Boiling live frogs onstage
A wonderful WOW mentor, Alison Duncan, once told me a tip for improvising lighting design: playing with looks while the show goes on can be done; just do it very slowly. You'll be the first one to notice any changes, and you can thus back off if it's looking wrong with no one the wiser. I described this to my brother and he remarked that it's like cooking live animals in water - increase the heat slowly and they'll never even know they're they're being boiled!
I use this to, I think, pretty good effect when I'm running the lightboard for a one-off cabaret style show such as Rivers of Honey at WOW, which I was pleased to do last Friday. I've sort of developed a style around it, in fact, shifting sometimes during a performance to go with the mood of the piece. Starting out with a white spotlight, say, and shifting to perhaps red backlights with a golden spot without people even noticing until they blink and do notice. I'm sometimes nervous that it's a bit busy and calls attention away from the performer, but those I've asked have reassured me on that score, so, yays. :)
I find that really fun, to come in and work that same night with whatever lights are hanging. If I'm lucky and get to be there early enough, I may get to put different color gels in and/or refocus some lights, but generally it's seat-of-your-pants lighting design. Fun, and without those pesky put-ins and rehearsals and whatnot!
Odd, that's sort of the opposite of what I (used to) enjoy with costume design - I preferred to build the whole garment, rather than alter something already extant. For instance, making an entire wedding gown for a production of "Prelude to a Kiss", and applying frog-shaped designs of pearls that no one in the audience would be able to see. :D Now, I think I appreciate the challenge of manipulating what's available - and the blessedly lesser amount of work (usually) involved.
Nonetheless! I have taken on making up a lighting design from scratch for the current production at WOW:
A Night of Three Goddesses
Yes, I'm stirring a bit out of my kind-of-depressed state. I was hanging in at work and managing to do chores re: Dad but I added this as well. I'm cautiously optimistic for my energy levels.
It is a new type of challenge, as I haven't done the light design from the get-go before. Bewildering, what with all the options of being able to actually choose what lights to use and to be able to hang them where-ever I want! Arrgh, almost overwhelmed with the choices!
PLUS I have had to make WOW's twelve-dimmer lighting board serve for the needs of three separate one-acts! Needless to say, I will be doing a little gel-changing and light refocusing during the intermissions. Actually I think needing to accommodate the needs of all three plays possibly made it easier? Orrr, not, really. I think it did help a bunch that everyone had pretty definite ideas about what they wanted, but still have been fairly flexible. I attempted to fufill their mental images, plus make them a little better. (Hmmm, rather like my service-top sort of persona in sex, I think! Hee!)
Nonetheless I think it looks pretty good! The performances are worth working for, and seeing, I believe! For once I like the poetry performance best, I think, Tantra's "Soldier Blues". Her voice and the backing music are replaying in my mind. MilDred I find to be an excellent physical actor, embodying characters and genders with ease. Sokhna's dance piece I think will be entrancing; I'm looking forward to being able to pay more attention to the acts, rather than being preoccupied with scribbling notes!
I'm still hesitant about the section where I attempt to be a human strobe light, however. :/ Nonetheless I recommend getting tickets for A Night of Three Goddesses, March 11 - 13th 2010 at 8pm, WOW Cafe Theatre 59-61 East 4th St in NYC!
I use this to, I think, pretty good effect when I'm running the lightboard for a one-off cabaret style show such as Rivers of Honey at WOW, which I was pleased to do last Friday. I've sort of developed a style around it, in fact, shifting sometimes during a performance to go with the mood of the piece. Starting out with a white spotlight, say, and shifting to perhaps red backlights with a golden spot without people even noticing until they blink and do notice. I'm sometimes nervous that it's a bit busy and calls attention away from the performer, but those I've asked have reassured me on that score, so, yays. :)
I find that really fun, to come in and work that same night with whatever lights are hanging. If I'm lucky and get to be there early enough, I may get to put different color gels in and/or refocus some lights, but generally it's seat-of-your-pants lighting design. Fun, and without those pesky put-ins and rehearsals and whatnot!
Odd, that's sort of the opposite of what I (used to) enjoy with costume design - I preferred to build the whole garment, rather than alter something already extant. For instance, making an entire wedding gown for a production of "Prelude to a Kiss", and applying frog-shaped designs of pearls that no one in the audience would be able to see. :D Now, I think I appreciate the challenge of manipulating what's available - and the blessedly lesser amount of work (usually) involved.
Nonetheless! I have taken on making up a lighting design from scratch for the current production at WOW:
A Night of Three Goddesses
Yes, I'm stirring a bit out of my kind-of-depressed state. I was hanging in at work and managing to do chores re: Dad but I added this as well. I'm cautiously optimistic for my energy levels.
It is a new type of challenge, as I haven't done the light design from the get-go before. Bewildering, what with all the options of being able to actually choose what lights to use and to be able to hang them where-ever I want! Arrgh, almost overwhelmed with the choices!
PLUS I have had to make WOW's twelve-dimmer lighting board serve for the needs of three separate one-acts! Needless to say, I will be doing a little gel-changing and light refocusing during the intermissions. Actually I think needing to accommodate the needs of all three plays possibly made it easier? Orrr, not, really. I think it did help a bunch that everyone had pretty definite ideas about what they wanted, but still have been fairly flexible. I attempted to fufill their mental images, plus make them a little better. (Hmmm, rather like my service-top sort of persona in sex, I think! Hee!)
Nonetheless I think it looks pretty good! The performances are worth working for, and seeing, I believe! For once I like the poetry performance best, I think, Tantra's "Soldier Blues". Her voice and the backing music are replaying in my mind. MilDred I find to be an excellent physical actor, embodying characters and genders with ease. Sokhna's dance piece I think will be entrancing; I'm looking forward to being able to pay more attention to the acts, rather than being preoccupied with scribbling notes!
I'm still hesitant about the section where I attempt to be a human strobe light, however. :/ Nonetheless I recommend getting tickets for A Night of Three Goddesses, March 11 - 13th 2010 at 8pm, WOW Cafe Theatre 59-61 East 4th St in NYC!