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Sweat
No full textA wall within the bar raises to reveal two characters outside smoking. As they look through the “window” of the bar, they speak to each other.https://ir.uiowa.edu/scenic_design/1099/thumbnail.jp
Media Clown
No full textThe digital avatar of the clown steals the particles and erupts them back at the clown. As this was projected on the front scrim, light needed to blast in from the direction of the digital avatar which was stage left. Using bright lights that pulsed quickly in intensity and subtle color-shifts, it appeared as if the clown was being bombarded by a stream of particles.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1194/thumbnail.jp
SOFA
No full textIn the Spring of 2019, I was brought on as the lighting designer for a collaborative project with the University’s 3D Art Department. We were to create an installation that encouraged connection through form and function for the Connect Student Competition in conjunction with the SOFA (Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art and Design) Expo at Chicago’s infamous Navy Pier. The 3D Art Department was responsible for the development and construction of the structure and I added electrical and lighting components to compliment that design. Our proposal was accepted for display at the Expo and our installation received first place by a jury of design professionals.
The design elements of seating, lighting, and objects or staging were to be used to create a space that expo-goers and other artists could stop and connect within. As our exhibit was seldom empty and the background for many group photos, we felt that we succeeded in that mission. Our concept focused on nature and the weaving of birds’ nests to create an immersive space. Using ropes that wove in and around a skeletal beam structure, a world was created where light could be used to project shadows and dramatic highlight with up-lighting from behind benches for viewer seating. I chose to enhance the organic nature of the space by adding a subtle pulsing of intensity and color that imperceptibly moved as viewers made their way through the installation. Using a range of color in the red-to-purple range, the ropes appeared to emanate their own light. Warm ambers from above created an inviting warmth that drew people into the space to escape the chaos of the expo for a moment.
We initially constructed the installation at the University of Iowa in an art gallery over the course of five days. It then had to be disassembled and loaded into a 16’ truck. We had two eight-hour build days before adjudication took place on the third day. An educational experience for all involved, I was able to lend my experience with fast-paced load-ins and builds to set-up the installation within the two-day period we were allotted. I also created a contained control system within one of the benches that hid all of our equipment to make the installation look clean and composed. Over the course of the expo, I was able to hear feedback from other artists and viewers as they entered and exited the installation which was very useful in understanding how art is consumed by the public. After three days of display, we disassembled the structure and brought it back to Iowa
Media Clown
No full textThe clown has escaped the digital world, but finds that he has brought something back with him. His jacket illuminates in a field of particles. This was achieved by sewing LED strips into the lining of his costume and wirelessly controlled through the lighting console.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1195/thumbnail.jp
Orlando
No full textThe ghost of Queen Elizabeth visits Orlando. The columns are lit white to bring back the visual motif of The Queen, and strings of lightbulbs hang from the air to show the modernization of the world due to the technological advancements that have taken place at that point in history.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1073/thumbnail.jp
Petrasonic
No full textA PowerPoint slide detailing the morphology of the Manson Impact Crater in western Iowa next to the stone instruments displaying a petrographic slide of shocked quartz from the microscope camera. During this slide is when the geologist talks in detail about the shocked quartz found in the Manson Impact Crater.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1116/thumbnail.jp
Orlando
No full textThe chorus, highlighted downstage to provide narration to the story. They are lit in white to show that they are acting as their chorus-selves and are not acting as other characters in Orlando’s story.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1065/thumbnail.jp
The Wolves
No full textThe Wolves are practicing partner exercises and having different conversations between another. To focus on the separate groups as they were featured in the dialogue, the actors would freeze and re-animate throughout the scene. I aided this by darkening the areas of the field that did not have speaking characters.https://ir.uiowa.edu/lighting_design/1079/thumbnail.jp
Sunday in the Park with George
No full textSunday in the Park with George fictionalizes the struggles of the famous French artist, George Seurat, and his journey to the completion of his greatest and most popular work, “A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte”. Juxtaposing the stories of both Seurat and his great-grandson across two acts, Sondheim illustrates the tortured artist and highlights the process by which art is created.
The audience gains insight into the mind of George Seurat throughout the first act as he observes the world around him through his sketching and painting. Frustrated by his inability to step away from his art, his muse Dot pushes him for emotional connection and finds herself wanting more. As she slips away, Seurat comes closer to finishing the painting, ultimately assembling the figures in the park onstage into the perfect composition of color and light.
The second act follows the supposed great-grandson of Dot and George Seurat on his own artistic exploration, culminating with a merging of the two Georges on La Grande Jatte. When young George visits the island as it appears in the present, he is surprised to find it much different from the iconic image. The juxtaposition of the post-impressionist painting with the harshness of a new world again keys the audience into the world as seen through George’s mind.
Using Seurat’s painting, “A Sunday of La Grande Jatte”, I created digital versions of his landscapes that we were able to change and evolve over the course of the show. Each backdrop was created using a Wacom drawing desk and the photo editing software Photoshop. Sketches in the style of Seurat’s charcoal studies were created in layers so that they could be “drawn” onto the landscape as he worked onstage. I wanted the audience to see the world as if through Seurat’s eyes; they saw as he did in brilliant, individual colors.
Using a 40-foot-wide rear projection screen, four 12k laser projectors, a scrim, and four 7k traditional lamp projectors, I was able to immerse the stage in a world framed by art inspired by Seurat’s unique style of pointillism. The laser projectors allowed me to create a changing landscape that was bright enough to compete with the stage lighting and the projectors on scrim created the illusion that we were seeing through the canvas that George was working on.
One of the challenges of this set-up was how to make a large projection screen appear as a cohesive element of the stage picture. I achieved this by manipulating the images to match the quality of light onstage, just as a traditional drop would change with the lighting. By adjusting brightness, contrast, and color balance, I was able to shift the backdrop into blues or remove the vibrance to lessen its presence as the moments required.
As the painting evolves throughout the first act, we needed multiple versions of Seurat’s work at varying stages of completion. While the park landscape used for the majority of the scenes was based on one of his studies of La Grande Jatte, we see George in his studio while he works on the final painting. This was projected on the front of a framed scrim so that we could see George as he worked. This also meant that the painting had to be inverted to be in the correct orientation. In the final scene of Act 1, the characters take their place within the painting. In order for them to complete the picture, it was necessary to have an empty park to work with. Each painted figure had to be carefully removed from the image and a recreation of the background was necessary. This resulted in a nearly completely digitally repainted version of “A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte.
Moving into the second act, I created the backdrops for the museum and gallery from scratch using digital rendering techniques like custom photoshop brushes and gallery effects. The modern park landscape was created by compositing over 30 different images, some from La Grande Jatte itself, resulting in an image in which individual components could be animated independently as the city emerged in the distance.
This media design was one of my greatest undertakings in graduate school. I developed my own techniques and tools to build the world of the play resulting in a landmark moment of my career. This production convinced me of the validity of media as an independent design field in the theatre and has inspired me to continue moving forward in developing this skill and discipline
Little Village February 20 - March 5, 2019
Get PDFhttps://ir.uiowa.edu/littlevillage/1258/thumbnail.jp