Havenworth

Once Upon A Mattress

2011-07-22T13:37:00.006-04:00

Our first production at Huntington University this semester is Once Upon A Mattress, and I couldn't be more excited about realizing my first studio space scenic design. I hope it will allow for the students to learn and grow through a variety of design and production roles and responsibilities. I am currently preparing to create a ground plan and 1/2 " scale model for the space. I have drawn a rough sketch and created a digital model using Vectorworks. (Being a lighting designer, I prefer that program at this point to AutoCAD. I hope someday I will prefer both depending on what project I am working on.)

Here is the sketch...

Here is the digital model...

I still have some learning to do regarding rendering, but I am definitely getting closer and closer to feeling like I am mastering the program. I just hope I can get there before the software takes another giant leap forward.

American Association of Museums Annual Conference

2011-06-20T14:18:00.003-04:00

This past May I attended the American Association of Museums conference in Houston, TX. It was a wonderful experience! I attended last year in Los Angeles, CA with the Luce Group, and I found myself overwhelmed with new information. This year I found myself overwhelmed with the amount of people I met. It is nearly incomprehensible to me how many people are excited about the museum industry. Many have passionate drives to provide our communities with educational experiences regarding our past, our present, and our future. It is a privilege and an honor to be a part a community of professionals.

My main goal in attending this years conference was to meet people in and around the Indiana area, and I believe I was very successful. My next goal is to continue to develop these new connections. I want to find ways that we can provide each other with valuable experiences and services. I look forward to the challenge of this next goal. For me it is all about relationships, learning experiences, and successful adventures.

Portfolio Has Moved to New Location

2011-03-21T21:05:00.003-04:00

Dear Guest,

My portfolio has moved to a new site. To view Jonathan D. Hicks' portfolio please visit...

http://people.umass.edu/jdhicks

Thank you!

In Praise of Shadows in My Home

2010-09-27T12:15:00.002-04:00

Inspired by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows

I just finished reading Jun’ichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows and as an exercise in light and shadows I have decided to explore my home. From room to room, I am entering it as we have it arranged now. Our kitchen has a single window open with a fluorescent light illuminating the 10’x10’ area. I move a few feet over into the dining room where a chandelier with 5 small candelabras illuminates the 10’x10’ area (As well as the light spilling and bouncing around from the kitchen into the dining area). I move another few feet into our living room where a double set of open windows illuminate the area (the light from the kitchen and dining room fades as the light from the sun over powers it). I move a few feet into the hallway where all doors leading to other rooms are open and a cool light caresses the walls, floor and ceiling. I pass into our children’s bedroom where gentle, warm sunlight filtered by a tree lightly falls through the window to the center of the room. I retrace my steps, peer into the darkened cold bathroom, and move on toward our bedroom where the blinds are closed allowing a harshly filtered light to permeate the air.

Here is what I discovered about the quality, direction, and temperature of the light:

The kitchen is practical. We can see clearly what we are cooking, cleaning, and storing, but it lacks a warmth I enjoy when I think of the love that goes into those meals.

The dining room light is unnecessary even while eating, but at night it is a different story.

As I move into the living room, I wish for the filtered light through a tree, but at this time of day it is beaming into the room with all its warmth and power. It makes reading difficult and does not offer a comfortably cool feeling that one hopes for while resting.

As I move into the hallway, I quickly breeze through as it is not pleasant in its darkness.

Then walking into the children’s room I find myself the most at ease. I feel a strong sense of pleasure. The light is filtered through a tree, falling onto the ground, then bouncing up onto the white walls and ceiling. It is cool but not cold. Warm but not hot. I enjoy looking at the things in the room. This is my ideal room with a soft, filtered light falling onto the ground, then bouncing around the room.

As I walk back toward my bedroom I pass the bathroom and wish it was inviting.

My bedroom is quiet and almost as pleasant as our children’s room. The light being filtered through the white shades is creating a much colder and harsher light. It is also constantly changing from bright to dim to dark to bright again all within the matter of seconds. This is due to the shades moving in the breeze coming from outside. This does not make for a pleasant feeling and drives me out of the room.

My experiment has proven to be quite interesting, yet I wonder what it would be like to do the same thing in the morning or evening hours. I also wonder what I would think during the heat of summer or the cold of winter. What would my preferences be for the artificial light vs. the natural sunlight?

Keep Reading

2010-06-13T14:43:00.004-04:00

Since beginning my studies at UMass, Amherst, I have been slowly whittling away at a reading list. Last week I added an anthology to my list in order to prepare for a class I am taking next semester. It is the Norton Anthology of Drama Vol. I.

So far it looks a bit intimidating. A thick book full of not just stories (plays), but history, facts, and details about these stories, their authors, their culture, politics, society, and more (at least from what I gather after reading a few pages of the introduction).

I wonder what other kinds of reading I will find myself seeped in next year. After all, I never expected to read what I have read this past year. Each time I make a reading list more gets added to it, and I find myself piling up books on my shelf that someday I hope to engage beyond the first chapter or act.

The worst part about pushing ahead with reading is the constant state of drowsiness I feel after reading for more than 10 minutes straight. Perhaps someday this will go away, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen this year. One solution...read standing up. Another solution...drink far too much coffee...

Developing Creative Ideas

2010-06-09T09:35:00.004-04:00

I have been spending a little time each day living in the world of Putnam County's 25th Annual Spelling Bee. Each day I turn another page where in my world a couple of hours has passed, while in their world, I'm lucky if 5 minutes has passed.

I am trying a new method to tracking my thoughts and notes on the production. I borrowed a format from a fellow colleague and adapted it for my own purposes. On one page, I can track the cue number, fade time, page, purpose, and placement. On another page, I can track the follow-spot cue number, fade time, page, color, purpose, and placement. On another page, I can track my notes and thoughts about why I think my choices work. Or, I can ask questions of myself or of others when the time is right. On other pages, when the time comes, I will track light groups, color palettes, moving light pre-sets, among other things.

The benefit of this new method to my old method is simple to explain. It is more detailed; in the past I would only track cue number, fade time, page, purpose, and placement. I would also write the information in a notebook to later be transferred to a computer. Now I am entering the information directly into an Excel document. This saves hours of valuable time that may be spent refining and critiquing my thoughts. Allowing me to always bring the design back to the script and determine what is relevant to the play and what is fluff. My goal is to be finished going through the script by next Wednesday when I will meet with the Music Director. I hope I will be able to present clear needs for concrete development between our departments in order to produce the best possible cohesion of lights and sound in the world of the play on stage.

Cue List Track Sheet

Follow Spot Track Sheet

Notes Track Sheet

Reaching Out to Auto-CAD

2010-06-07T15:07:00.003-04:00

I've been back from LA now for a week. I went to the AAM Conference (American Associate of Museums) with Traci Klainer and the Luce Group. It was a great opportunity for me to see another side of the design world. I met a handful of lighting designers from the West Coast, and I have decided to make learning Auto-CAD a priority. I will be taking a class in it this Fall, and in the meantime, I will be going online to watch a few training sessions and get in touch with some people who can guide me along the way.

I went to the Learning Commons at UMass, Amherst today to explore the program. They had ArchiCAD12 on the computers, so not quite what I was looking for. I spent enough time on the program to convince myself that before I spend too much time poking my head around blindly, that I would need to spend some quality time with training videos and class sessions.

My goal is to know where each tool is and what it does by the end of the summer. Then I will be in a better place to use the tools for the Fall semester. Now, I just need to find a computer that has Auto-CAD or get my computer up to speed so that I can run it on my Mac...

ALD for Othello @ Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.

2010-06-04T18:39:00.006-04:00

Today has been a very busy day. My son and I got up early (5:30 a.m.) to go fishing, which we ended up leaving (kicking and screaming) at 10 a.m.

Then Justin Townsend sent a few pdf images for my latest project. He asked me to draft these in Vectorworks. Here are the results...a Ground Plan, Elevation, and Section.

I decided to take a break for a couple of hours and go swimming with my kids. All in all what a great day!

Oh...did I mention the drafting only took 3 hours...I'm getting better! :)

New Roads

2010-06-02T14:37:00.003-04:00

I have been exposed to new ideas, new thoughts, new environments, and new opportunities. These things may not be new to you or half the people in this world, let alone our country. In fact, these things that I have been exposed to are all related to two things that we all experience or have experienced on a nearly daily basis.

Architecture and Museums

I went to a conference, American Association of Museums (AAM), to be exact. I met exhibit designers, curators, artistic directors, education directors, artifact specialists, historians, researchers, and more. People. All interested in bringing the past to the present and creating a future that is better, stronger, and more sustainable emotionally, intellectually, and physically.

I have a simple goal that I believe will help me to become a small part of this vibrant community. Engage. I want to interact, converse, relate, understand, and explore the world around us. I want to do this with a community that already exists in order to build a better community for tomorrow.

My first steps toward that end have been to:

1. Become a member of AAM
2. Acquire a student version of auto-CAD
3. Send e-mails to the people who I met while attending the conference
4. Keep reading, writing, and creating

I can't wait to see where this new road will take me!

Mission Statement Update

2010-03-19T08:50:00.000-04:00

“Why should the organization exist?”

Havenworth is a dream of mine. I hope it will exist in order to offer society a wide variety of national and international artistic expression that has a high impact on the local and global community, and a low impact on the local and global environment. We believe in providing artists and audiences with the highest quality artistic forums where they can explore the wonders of humanities creative minds and energies. In addition, it will offer communities the opportunity to live in residence and be nurtured by society through the arts. The center will be a place for all art forms to come and begin a conversation, to live a conversation, and to become the conversation around the world.

Havenworth is a haven worth investing in!

THE IRISH CURSE

2010-03-16T14:35:00.004-04:00

Traci Klainer, my lighting design professor at the UMass, Amherst, invited me to observe the focus and tech for her lighting design of THE IRISH CURSE. The night before my journey down to NYC I went through a variety of lists to make sure I had everything I would need for stay. I woke up just before dawn the morning of our Spring time change and headed for the train station. On the ride down, I spent a peaceful 9o minutes updating a light plot for BARNUM: THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. I think there is nothing better than spending some quiet time creating.

