(td)squared

Hey all,

I recently had the luck to take a four day trip to New York City. While I was down there (I was there for a Twitter conference), I made sure to take in as much theatre as I possibly could. What I saw during those four days (three nights, really) were three very different shows, and three very different designs that I wanted to break down here.

Today, I will start by breaking down the lighting design and scenic design for Next to Normal.

Part one: Next to Normal

The set, with cast on it

The first show I saw was the new musical “Next to Normal”. A new musical about a family coping with a mother’s psychological condition, “Next To Normal” took a stripped down and sculptural approach to design. Built on scaffolding, the show creates multiple settings in the various open areas of the scaffolding, and by manipulating the positions of a few translucent walls.

The set is also adorned with hundreds of light bulbs that serve to light and color the set. Interestingly, they were designed to look like incandescents, though I’m fairly certain they were actually LEDs (they definitely changed colors at several points). I’d be curious to know for sure. These bulbs were interesting because although they were lighting pieces, they were definitely a function of the scenic design, helping define different areas depending on what was lit. They weren’t designed to illuminate performers, rather to attract your eye to the different sections of the scenery.

The orchestra was placed on stage, in the set. I tend to favor this kind of placement, and it tended to work for this type of rock musical, but occasionally a stagehand or a musician had to run around for whatever reason and that distracted from the action. So there’s a warning – if you’re going to put the band on stage, make sure they know not to distract from the other action!

The Cyc

The cyclorama definitely did change colors throughout the performance though, often reflecting the music. It was generally cold throughout the show, sticking to blues, occasionally venturing into greens or purples. It did venture into warm territory occasionally, but infrequently. Interestingly, the cyc often seemed to be lit in portions, based on the level of the scaffolding. Often, the ground floor would appear to be a pure blue, and the upper level would seem to be a purple. I’m not sure if this was actually due to color mixing or some other trick (they might have had LEDs placed in the second level of the scaffolding – it was very tough to tell). I loved the use of the cyc, and how they got playful with changing colors (the ‘rock doctor’ sequence is memorable for this).

Halftone

Halftone will blow your mind

The design of the “flats” was unique – they used a halftone look on (I’m assuming) plexi so the pieces were translucent from the audience’s perspective. The halftone look carried on in the close placement of all the bulbs and created a very “dotty” feel (for lack of another descriptive term). One could infer that the halftone was used because it creates images that “aren’t all there”, and thus neither is our lead character or a healthy family dynamic or… you get the idea.

I captioned this image to the right (demonstrating halftone) as “halftone will blow your mind”. The show has an actual standard halftone plexi flat (white) bumped up against the cyc in two sections of the scaffolding, and I spent a significant amount of time confused and bewildered trying to understand the optical effect I was seeing. Something about how it was lit masked the halftone and how sometimes the pattern appeared or disappeared totally blew my mind (it only became clear once the lights dimmed for intermission). Maybe they planned for that too!

The flats, in motion

The eyes watch over Alice Ripley as Diana

Those same halftone flats were also moving throughout the show, on and off the stage. They appeared to be on a track system, although they shot on and off stage with incredible speed and accuracy that it might have been something more sturdy (or Local One is just that good!).

There were several different sets of flats (all in halftone), a house, eyes, and a mouth (combine to make a face). Depending on the placement of these flats, the show created very surreal scenarios for their characters – a scene taking place in the bathroom or the bedroom of the daughter always had the eye of the face watching over. The face itself was one of the most iconic aspects of the design, although I’m hesitant to analyse it for fear of totally missing the boat. It came on stage in pieces, eyes first, followed by the rest of the head in the second act – perhaps it represents Diana (the main character)’s journey in discovering herself and seeing herself as she exists? I’d be curious to hear from the designer what his intention was.

Lighting it up

Lighting up a house

I’ve already mentioned the awesome incandescent-style fixtures that adorned the set. While I don’t believe they were designed to illuminate any actors (and probably fell under the scenic designer’s jurisdiction) they were undoubtedly utilized by the LD to light up the scenery itself. As the picture to the right shows, the bulbs were great for sculpting the set. Combining the bulbs with the halftone panels created a really great look (especially when the bulbs were behind the plexi panels, and really exposed the halftone pattern).

The standard lighting design itself seemed to borrow from two worlds, as was fitting based on the musical’s influences. Rock design pervaded the lighting, with frequently flashy musical sequences, bright colors, and other conventions more fitting for an arena stage (get it? get it now?) than a Broadway stage. But in the more dramatic scenes, and especially in the second act, it takes on a decidedly darker tone that reflects the text, as opposed to the first act reflecting the music’s tone. The rock tone is no surprise though; Kevin Adams designed the show, and with a portfolio that includes design for the revival of Hair, Passing Strange, and Spring Awakening, he was a natural choice.

