Hi everybody.

I'm Ed Leon.

Welcome to the 260, where we cover life and community in Northeast Indiana.

On this episode, we'll peer at the heavens with the manager of the state of the art planetarium at Science Central, the local high school robotics team that is top of its class, and a preview of this season's Arena dinner theater productions.

It's all right now on the 260.

Frank Sinatra's Fly You to the moon becomes a literal Fort Wayne adventure at Science Central's new planetarium, a state of the art immersive theater that combines cutting edge digital projection with a rare optical star ball projectors so you can travel the stars from the comfort of your own seat.

It's not just entertainment, it's a new gateway to Stem education, inspiring future scientists, engineers and astronauts, and wowing curious minds of every age.

Here to tell us about it is Sarah Vice, manager of the Planetarium and Science on a Sphere at Science Central.

Welcome to the 260.

Thank you.

The planetarium is so new.

Has it been going?

How has it been received?

It's just been incredibly busy and really, really good responses so far.

Everyone's just really happy that it's finally open.

And the the turnout has just been extraordinary on our end as well.

Great.

Awesome for you guys.

For those who have not been yet, what happens when the lights go down?

What are we going to see?

So when the lights go down, you are truly filled with a dark room.

And then you start to see stars and we get to learn all about what you can see in the night sky at any given time or day.

And we get to do just more than that.

We can pop around planets, we can travel to galaxies, we can do anything you can imagine in the universe.

Ed: So the dome is very big, right?

Talk about that.

Sarah: Yeah.

The dome is 28ft in diameter and 21ft tall at its highest peak.

Ed: So there's two technologies in play here.

Right.

Let's talk about the digital projection part of it.

That's new right.

So how does how does that work and how do the simulations created even.

Sarah: So, our digital system is called Digital Star seven.

It's one of the most popular planetarium softwares in the world right now.

And what it basically is, is a giant open world video game, if you will, with about 400,000 cataloged objects, including stars, nebulae, galaxies and more.

And I get to program all of the digital components to navigate through space and time to highlight certain objects.

Ed: So you create the experience Sarah: I do, yeah, I do with a great big a great bit of help from my part time staff as well.

The digital system really does rely on accurate information instead of quote pretty information.

So they are taking data from modern observatories, from NASA, from other space agencies across the world.

And we are getting highly accurate data.

And we can we can explore real things that astronomers are studying right now.

And it's all very accurate.

That's incredible.

You also have a Star Ball optical projector donated by the University of Saint Francis.

Talk about that.

How is that different?

So the star projector in the center of our room is how planetariums used to operate before we had digital projectors.

And basically it is a giant machine with a lot of bright LEDs in the center and a lot of little holes, mirrors, and other projection types that display dots of light onto the dome.

And that's basically all it can project.

It's a very accurate and realistic night sky, but you can't get all those extra special things.

Ed: Right, so it's like the night sky.

Like if you were lying on a super clear night.

Sarah: Yes it was, it was used a lot in high schools and in college classes for for really studying astronomy and not just studying.

The more basics of science that we talked about.

Is it is it unusual for a planetarium to have both technologies?

I wouldn't say it's unusual.

A lot of people have one or the other, and we're very lucky to have both.

While it is very different to have the old retro kind from the 1970s, plus the new modern digital system, it really does show a really cool connection to our local culture and like our history in Fort Wayne, but also a connection to how science used to operate and how learning used to operate as well.

I just think it's a really nice comparison to have in our place.

Now you must you get kids coming through for classes.

Which do you use for education?

For education?

Are you using one type of technology or the other?

I typically use the digital projector for all of our public demonstrations, because I think it captures a lot of people's attention, and it does introduce a lot of early learner concepts in Stem, which Science Central has a lot of early learners.

I do think the star projector in the center is made more for advanced audiences, so hopefully someday soon we will have some repeat visitors and I can start introducing a little bit of the star projector.

Ed: By the way, in the digital projector, how much technology or computing power is used in?

It's something like that.

It must be pretty massive, right?

Sarah: It is truly mind blowing.

I can't even express in words how much computer power is within that small space.

We have a separate computer room that stores all of the technology.

It's hidden behind a curtain in the planetarium, but we can absolutely show it off.