My journey quickly came to an end as we pulled into Grand Central Terminal. I found my way quickly to the Shuttle toward 42nd Street, and then made my way to the C train, which was an unexpected hike in the subway tunnels of NYC. Once I returned to the surface, fresh air, and some wonderful rainy sunlight, I began to make my way over to the SoHo Playhouse. Of course I walked a couple of blocks in the wrong direction :)

After a brief phone call to my wife, I ventured into the building where a busy crew was hard at work focusing, re-hanging as needed, and making the appropriate work notes for the afternoon session. This experience was particularly wonderful for me, because it allowed me the opportunity to see my professor execute two-thirds of her design. As she often tells us, 0ne-third of the design is the light plot, 0ne-third is the focus, and 0ne-third is the cuing. Watching Traci command the attention of the room as she rapidly bounced from one side of the stage to the next with her trusty magic sheet in hand was energizing and exciting. It was even better than the peaceful time I spent on the train designing my plot. Turning on lights can be so exciting, sometimes frustrating, and always illuminating :)

Once Traci hit her stride, she brought me up on stage to stand in the light as she made sure each light was accomplishing its prescribed goal. In a way, the focus is like preparing the canvas for the first attempt at creating the background for a wonderful work of art. This process was soon complete, and we all headed off in our different directions to find some much needed dinner and rest. As the sun quickly set and the night sky took over, I found myself drifting off to dreams of lights, sound, scenery, and performance. I love dreaming about work! (At least when those dreams are productive and inspiring.)

After waking up, having a wonderful conversation with my wife and children, I found my way back downtown. Upon arrival, I was quickly assigned the task of procuring a monitor for our ETC Impression light board, which had been used the day before without a monitor (since the original one was no longer working). A few blocks, a hand truck, and a couple of phone calls later we had a light board with monitor all ready to go for the first day of tech. Some last minute lighting adjustments were made, and a lunch break was in order.

Through the process of the afternoon, I was introduced to the playwright, director, sound designer, costume designer, and production staff. A wonderful group of men and women! I was particularly excited about my conversations with the playwright. We briefly spoke about a paper project I worked on with one of his plays, and the potential for working with another of his plays in the future. If this play he was speaking of is anything like SCITUATE and THE IRISH CURSE, then I am sure I am in for a wonderful and exciting ride. There are so many wonderful things about what I do for a living, and meeting exciting, creative people like Martin Casella is just one of the best!

After the day of focus, it was clear that Traci's design was simple, but not without its challenges. The theater is small, low ceilings, and most lights needed to be hung on uni-strut (not the easiest of materials to work with). Yet despite these challenges, Traci was able to shape the space with her lights in a way that created a smoothe wash of the space and drew attention to the center of the space where a majority of the action takes place. She accomplished this in such a way that one's attention would not be distracted by the host of lights hovering a mere 3 feet above the actors heads. Not a small feat to accomplish, I am quite impressed, even though I expected nothing less. Her greatest accomplishments with the simple design were the way she addressed the set so that the audience was able to become that sixth person on stage. The way Traci's light danced in the space not only invited the audience into the atmosphere created by Lauren Helpern's scenic design, but also into the world of the story being told.

Needless to say this was a very exciting couple of days for me, and I wish them nothing but joy and success with this lovely and hilarious production. If you have some free time and want to see a piece of theater, then THE IRISH CURSE would be a perfect way to spend an evening. Congratulations to the team and happy opening!!!

Awakening from a Dream...

2010-03-11T08:39:00.007-05:00

Or as I look back on some of the things that I wrote and said...I am awakening from a nightmare.

About a year and a half ago, I began my graduate studies at the University of Massahcusetts, Amherst. I am studying to earn an MFA degree in lighting design. When I came into the program, I believed myself to be one of the best lighting designers around. And where I still believe that I have the potential to be a great lighting designer, whose to say or define best. That said, I realize now, that I have so much to learn. I may have great potential, but I am far from being a great lighting designer.

So, I am waking up and taking a long hard look at a post that I wrote in September of 2008. It was a "review" of A Midsummer Night's Dream, produced at Hartford Stage in Connecticut. What I wrote reflects my lack of knowledge, understanding, and joy in the theater. I tore into a piece of theater, because I walked in judging it. I walked in to critique a piece of theater, rather than walking in to enjoy a piece of theater. If I may venture one word of advice to my readers it is this, don't see theater to review it, see theater because you want to be told a story.

Hartford Stage produced a piece of theater that told a story. Looking back on that experience, I was in no place to say whether the story was good or bad or otherwise. In fact, I am sure it was a wonderful production, but I was too stilted by my own ego to see, hear, and understand the story being told. I look back on what I wrote and cringe! At the time and even recently, I thought that what I wrote was justified and true. However, after reading it, I know that what I wrote couldn't possibly be true. It may have been true to me at the time, in my ignorance, but not now with hindsight in full swing. My experience proves two things: Ignorance is not bliss, and hindsight is 20/20.

So, I want to send out a resounding apology to Hartford Stage, the production team, the design team, and the actors who worked on A Midsummer Nights Dream, and even to my own, be it small, reading audience. I should not have written a "review" of a performance that I didn't plan to enjoy. It is a shame that I will never be able to experience that production again, because I am sure that I would have enjoyed the story being told in the way it was being told in the world it was being told.

Journaling

2010-03-02T22:00:00.002-05:00

It is time to move forward. I have been focusing my energy explicitly on my work and family. The results have been wonderful, but unfortunately it has all happened without putting pen to paper or words to a site. My memory of the past three months exists only in my work, and the impact it has had on those that have engaged it or been engaged by it. My fifth show this year closes this weekend while I am down in New York exploring museums and developing my skills as a designer. It has been a wonderful experience, and nearly exactly what I have been dreaming of since last Spring. You can't ask for anything better than that!

Education at its Best!

2009-12-17T17:04:00.003-05:00

Choral Ode during The Burial at Thebes

Today, I turned in my last batch of work, and another semester is concluded! As was to be expected, this past semester was the most difficult yet. With three classes and three shows, I found myself constantly spinning and moving sometimes backwards, often forwards, and always onward. I always put my best foot forward and tried my hardest at everything, and without fail, I made many mistakes (often making me look like I was putting my worst foot forward).

This semester has stretched me far beyond my abilities as a lighting designer, but more so as a person, a collaborator, and an artist. I quit bad habits like smoking. I challenged my personality by forcing myself to pause and slow down. Constantly placing my temper in check and leaving anger at the doorstep. Each day was met with challenges and on occasion my temper got the best of me. With perseverance, many opportunities to collaborate were met with exciting success. Three shows were produced and staged. Each with many exciting artistic choices that I will cherish and remember for a lifetime.

I have collected images, met some exciting and wonderful people, and began nurturing a long since desired skill as a painter and artist. I can't wait to continue developing my hand as my eye continues to see, perceive, and transform.

Many thanks go out to my advisors, professors, directors, dramaturgs, actors, and fellow designers! Without each of you beside me and in front of me, I couldn't achieve with such wonderful success the goals and dreams I have set before me. Thank you!!!

FOUR by Christopher Shinn

2009-10-04T21:20:00.004-04:00

This week in my Lighting Design Studio course, we are beginning to discuss Christopher Shinn's play FOUR. For the record, I think he is a fantastic playwright, and I am going to have to get a-hold of more of his work. Here are some images to get me started thinking about the world of the play...

Bright, deserted parking lot...this might be too much light, but I like the color...

Wonderful green set in front of the cool blue...

I like the green and amber set against each other as well next to the black void to the left...

Again too bright, but getting close to the television quality I want...

Movie theater parking lot...kind of an orangy, amber...

Developing the Design

2009-10-02T05:59:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, our production team met during our weekly scheduled hour. I had been anticipating this meeting with great excitement and hopes for a wonderful conversation. I got more than I bargained for...!

Last week, I had made a decision to move away from my original design ideas. I had decided not to use fluorescent lights throughout the entire space, and to only use them for the audience lighting. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to pass them as safe, that I wouldn't have as much control of them as I would like, and that they would not be capable of being smoothly integrated into the cuing process. As a result of this decision, I designed a lighting system that would support the idea of a fluorescent lit world. I am very happy that I did this, because now that I am moving back to the fluorescent lighting idea, I have both fluorescent lights and a system that will support them. I should mention that one of my advisers couldn't have met with me at a more perfect time. She was able to encourage me and drive me forward with my design and to put my fears aside, go with my instincts, and light the world of the play.

During the meeting, I was met with encouragement to place the fluorescent lights wherever I wanted to, and that we would find the ways necessary to make them safe. I was also met with very little frustration at the idea of using them, regardless of how much control I would have of them. In fact, people were more than willing to suggest ways to paint/dress them in a way that would integrate them into the world more, and to wait and see just how much control we could achieve with them as we begin to use them in the space.

Currently, I have planned for five 8 foot fluorescents and five 4 foot fluorescents to be used in the set. I have a total of fourteen 8 foot fluorescents and seven 4 foot fluorescents to use in total.

Here is an image of the set before we make any changes...

Last night, after our production meeting the scenic designer proposed a bold change to the set that would use the fluorescents to there max. He suggested that we get rid of the current set as it exists (about 8 beams or so spread out throughout the space) and build a fluorescent light installation. I am of course very excited about this idea. I am, however, a little concerned that if we get rid of the beams entirely that we will lose much of what makes these fluorescents work so well. They work in the design because of the scenic elements that I am installing the fluorescents to. I want to attach fluorescents to the existing architecture in the theater as well as the existing beams in the set as it exists. If we don't use the beams, then I think it would be to our benefit if we stick to shaping the existing architecture. The fluorescents work best as they are, if they are highlighting edges, shapes, and actors from unnatural angles and directions.

At any rate, I am very excited about getting into the space today, focusing the rep-plot for the Curtain Theater, and then beginning to install the fluorescents in places that I think they will be most effective. Then, on Saturday morning, Dennis (scenic designer) and I will continue to explore the most effective configurations of these fluorescent lights. I can't wait to see in the full scale model where he might be thinking of placing them.

