Experience nature’s fury with new show in Renaissance Center’s CyberSphere

Release Date: 5/24/2007. Expired: 7/28/2007

Experience the power of a Category 5 hurricane, the fury of an F5 tornado and the energy of tremendous explosions on the surface of the Sun in a new show that unleashes nature in full-dome video in the CyberSphere Digital Theater at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Saturdays during June and July.

Force (5) is the newest Digistar 3 production being shown inside the four-story domed theater at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors 55 and up and children under 13.

One of the largest planetariums in North America, the CyberSphere is the first and only planetarium in Tennessee to feature Digistar 3 technology from Evans and Sutherland in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new system features six digital projectors that cover the entire hemisphere of the 60-foot dome in seamless video, placing viewers inside the action in a totally immersive experience.

Created by Evans and Sutherland in association with Sybil Media and Rice University in Houston, Texas, Force (5) puts the viewer inside the crashing waves of a massive hurricane, the swirling winds of a huge tornado and in orbit around the Sun to experience major solar flares. See how each of these forces of nature is formed and what affect they have on the Earth’s weather patterns.

Digistar 3 made its Tennessee debut April 7 in the CyberSphere and brings a totally new planetarium experience to audiences of all ages. Combined with the dome’s Omniscan II laser projector, the Digistar II starfield generator, more than a dozen slide and special effects projectors and a 14,000-watt Dolby 5.1 Digital SurroundSound system, the CyberSphere is the most advanced and unique domed theater in the world.

Force (5) is one of 11 new planetarium shows featuring Digistar 3’s full-dome capability and will be featured through June and July.

Laser shows for the two months will be Laser Beatles at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Laser Vinyl at 9 p.m. Tickets for laser shows are $6 for all seats.

Laser Beatles brings the Fab Four back together for a unique trip through the group’s history-making music with fantastic laser effects. Songs like Magical Mystery Tour, Twist and Shout, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Yesterday, Octopus’ Garden and many more come alive in digital SurroundSound accompanied by spectacular laser effects.

Laser Vinyl celebrates the rock and roll of some of the greatest groups of the 1970s. Music from AC/DC, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Queen, Van Halen, Kansas, KISS, Aerosmith, Boston, Journey and Pink Floyd rocks the dome in a fantastic light show.

For more information on the CyberSphere Digital Theater at The Renaissance Center or its show schedule, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the CyberSphere page for more about Planetarium and Laser Shows or the Home - News page for current and archived press releases.