Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With a storied history dating back to 1947, the Tony Award®-winning Alley Theatre produces acclaimed classics, bold new works, and community programs that reach nearly 200,000 people annually across Houston.
Alley Theatre has been a longtime user of Clear-Com product and has deployed Clear-Com’s flagship Arcadia® Central Station, integrating FreeSpeak® II digital wireless beltpacks and HelixNet® digital partyline systems across its two performance spaces: the 774-seat Hubbard Theatre and the 296-seat Neuhaus Theatre. This powerful combination allows stage managers, board operators, technicians, and creative teams to remain seamlessly connected throughout Alley’s 75,000 square-foot Center for Theatre Production.
“Clear-Com is absolutely essential to the way our team communicates,” said Chandler Oppenheimer, Assistant Sound Director at Alley Theatre. “We utilize wireless beltpacks with Bluetooth integration for our FOH mixers, and rely on HelixNet to support our automation crews. Clear-Com provides the reliability and flexibility we need to produce theatre at the highest level.”
Alley’s system includes:
● Arcadia Central Station with Dante integration for backstage paging and archival recording
● 20 FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks and six transceiver antennas providing coverage across both theatres and extensive backstage areas
● 20 HelixNet wired beltpacks and multiple remote stations for stage management and board operators
● Speaker stations deployed in offices and automation stations to extend communication beyond the stage
This infrastructure allows Alley Theatre to mount technically complex productions, such as its annual A Christmas Carol, where up to 16 wireless beltpacks are used simultaneously to synchronize every department.
“Alley Theatre is a cornerstone of Houston’s cultural life and a leader in the American theatre movement” said Katherine Moore, Clear-Com. “As a Houston native, it was especially meaningful to tour behind the scenes at Alley Theatre and see how Clear-Com is woven into every production. Chandler and the Alley team showed me firsthand how vital seamless communication is to bringing world-class theatre to our city, and I couldn’t be prouder that Clear-Com is part of their process.”
For a repertory theatre producing classics, world premieres, and large-scale stagings in rotating repertory, flexibility is non-negotiable. Alley’s technical crew may configure a compact comms setup for an intimate Neuhaus Theatre play one week, then expand the system to cover the 774-seat Hubbard Theatre with multiple operators on lights, sound, projections, fly rail, and deck the next. FreeSpeak II’s robust wireless coverage helps crew members move freely across the 75,000-square-foot Meredith J. Long Theatre Center without fear of losing connection.
Ultimately, Clear-Com enables Alley to meet the artistic vision of its directors with precision, giving audiences in Houston and beyond the fantastic theatrical experiences Alley is known for. As Oppenheimer notes, “the audience may never see the backstage choreography, but they absolutely feel the impact of a team that communicates with accuracy and trust.”
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