Oleanna

2009-09-27T14:31:00.019-04:00

I had the wonderful pleasure of spending a day watching Tony Award winning Lighting Designer, Don Holder, tech the production of Oleanna by David Mamet, Directed by Doug Hughes, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles at the Golden Theater in New York!!!

It was a wonderful opportunity to re-introduce myself to Mr. Holder, watch him work hard and fast, as he moved from cue to cue adding, filling in, removing, adjusting, and cleaning up the already quite neat and tidy design that he had created for the production. Having the opportunity to listen and watch him cue the show, while watching the board-op type key strokes, and seeing Mr. Holder’s associate and assistant working right along side him was a wonderful treat that I will cherish for many years. We even got to go out to dinner with him and ask him a variety of questions about the production and how he works with students, young designers, and others in the field. I can’t wait to come down next month for a chance to see him work on Ragtime. (I will also be taking that opportunity to watch my Sound Design professor Rob Kaplowitz work the acclaimed production of FELA!)

I owe a deep thanks and overwhelming gratitude to Traci Klainer for making this day possible! It is truly an opportunity that not many young designers get to have, and I am so appreciative of the opportunity to learn so much in such a short period of time.

Not only did she set us up to watch Mr. Holder, but she was able to bring Chris Darland from Artec Consultants, Jason Lyons who created the lighting design for Rock of Ages currently playing on Broadway, Brian MacDevitt who recently won a Tony award for best lighting design of a play "Joe Turners Come and Gone", and many other folks to whom I can’t wait to interact with more.

So, thank you very much Traci for a wonderful day, and I look forward to many more in the near future.

Frank Brault Rocks!

2009-09-24T20:29:00.009-04:00

Check out our fun trips through Vectorworks...! We did this 3D lighting scene among other exciting exercises like: building galleries, theaters, booms, all kinds of stuff that will make using Vectorworks a joy rather than a chore...know your system, know your software...and have some fun!

Thank you Frank for all your help! My life with Vectorworks won't be the same!

Penny, thanks for bringing him to us!

Drafting Using Vectorworks

2009-09-21T08:46:00.000-04:00

I have two lighting designs due today. One is for our Rep-plot in the Curtain Theater at UMass, and the other is for a show called SCITUATE (for my lighting studio class). Here are a couple of images of my designs...

UMass Curtain Theater Rep-Plot 2009 to 2010 season...

This plot will go through some more minor adjustments during this week, and it will be hung next week with those changes from this week. So very exciting!

Scituate Light Plot

I had a week to read the play, and design the show. I had a limited technical rider to work from, but nonetheless, I am sure the show will look wonderful... As our fearless leader says, "Done-is-Done!"

Both designs were created using Vectorworks 2008

Marta Sound Design

2009-09-18T06:27:00.003-04:00

Last semester I took an introduction to Sound Design class. We discussed many ways to begin hearing sound, our environment, and how to re-create or create a new environment for the theater. One of the exercises during our first cuing session was to find our loudest sound, and then begin to fine tune that through the speakers. After we set the volume for that cue, the next step was to find our quietest sound, and then begin to fine tune that through the speakers. In loo of that exercise, I began my research for Marta the Divine by beginning to acquire materials that I believe help to create the loudest sound for the production. By doing this, I am also testing out my fellow collaborators sensibilities toward how they are hearing the world of the play.

Here are a few links to the sounds I have found for a bull fight and a some responses to those sound resources from my colleagues:

Raging bull--I found that I really want to begin to develop a sound environment for this production. I don't only want to have sound cues for special moments in the play, but rather, I would like the audience to hear this world as often as they are seeing it. In other words, an audience must always see the environment to understand the play, they must also hear the environment to understand the play. Just as it is always a challenge for a lighting designer to create a dim or dark look on stage and still see the actors...it is also a challenge for a sound designer to create a loud scene, yet still be able to hear the actors. This is my challenge and I can't wait to meet it in the theater.

Battle of the Bull--One thing that Harley pointed out to me, which I am very intrigued by is that he said (to paraphrase), the bull fights during the period of Marta would not have actually been in a colosium the way we imagine a modern bull fight to be. It would be more like the running of the bulls in the streets. In other words, they were rougher. I imagine they were much more dangerous and deadly, yet I can't help but notice that the screams were much louder in these videos when the bull fighter was being malled by the bull (it may be a sound edit, but none the less interesting to see).

Bull fighting midget--I like this one the most because it is comic to me. The sound the tiny voices mixed with the "manliest" of sports.

Bull fight introduction--Finally, it was nice to hear that people could really relate to these sounds, and yet I love that Gina mentioned she wonders what happened to my original thoughts about dryness and cactus and dirt roads, because she can't hear that in the clips that I played. I don't want the audience to be taken away from that environment (if that is the environment we create for this scene), and so it is my job to find that sound that keeps us in the bull fight on the dry road as we pass a cactus, and yet still create the awe, wonder, danger, and urgency in the sound we hear.

I am so very excited to see how this continues to develop!

Graduate School

2009-09-17T21:35:00.003-04:00

It has already been a challenging semester this year. The busiest time of the year for me has come right at the beginning. I am taking three classes, I have a rep-plot design due for the Curtain on Monday, I am developing a lighting design and sound design, and I am taking a three hour night workshop during this week and next... It is more than filling up my time, and I can't wait until I am done. The extra three hours a night to do homework will be wonderful, but what is even better is that after Frank Brault from Nemetschek North America (Vectorworks) is done training us. I will be able to do all the lighting designs I have been doing in half the time. I already know at least 10 times more than I did and it has only been four days. Saving time while drafting is going to make my productivity 10 times better! I can't wait.

In the mean time, I plan to go apple picking with my family to enjoy some much needed one on one with my children and lovely wife. More to come as the classes and projects continue to develop!

Drawing Beginnings

2009-09-17T06:51:00.005-04:00

I have been in class now three times, and today will mark the fourth. I have done a series of "test" drawings to see where I am skillfully and with my visual eye's ability to see. I have found that I flatten and widen my drawings. I have also found that I like to draw most outside or inside with some music playing. I discovered I used to be left handed, but after I broke and lost control of my hand at age 4, I forced myself to become right-handed. This is why I am ambiadectrous, left footed, and why I have very horrible handwriting. These are all personal discoveries, not things I have been told about myself. So all-in-all, this class has been tremendously insightful and actively strengthening me not only as an artist, but as a person.

Here are some of my drawings:

Thad Kramer

Self -Portrait

Adrienne from Memory

"Vase/Face" excercise

"Upside down" exercise

Childhood Landscape from Memory

First Pure Contour Drawing (15 minutes)

8th Pure Contour Drawing (1 hour)

James Turell

2009-09-16T06:17:00.005-04:00

Last week my new lighting design professor, Traci Klainer, took a few minutes to look over my portfolio. While she was there she observed an image that triggered a memory of work she had seen before. She immediately made a note to herself to send me a few links of some guys work. Below is the image she saw on my portfolio.

Dance Works 2006. Choreographed by Erlyne Whiteman

Here are the images I found of this wonderful artist's work. I would love to meet James Turrell, if for nothing else than to have a beer with a man that was able to take one of the most painful lights to look at or sit in a room with, and turn that source into something truly wonderful. I should say he and one of his compatriots Dan Flavin (who by the way actually inspired my work). Many great thanks to Traci for bringing me back to this memory, and many more great thanks to Darcy Scanlin for turning me on to him!

Here are my images and a little something about why I was attracted to these specific images. Also, I always like to associate what I am seeing with a production I am working on. So these images have really inspired what I would like to do in a few very specific moments for our UMass production of Burial At Thebes.

What if the lighting sucked out all the color in the set...is it possible...or would the set have to be mute...I wish I could take out the color sometimes just for a moment to emphasize a specific sensibility of stale, bare, empty, dead...

I can see creating some kind of box or portal in the Burial at Thebes set with Flourescent light under or in an opening.

This is very exciting, and getting closer to what I might be able to accomplish with a single 4 foot long flourescent light.

This last image is not by James Turrell, but I think it is exciting, so here you go...

I love this because of its forced perspective, its strangeness, and the repeated casting of its shadow onto the dingy, dismal walls.

Harnessing Light

2009-09-15T06:49:00.000-04:00

This will be a world where I hope I will be able to display how I harness light.

Our first project is a play entitled Scituate by Martin Casella. Here is a snapshot of what I might do...

Moon light through window...

This is going to be a Wonderfully Challenging Year!

2009-09-15T06:36:00.002-04:00

The first week of classes is officially over, and I have a clear sense of what productions I will be working on, which classes I will be taking, and a growing realization that my life as I knew it over the summer is gone. That may be the last time, for many years, I will have such a relaxing and family centered life. It was so very refreshing and greatly needed, as this year is going to push my skills, knowledge, and patience to the limits.

So, here is a breakdown of the year as it stands (with more to be added as next semester approaches)... Send us your thoughts and lets start a conversation!

Current Classes:

Drawing and Rendering

Advanced Sound Design

Lighting Design Studio

Current Productions:

Burial At Thebes (Light Design)

Marta the Divine (Sound Design)

Curiosity (Light Design)

Spring Awakening: A Sin of Omission (Light Design)

Curiosity Continues to Develop

2009-09-01T15:27:00.003-04:00

I am so amazed about how excited my team members are for this production. Seeing ideas bounce in the air and fly around the room while composed music is being played, just makes me smile. I wish I could share this sound with you all, but since I can't just walk around clicking your tongue, purring, bopping, and popping...whoop, hoop and hauler...

Check it out the notes here... Curiosity !!!

Back to School

2009-08-21T16:36:00.005-04:00

A digital rendering by Miguel Romero for our production of Curiosity...

The summer is winding down, and I will be returning to school on September 8th. Our first official semester meeting is on September 3rd (happy birthday sis!). Unfortunately, a number of our team members won't be around for these meetings, but I am still looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, some new faces, and some long awaited designing. I have been trying to finish last semester's final project. Come Back Little Sheba, but it has been fighting against my desire to spend every last minute with my family. Sorry, but family wins every time! At any rate, I am thankful for the rest that summer has provided, and I am looking forward to the daily grind of the theatre world once again! Cheers!