It's just incredible.

We don't want to forget.

Also, you have the science on a sphere.

Part of your part of your title.

Yeah.

And that's a whole different experience, right?

The science on a sphere?

I like to call science on a sphere, an inverted planetarium.

So instead of the dome above your head, the the sphere is in the center of the room and you're looking into, let's say, a planet, let's say planet Earth specifically.

And there's a really heavy influence on Earth science in the science on a sphere theater that shows whether or animal tracking or how satellites are used throughout the globe.

And I really like that counterpart as well.

So.

Ed: So how does that work?

Is like the projectors kind of paint the, the, you know, the experience onto the orb.

Sarah: Yeah.

It's basically that we have excuse me.

We have four projectors around the room and each of them are pointed at the large carbon fiber sphere in the middle.

But we also have this really cool software in the back room that splits up our image and warps it mathematically to fit the sphere.

So you can't really tell it's four separate images.

They blend really nice, and it it looks like a floating earth in the center of our room.

Ed: You're very much an educator.

What was your what did you study when you were in school?

I have my bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy.

Wow.

What?

What do the kids.

I mean, I would love to experience this.

And you get to do this, experience these things through the eyes of the of the school children that come in.

What is what is that experience?

What do you see when you when you do these presentations?

So often when I give a presentation, I don't see a thing because I'm in the back of the room.

You're in dark space, the room is dark, but what I hear is just heartwarming.

I hear so many oohs and aahs and sometimes screams because they were not expecting to see something so cool.

It's just been, I can't say it enough, magical how kids have reacted to this, because that's why I do what I do.

I want to give those opportunities to kids and make those formative memories for them.

Ed: So, so, so great for you.

All right.

To take your own journey from the 260 to the stars, check out the planetarium at Science Central.

You can get all the details at ScienceCentral.org People often think of teamwork in high school in terms of football or basketball.

But inside a workshop at Snider High School in Fort Wayne, teammates are competing in a different kind of arena one where coding, engineering and innovation are the keys to victory.

The Snider robotics team has already made a name for itself across Indiana, and perhaps more importantly, it's giving young people hands on experience to career pathways that can shape the future of Northeast Indiana.

And they're having a fun time doing it.

Joining us of members are members of the Snider Robotics team, 9431, nicknamed the Gold Standard.

From left to right, Connor Rey, Nick Sims and Grace Whited.

And not to be left out, their robot Indy.

There he is.

That's a that's a nice that's a nice intro for Indy.

I like the big eyes.

How'd you guys get started?

What is team 9431?

He and I both took computer science class, and our computer science teacher kind of found us in the hallway.

And he said, look, the district wants us to do robotics team, and you two are on it.

And we didn't really get a say, but we're still here.

It's been amazing ever since.

And you chose the gold standard because gold is one of you have nice t shirts.

Gold is.

Snider's colors.

Right.

So what is first robotics.

You compete under this first robotics kind of circuit or challenge.

What is that.

Yes.

So I mean I don't know the acronym.

Do you know the acronym.

First stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

All right.

Fantastic.

It's an organization that's been around since 95.

1995.

So they've been doing competitions like this ever since.

And obviously robotics has changed a lot since then.

Yeah.

So this is Indy now.

You're the robot that you created here.

How many you know, how long did it take to build this guy?

Three months off and on.

Three months?

So we you know, we have competition so we can't build it during competitions.

And we have to find like little checkpoints.

Okay.

So what was the the challenge, the first robotics challenge for this robot that he was trying to accomplish.

So in January we were given a game called rebuilt.

And they gave us a rule book to this game.

And the main goal was to shoot balls, foam balls called fuel into a big funnel called the hub.

And the main goal was to shoot more fuel than your opponent in that times.

Score the most.

Well, all right.

Well, let's let's fire up Indy and let's, let's see him work a little bit.

So these parts that you've got here these off the shelf components here.

Yeah.

So these are just flight simulator sticks from Amazon.

This is a laptop from a like Best Buy.

So okay.

And those are the foam.

These are the balls that go in.

All right.

He spins around.

Make them work.

Do your do your thing with him.

All right.

So you just throw a fuel in there.

You just throw in some fuel.

Throw in some more fuel.

