taylor. In 1972 the company added lighting to its offerings when newly-hired Kirby Wyatt began to use industrial equipment such as lifts and trusses to rig lights above stages. The company grew throughout the 1970s, though it often had little in the way of cash reserves. Several unsuccessful ventures, such as trucking and disco light businesses, also ate into earnings. Toward the end of the decade, with competition in the concert sound industry growing, the company began looking for a new way to compete. Of particular concern at this time was Showco's now-outdated lighting gear, which the company could not afford to replace. In 1980 a company engineer, Jim Bornhorst, built an experimental light that could be made to quickly change colors using a dichroic glass filter and a small motor. Not long after this, a casual remark by Jack Maxson at a company brainstorming session led to a conceptual breakthrough. The words, 'two more motors and it moves,' sent the project in the direction of a color-changing, moveable light, a prototype of which was built over the next several months. However, there were no funds available to refine the concept beyond this stage, a situation that was made even worse when the company's contract for a Led Zeppelin tour was cancelled when drummer John Bonham died. Seeking