The final scene (which I won’t spoil) was particularly moody in its lighting. Because it’s such an important plot point I can’t reveal the plot, but the lighting was great. A stage which had been almost entirely lit for the duration of the show is reduced to near darkness, until… (see the show, you’ll see).

Putting it all together

"Catch Me I'm Falling"

This was one of the best musicals I’ve seen on Broadway (certainly compared to the show I had just seen a week before this, the revival of Guys & Dolls – but that’s another story). Stellar performances, a great score, and awesome design made this an awesome experience and a great start to my theatre trifecta.

It’s highly recommended for its provocative story and puzzling (in a good way!) design. The halftone makes you think, and exposes the layers of the characters that inhabit it.

3 1/2 stars!

The details

Next to Normal at the Booth Theatre
Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Music by Tom Kitt
Book by Brian Yorkey

Directed by Michael Greif
Scenic Design by Mark Wendland
Lighting Design by Kevin Adams
Costume Design by Jeff Mahshie
Sound Design by Brian Ronan

The run is open-ended.

As some of my colleagues have already made clear: The State University of New York, University at Buffalo (more specifically the bowels of the Center for Fine Arts at that supreme institution of learning) had the honour recently, of hosting the USITT Upstate New York Regional Conference/Meeting.

Most of us in the Department of Theatre and Dance here had the chance to participate, needless to say most of us, therefore, DID partake in the prolificly planned proceedings.

My day began much too early for one after the end of the semester, but I quickly came to enjoy it with the help of caffeinated beverages. It began in earnest as we suddenly realized that the basement of CFA is a confounding place to those who do not regularly frequent it. Luckily one of our fearless leaders had created helpful arrow touting signs to guide the gentlepersons in attendence from room to room, seminar to seminar, life changing experience to life changing experience! Alright, perhaps lives were not changed per se, but they were at least well informed throughout the day (and well fed)!

The seminar which I first attended was called “On the Call,” and was a way of familiarizing those in attendance with the workings if IATSE, if they were not already familiar. We were welcomed to ask questions about how things happen on calls or the panelists experiences on calls. It ended up being a highly informative version of story time with the panel! A few of us students were given the chance to work on a call in fact since an IATSE official was talking, and mentioned that they were a bit short handed for one that was coming up, so that session ended being one of the more important ones for me!

There was a lighting demonstration for various LED fixtures next and I was so taken aback that I stayed through the next session in order to look at them and play with them more. For a hopeful lighting designer, this was just about the coolest thing there. There was even a fixture (I wish I had a head for names) that had a lense plate that moved back and forth so that the light could actually be zoomed! Between the two sellers, there were about five diferent “flat” wash fixtures which were more squared off, and a few which were closer to Fresnels. There was a fixture which is basicaly a normal Cyc throw with a J-reflector and a tube of very small LEDs… It. Was. Awesome!

(This is the part where I apologize for my lack of name based memory… I would direct you to Katie Gilliland for questions regarding the LEDs. Though it is quite possible that you don’t have any, since I limited my discussion of the LEDs in favor of not boring you to death, fair reader.)

Lunch was amazing. Grilled Lemon Chicken and a very tastums pasta bake as well as a wide assortment of salads and dressings. (I enjoy quality catering.)

The sessions I attended after Lunch were quite informative and much more practical than before.

The panel on sound design was very informative. I especially liked that one of the panelists pointed out that even differing times of day, and qualities of air must be accounted for in a Board Op’s mixing (mostly when outside of course). Something I had never thought of till then. Rick Menke was another panelist and I think that if I were to design sound, I too would share Rick Menke’s philosophy. I think all designers need to keep the artistic in mind (it is after all, technically our job), especially with Sound, since I feel it is a department often un-fairly saddled with simply amplifying sound, while Scene and Lights get to have all the fun. In fact “audio” is half of “audio-visual” and so in Theatre, Sound is a single department that feasibly should be creating half the experience. It’s a great honour, and I think Rick hit it on the head by recognizing that.

My only fear for “Fine Tuning Your Lighting Color Palette” is that I will forget the great and more specific wisdoms imparted by Lighting Designer KC Hooper. Indeed I have already forgotten a few, but the main thing I took away from the presentation was the fact that a gel palette must be fine tuned. It must be tested, and then re-tested and a Lighting Designer must be in near constant communication with his colleagues in Scenic and Costume Design so as to bring about the best combination of color possible and make the lighting as effective in creating the desired look as possible.

In summary, I think I took a lot away from this disadvantageously early starting day. It was a great experience for a Freshman and exposed me to a lot of new angles that I had never really considered before. I know now that I want to explore sound more, as a result of the Sound Design Panel. And I know that Lighting Design is A LOT harder than I once thought it was and have gained an even deeper respect for my current prospective field of work. In light of this great experience, I am just as well starting to be excited for moving forward and going to my first major exposition or conference. I suppose the way I figure: If college can be this much fun, what great things must the big world have in store!