Let's let's just dump it on the floor.

Let's let's shoot a few here.

All right.

So start in taking.

Oh he sucks it up.

Yeah.

All right.

Careful.

All right.

They got a lot of fuel.

All right.

So now we're the in the competition where the ball spread all around the floor.

So there's about 500 total.

Yes.

And you have to gobble them up.

All right.

So then what do you do.

Then you take it to the hub.

And if the hub was over there I am I get.

To shoot.

Yeah.

Fire away.

There we go.

Whoa!

All right.

Very impressive.

Oh, I feel like I want to give you an applause.

All right, well done.

Indy.

What?

Tell us the engineering challenges you guys faced in building this robot.

Grace, you did part of this, too, right?

Yeah, I worked on the arm part.

So when we first got the challenge, we all split up into different groups.

Someone works on intaking, someone works on the shooting part, and then some people work on the climbing part.

I was one of the people working on the climbing part.

And what we do is we look at other schools and what ideas they already have out, or try and come up with our own.

And we found the climbing arm.

How big was the team.

We had about at the start of the year?

30 students registered and on average we brought about 22 to each competition.

And not every student is an engineer like Grace.

You're an engineering student, Connor.

You're an engineering student.

Nick.

Were you in engineering student too?

Nick: I was a bit of everything as the team captain.

Yeah.

And so.

But there are some that don't even do that, right?

They do like social media.

Yeah, yeah.

Tell me, what are the other jobs that.

Grace: So we have a social media group where they post on our Instagram and stuff.

We have a programing team.

A CADing team.

electrical pit crew and build team.

Ed: Spin Indy around a little bit more.

And and how do you how does he control.

Is it on Wi-Fi or how does he.

So right now it's on Wi-Fi.

But for security reasons at competitions it's a closed loop.

It's a close you have to wire it in and it's a whole thing.

But right now it's on.

Wife and he's electrical or battery operated.

It's better.

Yes.

And how long will he go?

Probably a good 20 more minutes at this rate.

we usually swap out batteries between each match, just because matches are a little more demanding than doing this.

And the robots are crashing into each other.

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

You can see all sorts of scratches.

And on the corners of those bumpers.

He's got bumpers.

Yeah, yeah.

So he looks a little patched up and.

Oh yeah.

Spots.

Matches are two minutes in 15 seconds and the battery at full competition load only lasts around that long because of how much demand we're giving to it.

It pulls around 120 amps, which is a lot of power.

Ed: Wow.

And Nick, you were the You're the pilot, right?

Nick: I'm the driver.

Ed: You're the driver.

And do you have a driving philosophy?

Like a like like bang, bang them to the left and then shoot to the right?

Anything like that?

I do what I'm told, my focus on the field.

So he's usually our coach.

Okay.

And then we have Gavin who's not here.

He's our co-driver.

So Gavin focuses on watching one part of the field.

He focuses on watching the other.

And I just do what I'm told.

Do you and your your coach or your your student advisors?

I mean, how much does this program mirror real, real world opportunities out in the world?

I mean, I wouldn't I don't know, I think that's comparing apples to oranges a little bit, okay.

Because obviously in the real world you're not going to competitions.

You're not building these things with the intent of competing against other schools or organizations.

But I would say in terms of the engineering, the programing, the CAD, the design, yeah, it's it's I mean, there sometimes we go to competitions and there's a mini career fair.

I've talked to companies that are willing to pick you up for an internship.

So I would say it's close enough that it brings you real world opportunities That's tremendous.

Talk about the collaboration you guys did as a team.

Nick: You want to handle this one.

Connor: So as we talked about all of our we have a bunch of different sub teams business engineering, all that type of stuff.

And we all have our own specific challenges that we have to do to come together as one team.

So our business team focuses on getting sponsorships.

This is a very expensive sport.

It we have to gather tens of thousands of dollars worth of sponsorships, because this robot alone is worth around $10,000.

Our engineering team has to completely CAD out this robot using computer.

Ed: So they designed it?

Computer assisted design.

Connor: Yup.

Ed: And you wanted him to look like this.

Did he match?

What?

What you guys designed?

Nick: For the most part.

Yeah.

All right.

That's fantastic.

There's always some tweaks that you need to make.

