As Life of Pi concludes the current leg of its North American tour, this acclaimed theatrical production celebrates the successful implementation of the zactrack SMART system, used to track and highlight the complex visual movements of Pi, his family, and the puppet characters throughout the show.
ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of zactrack in North America.
Life of Pi began its national tour in December 2024 in Baltimore and concluded this stage on October 26 in Fort Lauderdale. Based on Yann Martel’s international best-seller, Life of Pi follows a 16-year-old boy named Pi who becomes stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a real Royal Bengal tiger as his unexpected companion. The Tony Award-winning epic story of perseverance and hope has been praised for its stunning visuals, masterful puppetry, and exquisite stagecraft.
zactrack SMART: technology driving lighting and touring success
The world’s first plug-and-play automated follow system for stage lighting, zactrack SMART, has been part of Life of Pi since its U.S. debut at the American Repertory Theatre (ART) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before its successful Broadway run following an acclaimed season in London’s West End.
Lighting designer Tim Lutkin had already used zactrack systems on Back to the Future in London and shows at Disneyland Paris, so he was well familiar with and confident in its capabilities.
“Tim didn’t use zactrack on ‘Life of Pi’ in the West End because the theater had manual follow spot positions that worked for the production”, explains Paul Toben, Associate Lighting Designer and Programmer, who has worked on the show since its ART premiere.
But when we came to the U.S., we studied possible follow spot positions for Broadway, and none proved suitable for balancing the light while staying off the video surfaces, whose immersive imagery is essential to the show. So Tim decided to add zactrack at ART, lighting the production in a completely different way than he had in London with conventional systems.
With an active zactrack SMART unit and a backup provided by Christie Lites, Lutkin redesigned the lighting for ART and Broadway, earning the 2023 Tony Award for Lighting Design.
The system allows up to ten active trackers to be linked simultaneously to multiple lighting fixtures or objects. Life of Pi at ART and on Broadway used a total of 30 trackers — three on Pi and the rest distributed among the character costumes: two on the tiger and one on each puppet, activated as needed via data embedded in the lighting cues.
International adaptation and technical optimization
When the show closed on Broadway, the UK production team took the zactrack programming file to adapt it for the UK tour of Life of Pi. Toben advised on this first implementation, which proved highly successful.
“When we began planning the U.S. tour, we already knew what worked and what posed challenges in a touring environment, allowing us to anticipate potential issues”, says Toben, who also gained further experience using zactrack on the Broadway productions of Back to the Future and Cabaret.
However, the technical team at U.S. tour producer NETworks was initially skeptical due to the much shorter load-in and setup times in the U.S. compared to the UK.
In the UK, we have two days for load-in, while in the U.S., we often load in in the morning and perform the show that same night. There’s no dedicated lighting time. Each lighting reset has to happen while other departments are also working; we wondered if there would be enough time to recalibrate and test zactrack at every venue, explains Toben.
Toben and Associate Designer Tim Reed were determined to make zactrack an advantage: “We were confident the system would save us time, not cost us time”, he says.
First, they designed a custom tripod that raises the zactrack calibration pucks above performer height to prevent interference during the process. “It’s a complex show to load in, so the less we get in each other’s way, the better”, notes Toben.
Next, they learned how to use zactrack to auto-focus the entire show. “Using zactrack as our primary source of position data for nearly all moving lights — both static focuses and those tracking the actors — has been a game changer”, says Toben. “The system is built for this, but the extent to which we use it is unique. The same feature that lets us design a light in a fixed position and then crossfade to track a performer also enables us to automate every focus. What once took three to five hours of work now takes about 30 minutes of calibration”.
“These innovations have benefited everyone”, adds Toben. “Crew feedback has been extremely positive, and our electrician confirmed there have been no issues with the process. Now we’re thinking about how to push zactrack further, even for shows that don’t require tracking but want to save time”.
Support and ongoing collaboration with ACT Entertainment
Dustin Barnes from ACT Entertainment conducted the team’s initial training on zactrack. “Since then, we’ve used it so much that we rarely need to call for support, but they’re always there when we do”, says Toben.
zactrack was first introduced to the U.S. production of Life of Pi at ART and has accompanied the team through several shows.
They were with us on ‘Cabaret’ on Broadway, and we discussed the plan to use zactrack on the ‘Life of Pi’ tour. They were enthusiastic about our approach and are always looking for new creative ways to implement the system, recalls Toben.
For the national tour of Life of Pi, Tim Deiling is Co-Lighting Designer alongside Tim Lutkin. Eric Norris serves as Production Electrician, and Lars Stolpe as Touring Head Electrician. The lighting system and zactrack equipment are supplied by Christie Lites.