Glimmer Glass Opera

2009-07-23T21:01:00.003-04:00

I just got back from visiting the Glimmer Glass Opera near Cooperstown in Up-State New York! It was fantastic...the set was practical, open, and a lighting designers dream (side light and more side light!). Well, if you're into that kind of thing and I AM!

I went up there to meet with Jane Cox who designed lights for last years Broadway production of Come Back Little Sheba. Jane is a sweet heart. She was very accommodating, and generous to give of her time to answer a couple of simple questions, give feed-back on my thoughts, and watch my presentation. Can't say how much that little bit of time today helped out tremendously. Not only that, but the chance to sit in on a final Dress Rehearsal of The Consul, while she fine tuned her lighting design was also a blessing. I haven't ever seen anybody else cue a show besides my friend Thad Kramer at UMass. I need to see more, but this is a great start. Anyway, not bad for 7 hours of driving and 7 hours of interaction and reflection...Onward!

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Advocacy

2009-07-22T18:26:00.006-04:00

A few days ago I became a proud member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's (JDRF) Advocacy program. Today, I sent out 100 e-mails to friends and family members asking them to join me in advocating to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. It is probably one of the most simple things anybody can do to show support. You don't have to be an active advocate. Your single voice speaks volumes, and perhaps, down the road, those that join now as in-active advocates will become some of the most active advocates.

This is just the beginning for me. I hope to connect with our local JDRF group, partake in walks, runs, rides, and the like to support finding a cure! Where is your local branch? Do you know? It's easy to find out, GO HERE, and then you can be directed to local events that support finding a cure. Please don't hesitate! It's free, unobtrusive, and may bring new life to those that have lived and who are living a wonderful life as best they can despite this horrible disease.

You want medical reform! Finding a cure, living healthier, happier lives, and supporting those who are battling diseases is the best kind of reform we can advocate for! Thanks for understanding, reading, and supporting in your own special way :)

Docu-Diabetic

2009-07-21T19:27:00.004-04:00

I haven't seen many docu-dramas or theater that could be considered part of the documentary genre, and yet, I am suddenly drawn to explore the pros and cons of the art form. I watched a friend of mine create a docu-comedy about "Hair", when I was teaching at Westmont in Santa Barbara, CA. It was hilarious! He worked on a piece called "Fear" this past year, and I wasn't able to see it, but I hope it went well. At any rate, I had no other reference to documentaries beyond that and a few television series or movies until now. I am reading The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, and I couldn't be more hooked!

I wonder if this kind of theater would have a successful impact on the local community of Amherst, MA. Beyond that, I wonder if a documentary theater piece on Diabetes would have an impact on the local community, the national community, or even the global community. I need a place to start, and I think I might be able to find that by locating my local JDRF chapter. I am already well on my way by connecting with other people with Type 1 Diabetes (I don't have it, but my wife does and I love her dearly). Each day I spend dreaming about this Arts Festival the more tangible and real it becomes. And although I have had many dreams fulfilled in my life, none of them have happened when I wanted nor in the way I had planned. This is another dream that is already spinning far from my dream, and yet fulfilling it far more powerfully and profoundly than I had originially imagined. I can't help but thank God for that blessing! I will finish reading The Laramie Project and begin to put the balls into play that are necessary for developing a documentary about the daily lives of people with Type 1 Diabetes. A project dedicated to my wife and her constant inspiring strength!

Raising Awareness for Type 1 Diabetes

2009-07-20T17:43:00.004-04:00

I am blown away by the growing community of people on-line who have Type 1 Diabetes. A few weeks ago I decided to organize an Arts Festival designed to continue the conversation about being good stewards of our natural resources, while raising awareness and money to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. I wasn't sure where to begin my research for this festival...Do I begin by finding artists, collaborators, a clear definition of my goals, permission by my Graduate advisor to develop a festival, or somewhere else? I decided I would start with finding artists, but every time I start to search for artists I might be interested in bringing to the festival I find myself quickly drawn to connecting with people who are battling Type 1 Diabetes. I don't know why?!

Even though my wife has Type 1 Diabetes, I know she doesn't represent everyone. She has to deal with it every hour of every day, so she doesn't care too much for talking about it nor reading about it. She is a silent patient who continues her battle through prayer (something I believe is essential for finding a cure). I guess in a way that is why I am drawn to hearing other people's stories. I want to know if developing an Arts Festival to raise awareness and money to find a cure is something that the community of Type 1 Diabetics would support. I don't presume to be doing anything original, in fact, I am actually just trying to follow the lead of Bart Millard and others before him. I guess one question I have for you folks out there that are in the battle everyday, is this... Could you direct me to art events or artists who are actively creating art to raise awareness and money to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Everywhere I look I see marathons, triathlons, walks, and rides, but not very many arts events. I'm an artist, that's what I do, that's what I'm good at, and so that is how I want to help.

I just had a thought...what if the Arts Festival isn't geared toward continuing the conversation about stewardship, but about Diabetes...! An exhibit of artists work who have Diabetes, a docu-drama/play devised from interviews of people with Diabetes, or panel discussion with people who have Diabetes, endocrinologists, and a representative from JDRF? Could it work...would it be successful...Let's do it!!!

Well, regardless of how this dream ends or grows, I am here to stay and here to support...Let's find a cure!

Our Type 1 Diabetes Story

2009-07-19T13:27:00.005-04:00

I recently joined JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) as an advocate for helping to find a cure. That simply means that I have committed to spreading the word about the work that they are doing at JDRF. If you are like me and didn't know the condition existed (until I met my wife), then spend some time clicking on the links I have provided to find out about the condition that has been deamed "The Silent Killer". It is a condition that affects more people around us than we care to imagine, as many with the condition often feel ashamed of what coping with it means for them. If you know about Diabetes, have Diabetes, or know a loved one or colleague that has Diabetes, then please join me and JDRF in helping to find a cure that can put this killer to rest. I am developing an Arts Festival for the Spring of 2011 that will seek to raise funds to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. If you would like to be a participant in organizing this festival, then please contact me...click here... Below you will find, my story about caring for a loved one who is coping with Type 1 Diabetes.

I'm 27...I didn't know diabetes existed! That is...until I met my wife. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 18 after being hospitalized with mono. Her illness sent a shock-wave through her body rendering her pancreas incapable of producing the insulin she needs to survive. The sudden change in lifestyle was impossible to grapple with without a supportive network around her. When I met her 4 years ago, her average blood sugar levels produced an A1-C reading above 10. I began learning about the condition and helping my wife to strengthen her body to become less dependent on insulin, but it just isn't possible with the daily challenges a diabetic must face. Even something as simple as climbing a flight of stares, having an argument, or loss of sleep drastically changes her bodies interaction with these common daily events...something many of us without Diabetes take for granted. The innovations of today have made living with Diabetes bearable. We even have two beautiful young children, and yet her condition rages against her! With each year, her eyesight weakens, her insulin sites toughen, her nerve tissue numbs and tingles, she is easily exhausted, and as she continues to age all of her organs will begin to wilt and fade at a rate far faster than a person without Type 1 Diabetes.

My wife and I are at a place in our lives where this condition must not be allowed to survive! It can't be ignored or overlooked, and a cure for the condition must not be belabored by the advancements of devices to help monitor the distribution of insulin. These advancements are wonderful, amazing, and necessary, but they cannot take the place of finding a cure! My heart breaks every time I hear about another friend or family member's child being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. But the mourning of my heart for people with Diabetes fuels a stronger desire to see this condition stopped and put to rest.

Thank you for this opportunity to share my story and my wife's story! It is a story not unlike millions of others that came before us, and not unlike the hundreds of others that will continue on after us. God bless the diligent work you have set out to do in finding a cure for Type 1 Diabetes!

Arts Festival for Type 1 Diabetes

2009-07-18T13:28:00.003-04:00

Here is an e-mail I recently sent out to begin acquiring information about organizing an arts festival that will ultimately help raise funds to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes...

Dear Loretta Yarlow, I am a 2nd year MFA Candidate for Lighting Design in the UMass, Department of Theater. I am beginning to develop a seed idea for organizing an arts festival. I want the festival to embrace not only theatrical art, but art from a wide variety of resources. In particular, I am wondering if you would be interested in discussing the possibility of creating an exhibit of a variety of professional artist's work that speaks to our current environmental atmosphere. My initial thoughts and hopes about using the University Gallery space are to install either a painter's exhibit or an installation artist's exhibit. I am beginning my research far in advance. If, after a few conversations, my idea is one that you might consider, then the exhibit would not be installed until April 2011. I am very excited about my plans for this arts festival and would appreciate any feedback and/or support you might be able to afford me. If my inquiry would be better directed toward another person or another of the Fine Arts Center galleries, then please feel free to contact me with your advice.

Sincerely, Jonathan Hicks

Here is her wonderful and exciting response! I appreciate her initial question, which has helped me to begin to harness my thoughts and focus for this arts festival!

Dear Jonathan, I'm not really sure what you mean by the "current environmental atmosphere". The University Gallery has organized exhibitions that activate the architecture of our exhibition spaces involving light projections and video projections with gel filters (example: spring 2007, "The Experience of Color: Ann Veronica Janssens and Diana Thater"). The most recent exhibition "Gravity" this past semester showcased 9 light projections on beds of salt by artist Miroslaw Balka. Did you happen to see it? Also, our permanent installation called "Scrim Piece" by LA artist Robert Irwin (it's installed in our north entrance) typifies light and atmosphere in current art practice. So maybe you can clarify your definition so that I have a better understanding of what you're proposing. Also, please let me know if you had a chance to see any of the artworks I mention above, and whether they fit the categories you're speaking of. Thanks, Loretta

My response back to her from this morning...!

