Q:
11/23/2008

How did you first get involved with theatre? Did you work in any other parts of theatre before finding lighting design?

Johnny B.

 

A:
12/3/2008

Michael:  I started college with very little interest in the arts.  I was a computer science major.  I got a side job working in the A/V department.  I started pushing overhead and slide projectors across campus.  Eventually I started running sound for some pretty big events.  When I started my second year, I also got to work as a stagehand in the touring house on campus.  I got to work backstage for some of the best dance companies in the country.  I enjoyed it so much, I ended up changing my major.  I took a set design class first to make sure it was the right choice.  I continued with the theatre major, eventually went to grad school, and have been designing professionally ever since.  I’ve also dabbled in sound, but certainly focus more on lighting.

 

Lisa:  I danced at my local dance studio from the time I was five years old.  I joined the stage crew in high school.  While I loved dancing, the tech crew at the time was more of a hobby than a career.  Eventually I graduated college with a degree in Microbiology.  I taught high school science for a year and moonlighted as an overhire in the local IATSE.  Between teaching contracts, I toured as a Stage Manager for a children’s theatre touring company.  I still thought of theatre as a job to fill in the time I’m not teaching.  Finally I met Michael at a summer stock theater and realized that I would be happy with theatre as my career.  I’ve directed a few shows.  I love to choreograph.  However, Lighting Design is my primary career and I am also an AEA Stage Manager.

Michael and Lisa

 

Q:
11/10/2008

Having been to several lighting tradeshows recently and seen the various new LED lighting fixtures offered, I am curious if we'll see LED fixtures provide the amount of clean, dimmable light I require as an LD in a mid sized theater. At this time it seems LED fixtures have a better chance for the traditional 'flash and trash' I've used at the entrance of the theater or during a dinner/auction/fundraiser. What do you think of LED use in the theater?

Kay L.

 

A:
11/18/2008

We often discuss this question amongst the two of us.  LEDs promise the potential of amazing flexibility in theatre.  Even with limits of today’s technology, they certainly have their place in theatre.  For example, we recently saw a play that had a piece of art displayed in a nook in a wall of the set.  If there was a hole in one of the surfaces of the nook that the audience couldn’t see, an LED fixture could light the art piece in any desired color.  There would be unlimited flexibility and no need to worry about the heat of a typical lighting fixture.  As projections creep into a higher and higher percentage of  theatrical productions, video walls might also find their way into smaller theatre venues.  Of course, budgets in the arts will probably slow that progress for a long time to come.  We also feel that great care should be taken to be sure that video walls are appropriate for a given production.  That being said, the uses of today’s LED technology that we’ve found in theatre seem limited to situations where you have a small area to light or a short throw distance.

 

That doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for the future.  At LDI last month, we saw a very bright LED designed for TV and film.  However, it was only white.  If you need something other than white, you might be able to put a gel in front of it.  Or you can wait for technology to improve and combine the intensity of the studio fixture with the color changing abilities of theatrical fixtures and the dimming capabilities of conventional fixtures.  While we don’t know the science behind LEDs, we know there are plenty of people who do, and are working nonstop to create the fixture we are all waiting for.

Michael and Lisa

 

Q:
10/27/2008

What qualities do you need to be a good LD?

Wade T.

 

A:
10/29/2008

Our patience and perseverance make us good designers. It takes patience, as there are always setbacks and obstacles in this industry. In a recent production, a major set piece wasn’t finished until a couple of hours before opening night. It never even made it onstage until that time. Getting upset with the carpenters would have just slowed them down. Instead, we stayed calm and positive and came up with a plan to incorporate the piece into our cues as best we could in such a short amount of time. 

  Perseverance also comes into play because there aren’t many designers out there who don’t sometimes feel like the phone will never ring again. We never give up planning our future and making sure the paychecks keep coming.

Michael and Lisa

 

Q:
10/17/2008

What’s the best part of your job?

Randy W.

 

A:
10/20/2008

The best part of our job is that it is always something new. We really enjoy always working on new projects with new people in new places. Even when we return for our fifth season at one theater, or our twelfth show at a school, it never gets old. The most important thing is that we love what we do.

 

Another part of our job we love is the introduction to new interests. Neither of us would have ever dreamed of being opera and ballet fans. Now that we have designed and assisted on a number of operas, we appreciate it and even seek it out on occasion. Between dance, opera, concerts and other events, we’ve been exposed to people, places and interests we probably otherwise would have avoided.

 

Michael and Lisa

 

Q:
10/3/2008

I'm a High School Drama director with a pretty hefty tech background.  I've worked with designers in the Philadelphia area, but my limited budget here at the high school causes problems in my design.
I was always trained to use warm/cool area lights and front lighting, then specials for all types of different colors and color washes.  With the instruments I have in the building, I have enough to do the warm/cool and white front light, but have little left for the saturated reds, greens, blues, lavendars, etc.  
Should I try to light a show without the warm/cool area lights?  Should I fill the stage with saturated colors and focus more on mood and atmosphere rather than warm/cool wash lights?

Brian S.

 

A:
10/7/2008

This is a tough question.  It’s hard to give you one answer to fit all of your shows.  You need to determine what is most important for each production.  Some schools place a much greater importance on the performers than tech.  If that’s the case, keep all the light out front and make sure that friends and family of the performers can see them.  Mood and other needs can be secondary.  Hopefully, though, tech standards live up to the same standards as performance.  If that’s the case, we would suggest cutting the warm and cool front diagonals.  Use those resources upstage of the proscenium.  You can create moods, sculpt the bodies of the performers, and maybe have some left over for specials or to light the set.  If you have strong systems of back light or side light, you can adequately light faces with your one system of front light and not wash out the look you create with the overhead systems. 

 

We’ve worked on both ends of the spectrum.  We can clearly say that it’s so much nicer to light a show when you have good coverage from all angles over the whole stage.  We’ve also done enough shows where we’ve had to find tricks to stretch our resources as much as possible.  In most of the shows we do, we still keep a couple of broad washes from a diagonal angle front-of-house.  We color these washes to pop out costume colors, warm up or cool down the stage.  These washes, though, just use a few lights and do not need a light for each acting area.  Another trick is to use booms.  While this solution is not always appropriate, one light head high on a boom can light the entire width of the stage.  There are some disadvantages to this.  People close to the boom will be much brighter than people farther away.  You will have longer shadows from this low angle.  Booms also take up valuable space in your wings where set pieces might need to move on and off.  If you can live with the drawbacks, you can extend your flexibility a great deal with lights from low angles.

 

It’s up to you to decide what’s most important for your productions.  The best thing I can say that works in every case is keep the bake sales and car washes going so you can buy a bunch of Smart Color scrollers.

Michael and Lisa