The turntable was placed on a football-shaped section of stage that was raised and lowered 15 feet by hydraulic lifts. The stage section was lowered into a “trap room” to facilitate quick set changes. Once those changes were complete, the hydraulic lifts moved the section of stage back up to stage level.

The hydraulic lifts and turntable were all controlled by Chicago Scenic’s Mini 8, a proprietary motion control system designed especially for smaller productions. The Mini 8 is an analog system which can run between eight and 64 axes of motion. It has all the functionality of Chicago Scenic’s larger, digital CS Control and can run and control a wide variety of mechanical systems, from turntables and winches to pneumatic and hydraulic systems. Its user-friendly interface vastly reduces staff training time.

This is the second Chicago Shakespeare production that has employed the Mini 8 system; the Mini 8 debuted with “Richard III” in Fall 2009.