The University of Alabama leads the country with the most installed LED stage lights for performances in the department of theatre and dance.

After funding last spring, Alabama began retrofitting by replacing some of the standard light bulbs in the Morgan, Bales and Galloway theatres with the newest technology in LED lighting. In addition, the computer systems were updated to handle the lights’ new capabilities.

“Now it’s like making a cake –a little of this color and a little of this one, and you have exactly what you want,” William Teague, director of the lighting design program, said.

Over the last few years, engineers have perfected making a light emitting diode bright enough for stage.

“It was only a matter of overcoming the technological barrier,” Teague said.

These lights are much more expensive than standard light bulbs, but they pay off in energy efficiency and life span. They also dramatically lower the installation and monthly fees.

Traditional bulbs in stage lighting have a life span of 300-500 hours, while LED bulbs last nearly 50,000 hours and produce little heat. This eliminates the constant replacements for theater shows. The energy efficiency is astronomical, Teague said.

Because of the lack of heat, the cost of air conditioning is also drastically lowered. The former theater process for lighting shows used multiple rows of 10 multicolored lights that were blended for the desired color. The standard bulbs used 100 watts per bulb, so the theater used thousands of watts per show.

LED lights have the capability to change colors on their own and use 20 watts each, which means the theater only needs to use one row of 10 programmable bulbs.

“I can simply move a data point on the control board and get the exact color I want,” Keegan Butler, a UA junior, said. Teague said all the students love them, especially because of the new spectrum of colors.

LED lights essentially work like overhead projectors, which is convenient for dance shows.

“It really helps in dance lighting where I am making bold color choices to highlight movement,” Butler said.

Manufacturers claim the lights offer more than 4 million different colors.

“Now you can spend days programming instead of a few hours. I have much more to think about,” Mike Morin, a graduate student in lighting design, said.

Students in the department of theatre and dance attended training sessions to adapt to the upgrade. In addition, the department took the LED lights to Gulf Shores, Ala., over the summer for its production. They said it made a huge difference.

“Alabama was really fortunate enough to be able to jump into the deep end of the pool on this one,” Teague said.