As Production Manager for the National Arts Centre’s (NAC) Theatre Department, Peter ‘Spike’ Lyne oversees a wide range of programming, including English and French language productions. As Technical Director for NAC Indigenous Theatre, the world's first National Indigenous theatre department, he also oversees productions written and presented in many, varied Indigenous languages from across Turtle Island, as well as those spoken by other Indigenous groups from across the globe.
In doing so, Lyne handles everything from budget considerations and the deployment of the NAC’s inventory of production technology to, when necessary, renting/purchasing technology to add to that inventory.
His role naturally calls for him to explore new technologies at times, which led to the use of a Sound Devices Astral Wireless system for the 2026 production of Rose (a play written by noted Cree playwright, author, and speaker, Tomson Highway), the third instalment of Highway’s ‘rez’ cycle.
“Rose was written in 1992, but was never produced, professionally, until now,” Lyne explains. “Partly because, at that time, fewer indigenous actors were getting the opportunities (to do this type of work). It’s also a highly ambitious show in terms of production requirements, which may be part of the reason it hasn’t been produced until now. He adds: “It’s a musical, featuring 19 indigenous actors, a full band, with a 3-hour run time. The scope of the play is huge. Tomson wrote about flying motorcycles, and at one point in the script, there are meant to be 21 motorcycles on stage. We chose not to go that route, but still ended up with two full bikes on stage and partial motorcycles in the staging.”
“So, I had a conversation with Bob Snelgrove in Halifax during the CITT/ICTS Rendez-vous conference last summer,” Lyne continues. “He suggested we try the Sound Devices Astral wireless system, which I was happy to do; so we could see what it does, and expose our crews and designers to it. So, for Rose, Astral was used for all of the actor’s wireless mics.”
In total, the system consisted of an ARX32 Wireless Receiver, 19 Astral TX full-sized Digital Wireless Beltpack Transmitters, 4 Astral HH Digital Wireless Handheld Microphones/Transmitters, and four Sound Devices Monarch Antennas.
The Astral system offers multiple advantages over similar technologies, explains GerrAudio’s Ontario Sales Manager, Adrian Sterling. Including its GainForward architecture, which transmits the full dynamic range of a mic to the console (eliminating the need to gain stage at the capsule level).
It also has multiple digital connectivity options, including the ability to transport signals over Dante, thereby streamlining infrastructure. Additionally, Sterling says, “the ARX32 has three diversity inputs for antennas. On Rose, they only used two antenna pairs, but the ARX32 can handle three pairs for up to six individual antennas. This allowed for the use of discrete antennas inside a metal dome used as a set piece that, otherwise, could have blocked transmission.”
“We used the Astral wireless microphone system exclusively for all our mics, headsets, lavs, and a few handhelds as well,” Lyne says, adding that while there was a learning curve, that was primarily because they were adapting and adopting a technology they’d not used previously.
It’s not the fault of either their existing system or the Sound Devices gear, Lyne notes, simply a different workflow; one, he says, that offers substantial time-savings and functionality for streamlining wireless workflow on complex shows.
Sterling elaborates: “The Astral system uses a much wider tunable spectrum, SpectraBand (169 MHz to 1,525 MHz), which is an order of magnitude wider than anything else on the market.” The system’s NexLink functionality also allows users to update transmitters and power them down remotely, saving both time and battery power during periods such as long tech rehearsals, when the transmitters aren’t in constant use.
“What really interested me about Sound Devices,” Lyne says, “and what we learned during a demo training at GerrAudio, was the idea that you've got all of these different bands open to you rather than one particular chunk you can access.”
“One of the prime examples (where that would help) is on touring Broadway shows. Often, what their RF technicians can do with their wireless is restrictive, because they've been given a license to use a specific number of channels in a specific band, and aren't allowed to change that. Which makes things problematic, here, in a building with multiple venues.” Given the fact that the NAC is also located in a decidedly frequency-rich environment in downtown Ottawa, “that just gives you much more flexibility.”
That came in handy prior to Rose’s run after the NAC’s production of ‘& Juliet’ moved into another of the facility’s venues. “Rose was already two weeks into production when '& Juliet' moved in next door,” Sterling says. “The frequencies & Juliet were using overlapped heavily with those Rose was using. Because of SpectraBand, Rose’s channels could be easily moved to another part of the spectrum.”
Owing to the functionality of the Astral system, doing so took far less time than it would have if they’d been using a different wireless rig, Lyne concludes. “That flexibility, the built-in spectrum analyzer, and their web-based GUI. You can just go, ‘I'm having trouble in this band. But here's a nice open space. Move that microphone over there, and so on. So, once you know the system, I think (the benefits) become self-evident.”
Bringing Production of 'Rose' to Life at the NAC with Sound Devices Astral Wireless