Just translation of the real computer.

All right, shoot a few more.

Shoot a few more balls while I ask you this question.

Grace, what?

What do you want to do?

How do you how are you going to further your your engineering knowledge?

So when the next year starts up for this to the new season, I'm going to focus more on the building and wiring part of it, because I kind of was focusing on other things like sports.

So I'm going to focus more on this.

All right.

We'll we'll have you.

By the way, are you guys happy with your robot.

How you how it came out.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

You're you're proud of it.

Yeah.

All right.

Connor, what do you want to do?

Following following up your robotics career?

Are you trying to get into robotics or engineering?

I'm.

Yes, I'm trying to get into some sort of college for robotics.

I've learned because of this, I'm actually very good at strategizing and managing.

So I want to go into possibly data science as well with a main on engineering.

How about you Nick?

I'm mechanical.

I'm majoring in mechanical engineering here in the fall, actually.

Okay, fantastic.

You guys are an inspiration.

Keep up, keep up.

What you're doing.

In a city built on manufacturing and innovation, Snider High School's team 9431 represents the next generation of talent being developed right here in Fort Wayne.

Congratulations to all of you.

And thank you for being on the 260.

There's a magic in live theater.

Every show is powered by the energy between performers and the audience.

And for more than 50 years, Arena Dinner Theater has been creating a little bit of that magic here in Fort Wayne.

Their new season is on the horizon, with a mix of audience favorites and some lesser known works.

And here to talk about it is board president Leslie Beauchamp.

Welcome to the 260.

Thanks for having me.

Leslie.

And we're going to talk about all the shows because it seems very cool.

But tell me a little bit what goes into designing an entire season.

There's a lot of thought that's got to go into it.

You're right.

You're right.

Because you want to you want to have a season that has a little bit of something for everybody.

And so we have a committee and we have folks.

Anybody can submit a suggestion if there's a show that they really think they want to do.

And we have a committee that kind of goes through and sets up what we know our audience loves and some new things that we might want to bring on.

And we have a committee, we bring it to the board and they vote.

Ed: So the board votes on it.

Leslie: The board votes on it.

Ed: So one of the things that, you know, the audience in Fort Wayne loves.

Leslie: Our audience at arena.

They love murder mysteries.

They love farces.

They love they love a good drama every now and again.

So we have a really diverse audience, so we're really lucky and that we can kind of get a little bit of everything in.

Ed: And what are the things that go into creating just the right mix?

Is it like seasonality have to do with it.

For sure?

Yeah.

Like who can you cast is that.

Does that happen?

It does.

We I mean, honest to God, we are so lucky.

Here in Fort Wayne.

We have a plethora of amazingly talented artists.

And so that's one of the joys.

When you work for community theater, it's actually the community in community theater, it's always great because we literally have folks that will be like attorneys by day and by night.

They come and they're.

Auditioning.

Ed: Theyre whole other people.

Leslie: And so that part of it is really exciting.

So you don't really know who's coming out to audition for you.

Ed: So within the kind of the creative community in Fort Wayne, where does the arena try to position itself with, with, against, not against, but with the other theater groups in town?

Leslie: No, It's perfectly.

We are a really close knit family, our entire arts community.

And I always like to say a rising tide lifts all ships.

And so we're really lucky and that each of our theaters here in town, they kind of have their own little niche, what they do really well.

We are a dinner theater.

We are the only dinner theater in town.

That's what we do well, and we like to do that.

So it's more of an experience when you come to arena because you're there for a little bit longer.

You've got a cocktail hour, you've got dinner and then you've got the show, so it's a bit more of an experience.

Is there a unique challenge staging a show with the dinner?

Yeah, talk a little bit about that.

Leslie: And it's kind of funny.

Years ago there used to be a, there was a show called Soap Dish.

I don't know if.

You remember.

That show.

The big joke was that they were doing death of a salesman in a dinner theater.

And so all the waiters were dropping spoons.

But then it was really funny because we did.

And and it was really successful.

So you do have to take that into consideration.

You really do.

You know, is it a show that people will want to see and talk about after they've had a great meal?

And so.

Yeah, you do take it.

All right.

Well, the new season, let's talk about the shows.

