Hannah Montana - Mobile Production Pro

venuescNokia Live Theatre, What’s Not to Love?by michael a. beckBack in October, the Nokia Live Theatre opened in the samecomplex that houses the Staples Center in Los Angeles. NokiaLive is a 7,100 seat theatre that already has the reputation ofbeing a serious concert venue. The grand opening was gracedby the presence of The Eagles and Dixie Chicks and has sincehosted the American Music Awards with the Grammy Awardson the way.The entire plan of this venue is notup to speed yet, but when completed,it will be a plaza containing ninerestaurants with the capability tohost outdoor afternoon events andto entertain concert goers who wantto beat the traffic on the day of ashow. Inside, the four story lobbyhas a lounge on each floor to furtherentertain the clientele and maintainthe traffic flow into the theatre.Because the Nokia Live and theStaples Center are owned and operatedby the same people, they haveshared facilities. A tunnel connectsthe two buildings which allows themto use the same kitchen. This alsoallows staff to access both venueswithout ever having to leave thebackline area.The theater itself is nothing shortof magnificent. The balcony has 12VIP boxes and is able to be blockedoff so that only the floor is used forsmaller shows. While some peoplehave complained about the lack ofornate appointment in the room,there is an advantage in that theroom is a blank canvas with nothingto take attention away from theaction on stage.The three loading docks are in anenclosed area so that trucks can beparked at the docks with 30 feet tospare. The dock floor is level, whicheliminates the danger in the truckof runaway gear during load in orload out. In the event that broadcastmobile units are using the space,there are 200 amps of power withisolated ground at each dock.Truck and bus parking is locatedacross the street on an elevated deckthat is in excess of 200’ x 480’, servingas truck and bus parking forStaples Center and Nokia Live. Thisarea is called the Event Deck. It has3,000 amps available and also hasfull uplink connectivity which makesit possible to serve a media farmfor the upcoming Grammy Awardsslated to be held at Nokia Live.32 Tour Guide Journal