Cheers friends,

~Andrew

On May 2nd I attended my first ever USITT event, right at UB. What an experience it was! We started off the day drinking delicious SPoT Coffee and mingling with our friends and guests, and then traveled around the Center for the Arts for a day filled with workshops. I attended “On the Call,” “LEDs: Lighting Demonstration,” “Lighting Design for Dance,” “Sound Design: A Panel Discussion,” and “Fine Tuning Your Lighting Color Palette.” While each lecture that I attended was extremely well presented and informative, there were two that really stood out to me.

In “Lighting Design For Dance,” we were able to hear about the process and techniques of designing for a dance piece. Lynne Koscielniak, a professor and mentor for our department and an extremely talented lighting designer, gave an intruiging presentation which was heightened by the observation of a Configuration Dance rehearsal. Designing for dance is quite different than designing for a theatre piece, and Lynne’s knowledge of color, research, and designer/choreographer communication is so deep that this workshop made me very eager to design.

The other winning lecture for me was the Sounf Design discussion. As a Sound Designer and music student, the discussion that took place had me sitting on the edge of my seat. Rick and Katie Menke spoke about composition in Sound Design and the process of working with composers, and also about the true artistry in Sound Design. This along with other panel members’ insight into engineering gave me great ideas for the future, and I didn’t want the discussion to end!

These wonderful presentations were not the only thing that made it such a memorable day, however. There was the delicious food, there was the meeting about our trip to the 2011 Exhibition in Prague, and most importantly there was the atmosphere created by the people who attended. To be able to spend a day with friends learning about and discussing what we love most is a priceless experience, and I thank the UB staff, the Planning committee, the presenters, and all who attended for making it a success!

-Sara Elizabeth

Hello Folks,

I was reading Live Design online recently and I came across the following article on Green Theatre. Josh Allen, the wordwright for this article (which may be found here: http://livedesignonline.com/theatre/0421-green-theatre/ ), is a consultant and Lighting Designer with Theatre Consultants Collaborative, LLC.

As a proponent of Green practices for my own life, and in all my work places both in and out of the Theatre, I think he makes some very good points about accountability and sustainability. The crux of the matter is that Allen does not simply accuse others of becoming lax, but pins the tail on the donkey of extravagance by calling other “consultants, architects, engineers, installers, theatre and touring professionals alike” to take a stand for sustainability. And as we all enjoy, he offers a few ideas to get us started on solutions. I like this, because no one likes to be chsatened, and not told what they can do to fix whatever it was for which they were chastened.

You will undoubtedly read this in the italics below his article, if you have not already done so when you came to its link earlier, but “Allen is developing a blog and forum for such discussions at www.eco-theatre.org.” So please: check out the article, visit the blog regularly (it’s still in development, but “will be coming soon” so the site advertises) and let me know what you think in the mean time.

I agree with him, that we all have this opportunity to develop a responsibility that we already have. And I don’t know about you, but I’m excited!

(It occurs to me that I should program a keyboard shortcut to type “(td)^2″ without actually typing it because that would be fun. Kudos to anyone who can tell me how to do that. I use a MacBook Pro by the way.)

Cheers All!

On May 2nd the Unviversity at Buffalo was fortunate to hold a regional USITT. I took part of the event as both a participant and a director, helping the visitors to UB find their way around our Theatre Department. There was a whole plethora of sessions one could go to and expand their theatrical knowledge.

I chose to go to “Costume Design for Dance”, “Lighting Design for Dance”, “Photoshop Tutorial” and “Fine Tuning your Lighting Color Palette”.

By going to “Costume Design for Dance” I was not only able to pick up some great tips for design but also get a great tour of the facilities UB has to offer in the costuming world. After a discussion about how dance costumes have to fit your concept and the dancers comfort, whether it be in their ability to perform the coreography or just their comfort level with exposing certain parts of their body on stage, you must be able to meld your budget and idea with both comfort levels.

In “Lighting Design for Dance” we were able to get some tips on how lighting works in a setting where stage dynamics are constantly changing, learning to limit yourself to the number of cues you put in, only put as many as you feel can be implemented and executed in the short time you have to make them. Try to break the dance into major stages, and moments. When writing cues give them an action to look for rather than a time, this makes it more precise.

In the “Photoshop Tutorial” we learned how to colorize photos and alter color levels to best fit the style we’re looking for. We also learned how to use filters. This can be used in set design for paint elevations as well as in costume design for your renderings.

“Fine Tuning your Lighting Color Palette” a big part of this lecture was directed towards the attention one should pay towards skin tone, and how it will look under the lights. You should not only look at skin tones but also look at what colors the set and costume designers plan on using, because certain lighting gels, while enhancing skin tone will really wash out other colors used in set and costumes. So keep these other things in mind when making a “mood” or enhancing your concept with color, because a sickly actor and washed out set is nothing to be proud of, even if the lighting is incredible.