You want to start with Dracula.

Dracula.

It is very funny.

It's it's very it's very Mal esque.

It is it's Dracula comedy of terrors.

And of course it's a, it's a very funny take on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

So it's a very funny.

Gloria Gloria minick is directing that.

You heard it here, folks.

The four old broads Christmas extravaganza Yes.

That is the fourth in the four Old Broads series.

And in this one, the ladies, they are taking on a Christmas pageant.

So it's again, it's very funny.

Okay.

And then so you go from a couple of funny ones, then you do God of Carnage.

Carnage, God of Carnage.

It's a dark comedy.

And as you know, Amy Ross is going to take the helm on that one.

It deals with serious issues, but it uses humor to kind of get around all the sides of that issue that make it a little bit more palatable for folks, instead of just talking about a serious issue.

It gives humor kind of softens the way for you to talk about something that's a little bit more serious.

When you are thinking about bringing in these shows, is that you?

Are you trying to create a flow throughout the season?

You do, you do.

You're like I said, you're trying to give a little taste of something.

So there might be folks who aren't don't love musicals.

So we have four plays.

We have, you know, we do like a variety.

So next one is the next one in the in the lineup is a musical.

It is it's our first musical.

It's called First Date.

Stephanie long break is going to be our director.

And it's very funny.

And the thing about this that I'm looking forward to is Henry's is sponsoring this.

And so we are actually looking for couples who had their first date at Henry's.

Oh no kidding.

We can kind of do a little bit of a collaboration.

That's a great local touch.

Yeah, yeah.

Tell me about the cottage.

The cottage?

That's actually a newer show.

It was on Broadway as recently as 23, 2023.

And it's a newer show.

It is a period piece.

It's a farce.

And so it takes place in the early 1920s, and it's about a lovers who are meeting at a cottage.

She thinks that it's going to be, you know, the rest of their life.

He has other ideas.

And so it's very, very funny.

But yeah, it's very new.

It's a new piece.

But and then you close out the season with, with a anniversary.

Yes.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

And it is going to be fun.

And like I said, it's the 60th anniversary.

So if you look at that, we're doing something that has been around for 60 years and something that's just three years off Broadway.

Is there something that really excites you about this season?

I really like that.

There is something for everybody, I really do, I love that, I love that if you come to see the entire series, you'll get a good smorgasbord of a lot of different types of art, which is great.

It's not six of the same thing that you're.

Saying, right?

Ed: As president of the board, what kind of priorities are you always thinking about for the Arena Theater?

Leslie: Honestly, for arena, we have two main kind of thrusts.

It's the quality of you want a consistent quality product and you want to make it for us.

It's maintaining our historic home because that that building was built in 1922.

Ed: Yeah.

So talk about the building a little bit.

It's a really unique... Leslie: It is very unique.

It is attached to a home which thankfully the owners of the home are amazing, but it is very unique.

It's nestled there in the historic West Central and it's been around since 1922.

And so you a lot of people do not know that it has been there.

We've been there for over 30 years.

Ed: Yeah, for a 50 year organization.

It's a little bit of a secret.

Leslie: We are, we're a secret 50 year.

Old organization.

But we've been there for 30 years on that Rock Hill location.

But so many people, because it was the Fort Wayne Art school and so many people come in and say, oh, I took art classes here.

So it's really great to have that kind of communication in that touchstone with so many people in our in our community.

It's really it is.

Really fun.

All right.

For somebody who's never been to a dinner theater production.

Okay, sell them on it.

I'm going to sell you on it.

It's an experience.

You come in.

We've got a cocktail hour.

We are a lot of fun because it's a volunteer based organization.

It literally is your community there.

It's your people.

And so you come in, you have cocktails and you have an amazing dinner.

Our caterers are Walnut Hill Catering and Events.

They do a great job.

They try to theme the dinner to the show and then you see a show.

And so it's really fun.

It's a wonderful evening.

It's a great experience.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for being of course.

Thanks for having us about it.

You can check out the dates for the new season and of course buy tickets at ArenaDinnerTheatre.org That's all the time we have for this episode.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and get alerted whenever we post a new episode.

Now, please take a moment to appreciate the folks that make this show possible, and I'll see you next time on the 260.