Thank you Loretta for your wonderful response and great opening question! To be honest, I am still exploring what, specifically, I mean by the "current environmental atmosphere". As one can imagine that statement encompasses a far too broad range of topics. I will need to be more specific about that phrase in order to have a cohesive festival capable of having a strong and meaningful impact on our local and global community. When I think of our world's current state-of-being, I immediately think of the environment around us (cities, farmlands, forests, bodies of water, air, solar systems). So, when I think of our current environmental atmosphere, I think of websites like the following: Inhabitat (for its vast exploration and commentary on the invention and use of energy efficient products to conserve natural resources like oil, air, and water) Charity:Water (for its concern and care for our worlds water resources) Environmental Working Group (for its intuitive and detailed research on our worlds oil situation) Solar Power (for its ability to make tangible understanding how to harness the power of the sun) These sites, among others, inspire me to create works of art that create social commentary on our worlds current environmental atmosphere. I think of artists: Andy Goldsworthy Shai Zakai Jim Hamlyn Jason Ditmars Urs Jaeggi And many others...I have not seen any of the exhibitions you mentioned. Last year was my first year, and with a newborn baby during the first week of school, the rest of my year was plagued with catching up. The next two years, however, I plan on moving forward with bold and exciting work! The culmination of which, I hope will be this arts festival of installation artists, music, art exhibitions, and theatrical performances all focused around creating a conversation about our current environmental atmosphere. I would like to push my research for artists who would be interested in participating toward exhibiting art work related more closely with light as I am a lighting design student. The exhibitions you mentioned sound like they fit well with my dreams for this arts festival. Again, thank you so much for helping me to flesh out my seed idea with such a simple question as "what do you mean by...?". I hope I have been able to get closer to answering that question in this e-mail, and I look forward to further interaction with you! Sincerely, Jonathan Hicks

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a wonderful collaboration!

John McKernon's Lightwright4

2009-07-17T15:43:00.008-04:00

Not my file...but this will help you get the idea about the great resource John McKernon has developed for lighting designers!

I have been focusing my energy today on updating my Lightwright4 files for Come Back Little Sheba by William Inge. My advisor for this next year, Traci Klainer, has given me a couple of her Lightwright files and a test file for Sea Changers to study and practice with. I must say it has been quite a lot of work to go in and add the attributes of the Sea Changer, and I will have to do the same for my Selador instruments later.

When I first started designing lights about 8 years ago, it was all about hanging a light and hoping it made an interesting look or effect. Now, my eyes are being blown open by a hurricane of information from Vectorworks and Lightwright to production concepts and collaboration with teams of 10 or more people. It just doesn't compare to the education I received at Westmont, and yet that experience was seeped in the creative and artistic aspects of theater and art that you just can't get anywhere else.

Not only has it been exciting to get to know these programs and begin to create work that has a comprehensive paper trail, but I have been able to build basic relationships with those that I work with and with those that provide the products for my success. Like the PR Gal over at Nemetschek, NA branch who recently commented on an older post with some wonderful encouragement!

After reviewing the files that Traci Klainer gave to me, I have concluded that I still have leaps and bounds to make before I can consider myself ready for the lighting design industry. The best part of this education is that no matter how much I learn, I will always be able to learn more and help continue to push the theatrical art world into the 21st century! Here's to learning and sharing what we learn with the next generation!

Type 1 Diabetes

2009-07-16T14:01:00.011-04:00

I am getting ready to launch the first ever Havenworth Project! Havenworth exists to bring everyday people into contact with other everyday people. The average theater artist into contact with the average doctor, the average playwright into contact with the average construction worker (view our Mission Statement). Our first project will seek to create an artistically vibrant and eclectic theatre festival that stimulates social commentary on our evironmental atmosphere while raising funds to support research for curing Type 1 Diabetes (Juvenile).

Up until about four years ago, I didn't know Diabetes existed, that was until I met my now wife, Adrienne Hicks (I love you!). I began researching the chronic (lifelong) disease, and I have come to the conclusion that it ranks right up with some of the most horrifying diseases out there today. And, although Diabetes is controllable, the cost and final results of the disease are expensive and tragic as no cure exists. It is a disease, where in most cases, the child must live with the effects from early childhood through to their last breath at what one can only hope is as an elderly gentleman or lady.

This project is merely a dream and a seed idea, which I hope will see its final fruition near late Spring of 2011. It will take many hours of research, preparation, and constant interaction and involvement with many people from many backgrounds and stories. I hope you will become part of this tremendous endeavor, and that it will become an occasion worth remembering in the history of theatre, diabetes, and our global community.

This is my family...This project is dedicated to you Adrienne, and the other millions of children and adults challenged by this chronic disease! I love you!!!

Abandoned Theater

2009-07-15T16:36:00.003-04:00

After reading the brief prologue for our production of Frank Wedekind's, Spring Awakening, I decided I needed to take a step into the water before deciding it was unpleasant. Here is the prologue our Director, Toby Bercovici and our Dramaturg, Emily Denison have created after many long hours of adapting the play:

Prologue. "It is nighttime, an abandoned theatre or theatrical warehouse or playground. Out of the darkness come tumbling sprites - they are children, in nightgowns and pajamas, pigtailed, innocent and playful. But there is something ghoulish about them, as well. They stand on each other’s shoulders and do other acrobatics, maybe some lazzi (hitting each other with sticks), they discover the masks and try them on, they “play dress up.” Out of this emerges Beat One."

I was skeptical about the first sentence and loved the rest. Now, I think I have fallen in love with the first sentence, and I am happy to say, I have no fear of ever returning back to my skeptical first impression. Needless to say, "First impressions are bad."

So, here are some images and websites I researched on the trusty Google Image search engine, key words: "industrial playground" and "abandoned theater" and "theater warehouse."

Industrial Playground:

tickled: I love this image! It is so fun and playful, while a tad creepy!!

two fathoms: A beautiful image of an open industrial place to play.

forces within: I don't know how to create this, but it might be interesting for our Desdemona moment!

This looks like so much fun!

Industrial Playground

Abandoned Theater:

Abandoned Theater

Notice the trash on the stage! It is actually clothing!...

Thank you WebUrbanist for these beautiful images!

Theater Warehouse:

My first instinct when I think of a theatrical warehouse...

My second instinct...

Now we're talking a lil' more interesting...

Now we're talkin' interesting! Buntport

I hope you have enjoyed a little journey into some of my visual research. Come back for a little more as I continue to break the play down to find my way in and out!

Puppetry: A World History

2009-07-14T16:16:00.006-04:00

I just read the first chapter of Eileen Blumenthal's book, Puppetry: A World History. I am learning that puppetry is truly an art form that is as old as time. It has been used to express all kinds of stories from children stories to political propaganda, Shakespeare, religion, and tales of a comic and/or tragic nature. What kind of puppetry do you prefer? Are you more of a sock puppeteer, a string, rods, shadow, lap, or other? I tend to be more of a shadow puppet kind of guy myself.

I can't wait to see how we begin to construct our story, characters, and world. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until the class (click on Schedule of Classes p. 660) starts in September to start seeing any kind of tangible development. We are getting pieces placed together, for example, performance scenarios, music, and characters. Each week brings with it new information, new adventures, and more! Stayed tuned...

Marta the Divine

2009-07-13T14:21:00.005-04:00

I am beginning to take notes and ask questions for our production of Marta the Divine at UMass, Amherst.

How do you decide when you have a character who could be cast as either a man or a woman? Keep in mind that the choice will change the tone and relationships in the play considerably. Do you choose based on the statement(s) that you want to make, or do you leave it to be decided by the turnout at auditions?

The opening of the play begins with a sonnet of mourning by the leading lady, and then another by her sister. Their brother has just been murdered by a man who happens to be both of the woman's lovers. I wonder how to approach the audience entrance into the theater and the opening of the play. The play as a whole is a comedy, yet this opening is very mournful and somber. Do I assist the playwright's deceptive opening and create a mournful atmosphere with the sound? Will the lighting and costume designers open the play with lighting that helps to create a somber mood/atmosphere and costumes that are worn during a time of mourning? Here are a few sound bites that inspire me for the audience entrance into the space and the first two sonnets by Marta and Lucía...

Great Thaw

Nostalgia B

(Argentina) Tango

New York Adventures Continue

2009-07-12T07:13:00.007-04:00

Here are a few photos from my journey through New York. I made it to the Lincoln Center, Central Park, Madison Square, and the Morgan Museum...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

A street :)

Another street :)

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

A tall building...

Love the statues...

I love the verse that says, "fly on wings like eagles"

Another shot...

And another...

My first cup of coffee...

Adventures in New York

2009-07-11T07:10:00.003-04:00

I arrived in New York yesterday around 6 p.m. I spent the first hour driving around with my professor and his pup Hershey, then we took a quiet walk down Pier 1. What a perfect beginning! I couldn't help but think of Sex and the City. My wife, Adrienne, and I are completely addicted to it...when is the second movie coming out again :)

We then headed back to his lovely home near the Lincoln Center, which he explained didn't used to be blocked by the towering Trump Place buildings. I can't imagine, beyond the intrigue of money, why anybody would want to build such mammoth buildings and not a beautiful park!? :)

I just got off the phone with my son, Ethan, and he told me he was drawing caterpillars, then immediately said goodbye...he has his priorities you know :)

I saw a production of Chekhov's Ivanov in Hungarian with English supertitles by the Katona Jozsef Theatre Company. I can't say I completely enjoyed the show, and yet I am sure I would have if I understood Hungarian and were sitting in the Orchestra rather than the balcony. By the second act, I was enjoying myself, and as I look back on the experience, it was the best foreign production I have seen to date.

Today I will be adventuring over to the Morgan Library and Museum to see an exhibit entitled: Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theater and Opera. I am very excited about it!! After this exhibit visit is over, then I will attempt a journey to Purchase, NY to see "E-Cyclorama" at the Neuberger Museum. Another fantastic exploration of color and light!

Here's to exploration, adventure, and getting lost!!!

Burial At Thebes

2009-07-10T08:04:00.004-04:00

I have been working on an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone by Seamus Heaney entitled Burial At Thebes. It is a fantastic adaptation with only a few minor quibbles (a few words out of place compared to the rest of the text like "boss" or "shit"). I have perused the text a couple of times, once for enjoyment and the other for questions and concerns. The reading produced a wonderful interaction between the director and myself, and one, I hope, that will continue throughout the rest of the process. I can't emphasize how important it is for me to have a strong interactive experience with my fellow artists. It really must be a collaborative design for me to enjoy the process.

