FTSI partnered with Serapid, the manufacturer of Link Lift Systems (a patented technology), to design a control system for 3 orchestra pit lifts at the New York State Theatre in the Lincoln Center. This installation was complex for Serapid due to all the points of control and I/O that the system would need. FTSI met these needs by building a custom drive enclosure and interfaced with everything from protective astragal boot, to door sensors, to magnetic lock controls in order to provide a system up to the safety standards of the theatre designers and architects. FTSI also provided both pendant and touchscreen controls for the system. The installation was completed November 2009.

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“Imagine you are SCUBA diving at night. You are 30 meters underwater. You have turned off your flashlight and have let your eyes adjust to the dimness. As your pupils dilate you begin to see the sea creatures fluorescing. It is beautiful, mysterious and intoxicating. That is the effect we want to achieve.” This was the direction that FTSI received when commissioned to work on “Dragon’s Treasure”. Fortunately Scott Fisher is not only a brilliant automation designer, he is an avid diver who often dismays his dive partners by turning off his light on night dives to better admire the glowing creatures.

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FTSI has once again teamed up with creative genius Franco Dragone to build his most ambitious water-themed show to date. Slated for opening late October of 2009, Dragone’s latest project is a 2000 seat production located in a custom built theater at Macau’s City of Dreams. This show rivals his past projects ("O" and "Le Reve") in both size and scale. FTSI has built custom controls for the eleven lifts that serve as the backbone for the show. The stage will consist of eight main lifts that move independently using thirty two hydraulic cylinders. Navigator software uses position encoders and load cells to keep all hydraulic cylinders perfectly in balance. These main lifts boast a vertical travel distance of more than twenty seven feet. Additionally there are three vom lifts that allow the voms to raise, lower and tilt. The pool itself is estimated to contain nearly 2.5 million gallons of water; far larger than both "O" (1.5 million) and "Le Reve" (1.3 million).

Almost an acre of fabric drapes the Zed Stage. It will all be drawn down through the main lift in seconds by the two "Vortex" winches.

For Cirque du Soleil’s first permanent installation in Japan, they wanted the very best in automation equipment, but also required a single control system capable of operating every piece of machinery in the theater. To meet this challenge, Fisher Technical Services, Inc. provided all of the standard and acrobatic automation hardware as well their proprietary Navigator control system that could tie together the machinery from FTSI with equipment from other contributing vendors.

The chandelier installed at The Venetian for the Las Vegas production of The Phantom of the Opera is the most sophisticated piece of theater equipment in Las Vegas (and therefore, the world) and it is only fitting that the inspiration for a key aspect of its design was on a mountainside in Italy.

FTSI was originally contracted to provide a comprehensive, bleeding-edge theater automation system for the “Le Reve” (The Dream) theater in the Wynn Hotel & Casino. However, this was not to be just another theater for FTSI. The creative team for Le Reve had specified a level of complexity and performance for their automation gear that had been previously unknown in theater. In order to meet this challenge FTSI had to invent entirely new technologies and designs.