Yesterday, I met on Skype with our scenic designer. We used a program called Innerpass, where I was able to see his screen from my computer. Perfect for what we are doing since it gave me the opportunity to see his renderings of what he hopes the set will look like. We tried to save an image file of it on my computer but failed; otherwise, I would show you a shot of his work. I am really excited about the use of corrugated steal for creating a texture on the walls and a concrete treatment for the beams. He had an idea to purchase some kind of gravel, stone, or rubble for our stage floor, rather than using a paint treatment. I think it is a wonderful idea that will make the scenic elements more visceral and tangible. Finally, he showed me an aspect of our risers, which allows me to light between the levels and possibly produce some mist, haze, or steam coming out of them. I can't wait to put this thing together...

Here are some images of the research I have been doing for the production in terms of lighting design...

Energy bank...

Illuminate...

Fantastic structures lurk behind our walls...

Construction/Industrial lighting design...

Simple yet beautiful...

Curtain Theater Rep Plot

2009-07-08T17:26:00.010-04:00

The Chair of the Theater Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has asked me to design a rep plot for the Curtain Theater. This is a great opportunity to embrace a challenge, learn some new drafting techniques, and assist the department with a much needed stream-lining for the lighting department during a packed season. The Curtain Theater is a small black box space. The challenge will be designing a plot that can efficiently meet the needs of four different productions, each of which, are being granted the option to reconfigure the audience in anyway that will best serve the productions needs. This means that the audience could be placed in three corners with the set in the fourth in as many as 8 different configurations, and as many other different configurations as the space may allow providing the number of seats available for the audience does not drop below the magic number.

At any rate, it is a daunting task to take on, but I am up for the challenge. Beyond the seating configuration, other challenges I may face include, but are not limited to, special needs by the lighting designers who will be using the space, four stair wells into the space (often used for performing on), and a mezzanine that often gets used as a playing space. Here are a couple of images of the space without any lighting instruments.

Curtain Theater drawing by Laura Schoch

Curtain Theater Section drawing by Laura Schoch

Now that I have the drawings, the next step is to begin calculating angles and throw distances for the best possible configuration of lighting instruments. Again, keeping in mind the fact that we will have four productions using, for the most part, the exact same configuration. I say, "for the most part," because each production will have its own designer who will need to add specials to the existing plot as need arises. Off to the drafting table!

Visualizing the Design

2009-07-08T09:05:00.007-04:00

As many of you know, I am studying at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for my MFA in Lighting Design. At the beginning of the 2009 Spring semester, I was assigned a paper project on William Inge’s Come Back, Little Sheba. It was to be my last assignment for the semester, and although I had all the materials to begin my research for the production, I chose to wait until I had cleared my plate. However, what I forgot at the time was that this semester was to be a seven-course meal, and the largest course, Come Back, Little Sheba, was to be the last course. So, before I had cleared each plate, another larger plate would be served. Needless to say, I wasn’t prepared for my first seven-course meal. I was able to get to the seventh course, but once I got there I couldn’t finish it. Luckily, my advisor, Penny Remsen, gave me a doggy bag to take home with me, but she is coming back in August to make sure I have taken in and digested the production.

I have met with Penny a few times this summer to discuss the my progress and the production, but each time I walk away wondering why I can’t move forward. During our last visit, Penny suggested I create a model to help me visualize the set and the arch of the production. Over the past eight years since I started exploring the world of light, I have always been able to observe the development of a production from the first reading to each rehearsal and the final run. This kind of attention and deep involvement has resulted in a few successful designs and many wonderful experiences, yet it is not a method that I will be able to practice as I move into the professional world. The hope is that by creating a model I will be able to visualize the action of the play in relationship to the scenery. By seeing the space 3-dimensionally, I will be able to calculate the desired angle and direction of the light, as well as, developing a light and color scheme that will enhance the overall production.

Here are a few photos of the model I built from the scenic designers draft…

Living room, the "x" means you can see through that part of the wall...

The designer, James Noone, removed the wall separating the living room from the kitchen...

The finished set!

Burial At Thebes Research

2009-06-30T11:58:00.001-04:00

Come and be part of the conversation over at the Antigone blog!!!

Curiosity

2009-06-29T15:37:00.005-04:00

I am beginning to work on a show entitled... "Curiosity". It is the exploration of Pandora's Box through the world of puppetry...

Here are a few great puppetry websites that I am using as starting points for inspiration and research...

1. Puppeteers
2. Pagesperso-orange
3. Sagecraft
4. Unima-USA

It is a world almost entirely new to me, and yet one that I have been profoundly influenced by and deeply intrigued in understanding. Something about manipulating a small world is a bit scintillating to me! I will be working with a number of my lighting design colleagues at UMass, Amherst to develop a lighting design that will help aid in telling a story and creating a world for the production.

Here are a few of my starting points for research...

"A pithos from Crete, ca. 675 BC. Louvre"

"An Attic pyxis, 440–430 BC. British Museum"

"Pithoi at Knossos."

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Replica: Pandora, 1879

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Pandora

When you start a new project, where do you begin?

Lighting Design

2009-06-11T13:51:00.003-04:00

So here's my question...

How do you design lights for a show, unless you know the show inside and out?

How do you design lights for a show, unless you know the physical action of the play inside and out?

How do you design lights for a show and call it art, unless you participate first hand in the creation of the art?

I say, "You can design lights for any show, whether you know it or not...you can design lights for any show, whether you know the physical action of the play inside out or not...you cannot design lights for a show and call it art however, if you don't participate first hand in the creation of the art..."

So, go...participate...communicate...collaborate...and enjoy!!!

Summer Reading

2009-05-17T06:50:00.002-04:00

What's on your reading list for the summer?

The Burial at Thebes, Seamus Heaney
Picnic, William Inge
Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen
Baudolino, Umberto Eco
The Coast of Utopia I-III, Tom Stoppard
Dying City, Christopher Shinn
Richard II, Shakespeare

Antigone

2009-05-16T12:26:00.002-04:00

The first production to be staged for the UMass Theater Departments 2009-2010 Season will be Antigone. Our production crew has been selected:

Director: Dawn Monique Williams
Dramaturgy: Jason Lites
Stage Manager: Kirt Kaminski
Scenic Design: Dennis Berfield
Costume Design: Esther Hammond
Sound Design: Thad Kramer
Lighting Design: Jonathan Hicks

The scenic design is underway, and our director and dramaturg have selected a translation, Seamus Heaney's THE BURIAL AT THEBES.

The first steps have felt like leaps to me as I begin to sort through the text, the scenic ideas, and the over arching ideologies being developed about the play, that will eventually shape our production.

I am so excited about this process, as I am always about the beginning of new adventures! I look forward to a wonderfully challenging journey.

New Portfolio Website

2009-04-22T13:14:00.003-04:00

Howdy all! I have just finished updating my lighting design portfolio!! Please take a few minutes and check out my work over the past 7 years, and let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!!!

Go Here...

Conceiving a Theatrical Community

2009-03-19T21:21:00.005-04:00

How do you conceive a theatrical community?

Imagine conception...

Literally hundreds of ideas vying for attention. Finally, one idea is granted supremacy (a dream). Your dream begins to be nurtured, grow, and develop. The gestational period is a beautiful exhausting time, where dreams are fragile. So please nurture, feed, and interact with them.

Now let's take a step back to the time before our moment of conception and look at a time when our ideas were shared with another persons ideas (imagine two bodies sharing their visions). Essentially, you are imagining two communities (bodies) intertwining. Their ideas are shared and the strongest will become the focus of the communities attentions. The thing about ideas is that for them to be conceived they have to be shared.

This is how I imagine a community being conceived. Could it be artificially conceived? Yes. Could it conceived by two communities and nurtured by one? Yes. But regardless of whether in the end it is one community or two or three or more that help to nurture, feed, and interact with the dream, it must be shared with at least one other community. Otherwise it is merely a thought, a fleeting moment, a hiccup. Share your thoughts, turn them into ideas that become dreams, and eventually through a beautiful and exciting process you will conceive a community!

Thanks to Nick Keenan for asking simple questions that got my heading turning!

Who has helped you get your ideas moving along?

Defining a Theatrical Community

2009-03-15T15:17:00.004-04:00

How do you define Community?

Imagine a body...

Leonardo's Vitruvian Man

Let's use Leonardo's Vitruvian Man as our example of a whole and complete body. All of the individual parts of this body are essential in describing a whole and complete body. If one of these elements are missing or injured, then the body is no longer whole nor complete.

A beautiful thing about our bodies is that when any part of the body is in danger, the whole body comes to its aid regardless of whether or not this will injure another part of the body. The bodies devotion to its elements is without fail.

This is how I imagine a community. Could it exist without being whole and complete? Yes. Could it function through illness and injuries? Yes. But regardless of its ability to overcome, the incomplete or injured body will always seek to be whole, complete, and well. It is my dream that our theatrical community will function as our bodies function...with devotion to its elements without fail!

Mission Statement

2009-03-14T19:42:00.006-04:00

Theatre Documentary on Fear

2009-03-14T07:51:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine that I went to school with, Casey Caldwell, is

"currently developing a documentary play about people's fears, nightmares, and phobias, based both on the stories of everyday people and an exploration of fiction, psychoanalysis, and history. It deals with three major questions: Why are we afraid of what we're afraid of, why does fear have such power in our lives, and what do we do about it?

"We as a people are defined by what we fear; it is one of the major motivations for everything from government policy to our personal daily decisions. Our fears are logical and rational (like fear of nuclear bombs) and illogical and strange (like Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth). We have bizarre, sometimes hilarious nightmares, and also powerful real fears based on what we see in the news and hear from our government. This project will explore all ends of that spectrum, from the strange (like that time you were convinced your parents were aliens) to the serious (like when you almost drowned). And in looking at these stories, I hope to find out why we as people do the things we do, but also understand just a little bit more about what it means to be human.

"So basically, I want your stories! They can be everything from silly and mundane to grim and life-altering. Your identity will be protected, of course, in the play's final product (names will be changed, and any details that you want left out can be). So come participate in this exciting process!

"Contact me at casey.caldwell@yahoo.com if you have a story for me and we can set up a time to do an interview, and join this group for continuing updates about the project as it develops."

Please, go and check out what he is doing here, and give him your stories. The more he has to explore, the larger demographic he has to pull from, the better this piece of theatre will be. I watched a documentary he created about hair, and it was the most hilariously insightful piece of theatre I have seen to-date.

Theatrical Development

2009-03-12T23:07:00.005-04:00

Marcus Gardley

I sat in on a production meeting today for ...And Jesus Moonwalks on the Mississippi by Marcus Gardley, our faculty playwright. I had been hearing a lot of conversation about the process...lots of information, lots of technology, frustration, challenges, questions, confusions...the real problem however isn't anybody or anything that has happened, but simply the fact that nearly nobody is used to working with so many unknowns. They aren't used to experimenting with the an ever evolving set, script, and production elements. I would love to work on this project, but my faculty adviser, Penny Remsen, decided that this was too close to my cup of tea. I have worked in experimental theatre for the past 9 years at both Westmont College and Lit Moon Theatre and I need to learn some other ways of approaching the art form.

Anyway, the experimental process is really having its toll on everybody! Here's the scenario...

The set keeps changing or being adjusted (in the grande scheme of things very minor adjustments, but adjustments nonetheless), the script is still being worked as the director, performers and playwright become more familiar with the characters in relationship to the actors, we are beginning to work with projections, lighting, and sound, and the production opens April 30th (7 weeks). Plenty of time if we weren't working with so many projections with equipment that is less than unsatisfactory for the purpose, as well as, so many students, faculty, and staff who are used to having a fixed set, ideas, and purposes.

So, here's the question...At what point do you stop changing the theatrical elements and start polishing them?

My personal thought...it never stops changing until the show closes for good...experiment until you can't experiment anymore!!!

Spring Dance

2009-03-11T21:57:00.004-04:00

Photograph by Brad Elliot, Artistic Director Erlyne Whiteman
Lighting Design by Jonathan Hicks

I am starting a new project this month, which will be performed the third weekend in April. I will be designing lights for a small dance concert at Smith College. I took a video camera with me yesterday to record the dances in hopes that I will be able to watch them over the next month at my leisure. It is important for me to view the dances as many times as I can between now and opening, since the hardest part about designing for dance is the constant movement and change in speed. (As well as the similarity in any given gesture...repetition...repetition...repetition...oh so beautiful, but also hard to remember!)

I love designing for dance!!! Something so wonderful about watching a body move through space. The lines that the body creates and the boundaries that it breaks are so breath-taking. I haven't worked on a dance piece in a year, which is the longest dry spell I have had since I was a senior at Westmont College in 2004.

I will be creating lights for the following styles:
Modern Dance
Theatre Based Movement
Romantic Duet (Modern Dance)
The last is still yet to be determined as I will need to go to the class and observe the piece, but it is safe to assume that it will be along the lines of Modern Dance.

When I think of Modern Dance, I immediately think of Merce Cunningham... What an amazing choreographer, artist, and person! He is definitely a person on my top ten people to meet list!
What other great dance instructors do you constantly return to for enjoyment?

History of Design

2009-03-10T22:00:00.006-04:00

I am taking a class at UMass, Amherst entitled the History of Design taught by Miguel Romero...Before starting the class, I couldn't help but fear that I would be plunged back into an undergraduate environment studying facts, dates, and names...

I was quickly jolted into an array of my fears and dreams mixed together, shoved into my mouth, where I quickly chewed them up and vomited them back out in hopes that I would have another chance to see what I had been force fed. Luckily, I didn't have to re-eat the material I had previously spewed out, instead I was offered another host of information equally jolting, bitter, and exquisite. This time, however, I am able to pick and choose what I swallow, what I vomit out, and what I save for later.

Finding what images, facts, and fables are most intriguing will ultimately allow me to engage the material in a way that both stimulates my intellect and my creativity while re-enforcing the importance of experiencing visually and physically as much stimuli as is beyond physically possible in any given 75 minutes.

Here are just a few of those things that I found appetizing today...

Bramante

St. Peters Ground Plan...

I specifically like the ground plan for its symmetry, cross-like nature, and depth (I feel like I could place a magnifying glass on this image and continue on infinitely to another layer of crosses, squares, and circles). What a treat!!!

Encyclopedia Britannica's Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome

This image represents a wonderfully theatrical lighting challenge...how do you illuminate the most important element of the structure, what is that element, or does that depend on the beholder and if so, then from which direction is the beholder beholding the structure???

Grunewald

Isenheim Crucifixion

My God look at that body! His body, limbs, fingers, toes, knees, sinews, bones and flesh are twisted, stretched, pierced, and broken!!! This image creates such a vibrant and powerful reflection upon the excruciating pain that was inflicted upon victims of crucifixion. Never before in my life have I seen an image of Christ so utterly broken, emaciated, and dead, yet so full of life. Please take a moment and cherish this artists work. View more of his pieces and stand in awe at the beauty of mannerism in his scenes and characters! (each emphasizes and epitomizes humanity)

Breughel

Spreekwoorden (De Blauwe Huik) Proverbs (aka Blue Cloak), 1559

Please, take a minute or two or ten to look closely at the image above. Click on it too and it will take you to a much larger version where you may break down the myriad of scenes represented in this work of art. What it might have been like to take this conglomeration of episodes, events, and scenarios and render them into such lifelike and emotional characters. What is more...what it would be like to take just a handful of these and recreate them for the live theatre. All happening at the same time, within, upon, and beneath each other. What a feast this man has given us to observe!!!

Here is more...I can't possibly breakdown a single work from all of these artists in one night let alone in one week..."breakdown"...I hardly did that...more like mention uncerimoniously my own brief thoughts on the images.

Tintoretto
Parmigianino
Bronzino
Bosch
Durer
Altdorfer
Fiorentino
Clouet
Cellini
Goujon
da Bologna
Titian
Veronese
Sofonisba Anguisola
Artemisia Gentilleschi

27 Years

2009-03-09T19:43:00.010-04:00

I've been alive for seven and twenty years today...seems like such a short time...and I have so many things to do yet...Happily, I can't say I am not where I thought I would be at this age. In fact, I am farther along than I thought I would be. Here is a high-light list over the years...and a few other things...

Year one and two don't really hold any memories from those years...
Year three...Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers
Year four...Broken bone #1 my left elbow (screw and cast and couldn't move my hand for a few weeks...still doesn't work quite right).
Year five...Broken bone #2 my right leg (I am right handed and left footed...weird!)
Year six...First time I asked a girl to marry me! (Stephanie Ulmer)
Year seven...I remember very vividly sitting in the hallway day after day in Mrs. Butler's class and my older siblings walking by saying, "Ooooh! We're gonna tell daaaaad!!"
Year eight...Pulled my own tooth out...no blood...I was soooo disappointed...
Year nine...Poison oak so bad my head swelled up like a pumkin, and I had to miss school (the good part...staying at home and being cared for while playing video games all day!
Year ten...Broken bone #3 and #4 (Both my wrists broke while flying off a rope swing on Mother's Day)
Year eleven...First girlfriend, Krysta Williams... :)
Year twelve...This is the year I became a junior high football pro...I sacked a person every three plays...
Year thirteen...I finally developed friendships that would last...and bought my first car...1970 Jeepster Commando!!!

Someday mine will look like this...(and hopefully I won't look like that guy)

Year fourteen...Highschool, first real relationship, Kailah Duckett (Brost)...
Year fifteen...I learned how to drive a stick shift on my dad's 1955 Chevy

My Dad's is all yellow and brighter...

and 1969 Stingray

My dad's was a little cleaner and had a slightly different paint job...

Year sixteen...I had my first car accident...not my fault...and the insurance paid for me to have my Jeepster repaired...instead...I bought new tires and had the leaf springs re-arched.
Year seventeen...I rolled my jeepster (not while four-wheel driving...ps...never try to race a jeep with new tires and a new suspension... :(
Year eighteen...College, first broken heart, and the first time somebody close to me passed away...Love you Toni!!!
Year nineteen...I started getting into theatre, met a new girl (Kara Kerr), and decided business was not what I wanted to do for a living.
Year twenty...First time getting drunk...not the best expereince
Year twenty-one...First time traveling out of the country..."What happens across the boarder stays across the boarder!"
Year Twenty-two...First time to Europe, graduated college, broke a girls heart, and started my own theatre company.
Year Twenty-three...Theatre company failed, was accepted to Graduate School in England, was leaving in a month....then I got invited to teach at Westmont College...AND most important...I got married!!!

What a beautiful and amazing woman...Adrienne Rachelle Hicks!!!

Year Twenty-four...I had my first child, my son, Ethan Jacob Hicks!!!

Look at that gorgeous hair...

Year Twenty-five...I won my first award for the theatre, Independent Theatre Award for Lighting Design! The Clouds

The Clouds by Aristophanes, 2007

Year Twenty-six...I had my second child, my daughter, Camille Rachelle Hicks!!!...I began graduate school!

Such a wonderful smile!!!

Year Twenty-seven...Here's to a year full of adventure, challenges, and lots of laughs!!!

Theatre and Church

2009-03-08T13:28:00.003-04:00

You know what I dislike about church the most...sitting and watching!

You know what I like about theatre the most...sitting and watching!

I like to interact, ask questions, make statements, have eye contact, and use gestures when I am at church, but I rarely get to after I walk through the door and sit in my seat. Unfortunately, that is all church has become, a place to sit and watch. Pastors aren't being engaged, messages aren't being explored and questioned, and so the little amount of real learning and execution of what is being learned is less than satisfying to me.

But, I like the lack of questions and statements being asked in a theatre, the minimal eye-contact (when you aren't in a small intimate theatre), and little to no gestures. The thing is, that's what theatre, in most cases, has become today...a place to sit, enjoy, and drift off into another world.

You can't do that with church. It needs to be a place where we are alert and engaged, else what is the point in going...it would be like going to a class where a lecturer talks at you rather than with you. You aren't learning anything more than what can be learned in a book, so what's the point in listening when you can learn the same thing at your own pace at home. Many people say the point in church is the fellowship...what fellowship...we had over 100 people at church today (most arrived 5 minutes before, ran to their seats, and buried their faces in a book), then at the end of church within 5 minutes all but 15 people had scurried out without as much as a glance at the person in front of them, behind them, or next to them. Needless to say nearly nobody thanked the speaker, asked a question, challenged a point-of-view...and their are certainly no reviews going out about the event...so, where is the engagement with all that work being put in to prepare the day...?

A theatre piece has 10 times the amount of engagement than a church has and they aren't even a place of learning, but a place of entertainment, yet I learn way more when I go. We had over 100 people arrive early to the play, talk and socialize before hand...at intermission people couldn't stop asking questions, making statements, and wondering...when the show was over nearly another 100 people stuck around to interact with each other about the event. Then to top it all off we have several reviews being posted in the local papers, which are another avenue for discussion and interaction about and with the event.

So, what exactly is the difference? Why do Christians talk about fellowship, community, relationships, yet when it comes to actually engaging the person next to them they can't even make little more than eye contact? Is it simply that theatre is not personal and church is? Are we defensive about what we believe and less guarded about what we enjoy?

Here's the point...church ought to be more engaging, more enjoyable, and more social than a theatrical event. The actors are presenting a story, telling a story, rarely asking questions, and rarely making statements to an audience with the intent of some kind of response (yet I venture to say that performances get more of these responses than a church). At church, the pastor or speaker is telling a story, asking questions, making statements, seeking to impart knowledge, and hoping to engage his/her audience, yet rarely do we ever get more than an "amen".

If you go to church...what's the point...what would make it a satisfying and enjoyable experience? If you go to theatre...what's the point...what would make it a satisfying and enjoyable expereince?

Finally, which do you enjoy more...and what would it take to make church engaging before, during, and after? Don't get me wrong...I think my church has a lot of great qualities otherwise I wouldn't go, but I think it could be more, offer more, and result in more!!! :)

Devised Theatre

2009-03-06T22:19:00.004-05:00

Well, we have come up with a full script. A 30 minute long journey through the birth, growth, and death of a relationship with a twist. We have been playing with multi-stable illusions...

What do you see...?

This idea of seeing action and dialogue from different perspectives, stories, and/or people. I love what we have created, and I can't wait to start putting the scenic elements together with the movement and language. It is going to be a feast for lighting and sound to play with!

Here is a little taste of a movement section:

...and door-handle, with a marker. The marker drops; the child skips off.

(2)

The door, which was exacto-knifed onto the box before the start of the production, opens, and out walks a homeless man. He picks up the marker

Here is a little taste of a section of dialogue:

PSYCHIC
(looking in crystal ball)
I see…

MAN
(worried)
Is it bad?

PSYCHIC
(seeing his worry, fishing)
It’s not good, no. You’re not married?

Change the circumstance...

MAN
I see.

LOVER
Is it bad?

MAN
It’s not.

LOVER
Good. (Crosses to him)

MAN
No.

LOVER
You’re not married.

At any rate...I can't wait to keep working on the production...I am curious how many of you are working on a piece of devised theatre? or When was the last time you worked on a piece of devised theatre...?

Lighting Analysis

2009-03-06T00:34:00.002-05:00

So, I have completed my thoughts about the production of When We Dead Wake by Henrik Ibsen.

Here you are...

Imagine a man and a woman...a husband and a wife who become pregnant with their first child. They go through all the joys of pregnancy and the gestational period, yet after nearly 20 hours of labor the result is not a beautiful, warm, crying child, but a deformed, cold, lifeless and silent child. The realization that the pregnancy resulted in nothing more than death and memories causes a slow, painful, and twisted awakening for those involved, dragged in and looking on...

This play is not about death...it is not about rising from the ashes...it is about awakening...it is about arising from hibernation. The characters in this play are like Rubek’s sculptures and busts: pompous, self-righteous, obstinate, shallow, cold, and lifeless. Only through painfully tedious recognition of their current state are the characters brought to a state of consciousness wherein they may proceed. Ulfheim and Maja’s path is more clear, offering some new adventure to live for, whereas, Rubek and Irena’s path is one they have already trod, offering a familiar re-embarkment toward a state of permanent dormancy.

The light of their world begins like the life of the characters, seemingly lifeless, yet merely dormant with the beauty of a wonderful dream anesthetized. Just as the characters slowly return to a conscious state like a spring thaw after a cold winter, so also, the lighting will infuse the world of the characters with an inviting warmth. Although as with any awakening from a deep sleep it is painfully slow and deceptive. The beauty of their life before hibernation has not gone away, and so it entices them from beyond the cool welcoming mists.

Once the journey beyond the mists has begun, the deceptive beauty of new life overwhelms the space. The lighting begins to cut through the characters and the scenery revealing the truth behind the paths they have chosen. So that by the end of the play, what once seemed like waves of awakening joy, now exists only as cascading waves of death for those unable to embrace the wings of eagles.

When We Dead Wake

2009-03-04T21:56:00.005-05:00

I have been working on a play by Henrik Ibsen, one of my favorite playwrights. When We Dead Wake was the last play he wrote, although he did not intend for it to be his last play :(

Here are a few thoughts I have had as I prepare for my presentation on Friday...

Imagine a man and a woman...husband and wife who become pregnant with their first child. They go through all the joys of pregnancy and the gestational period, yet after nearly 20 hours of labor the result is not a beautiful, warm, crying child, but a deformed, cold, lifeless and silent child. The realization that the pregnancy resulted in nothing more than death and memories causes a slow, painful, and twisted awakening for those involved, dragged in, and looking on...

Now, imagine the audience walks in to this pure white, crisp, clean set with Maja and Rubek set in a tableau... By the time the audience is settleed Maja and Rubek have changed slowly into various tableaus. As their dialogue reaches their first mention of death we have slowly brought in a mild hint of a dull cool blue on the set behind them out of their direct view.

Please visit again as I continue to develop these ideas...I hope to have the rest of my presentation complete before it is due this Friday. Any thoughts???

(For images of my inspiration for living sculptures you may go to Project 4 work by Jenna McCracken; for images of my inspiration for the set you may go to Project 4 work by Alex Gutierrez; for images of my inspiration for the tone and feeling of each act, as well as, some basic color pallettes you may go to Charles Cramer's site and observe specifically his Yosemite images; and to listen to the music I have chosen to inspire me you may listen to "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls.)

Positive Post Tuesday

2009-03-03T08:51:00.004-05:00

Penny Remsen and James McNamara

The first person I recognized today after I left my house was Penny Remsen. She is my lighting design advisor here at UMASS. I met her over the phone...a nice 30 minute long conversation about why I want to travel across the country to study with her, why lighting design for the theatre, why her, why now...Needless to say she a lot of questions...most of which just made me question myself more. And in the end it was exactly what I needed more questions to answer...after all, I wasn't just moving myself...I was moving my wife 18 month old son (oh...did I mention my wife would be 6 months pregnant when we moved and delivering our princess during the first week of gradschool)...Yeah, Penny had every right to ask quesitons.

Anyway, she has met me where I am in my studies. Challenged me to push ahead, advance my knowledge at an advanced rate to catch up to the standards of Graduate school (I haven't had any formal training in Lighting Design until now). Just last week Penny and I discussed the fact that we approach lighting from two completely opposite directions. Hers is more standard, and mine is more well, we haven't figured that out yet. Regardless, I appreciate Penny taking me on knowing full well tha I would be a challenge! She gave me the opportunity to learn when most other graduate programs felt that I would not be able to catch up, push ahead, and become what I need to be to be a great designer.

Thank you Penny for believing in me, challenging me, and trusting me to step up to the plate!

This has been a part of...

New Havens

2009-03-02T13:41:00.002-05:00

I added a new link list to the right. These sites are a list of links I am starting with to help build my knowledge of the arts happening today. I am hoping to build the list and do a weekly reading of a new site each week. If you have suggestions on which sites I need to know about send them my way. I am specifically interested in sites that touch on an area of art (music, theatre, dance, sculpture, performance art, etc.), but would love any suggestions.

What have you got?

Awaji-Puppet Theatre Workshop Grant

2009-02-25T19:10:00.004-05:00

Hey everybody...I got the grant!!! We received $250 to help fund the Awaji-Puppet Theater Workshop. We were hoping for a bit more in order to purchase tickets for students to go and see the production this Saturday, but the council decided the students ought to be able to afford that themselves. No problem, right? Can't hurt to ask and hope for funding, and besides, we were given enough to pay the actors for their time. That's all I wanted, and we got it! So, thanks to the UMass Arts Council for generously funding our workshop.

I am really excited about the workshop. I will be recording it, and I hope to receive permission from the company to post the footage on my blog here. So, keep your eyes peeled for an update if not a nice clip of the workshop!

I can't wait to spend some more time working on writing grants. I think publicity, communication and interaction are the best ways to make art successful. I believe in the work that I am doing, and I believe in the power of theatre and storytelling...and I hope I can find ways to bring that work to others in a way that enriches their lives. So, if you live in the Amherst, MA area swing on by and check out the companies work!

Pericles iv.

2009-02-24T18:01:00.006-05:00

We are moving in to our first dress rehearsal tonight! I am very excited to run the show with as few stops as possible. Our Lighting designer, Thad Kramer, a 1st year graduate student at UMASS (and a fantastic designer), has been developing his ideas for several months and building cues for several days, and he finally get's to see the fruits of his labors. Although he will be making adjustments to the cues while I take notes for him, he is pretty much finished and ready to go. It is has been a wonderful experience working with Director, Shawn LaCount, a third year grad in our program at UMASS, and Artistic Director of Company One in Boston, MA. His constant communication, interaction and support during the development of the production and specifically during the technical runs, has been absolutely integral to the success of this production. I cannot say how important it is for a lighting designer to have constant interaction with the designers and especially the director. A steady flow of communication ensures that the cues being built by the lighting designer are those that have been dreamed of and blocked by the design team and performers.

So, thank you to you all for such a great experience, and I hope these next few days result in a production that excites audiences, gives joy to the cast and crew, and does justice to the artistic process!!!

Congrats to all!

Pericles iii.

2009-02-22T11:54:00.002-05:00

Wow! What an amazing process!! I love working on productions that require lots of communication (funny right...what show doesn't require lots of communication)...perhaps, what I ought to say is...I love working on productions where we actually do a lot of communicating! I think this production of Pericles will be a fabulous and exciting production. Lot's of promising moments and scenes. We will be adding costumes to the tech process tonight. This will add the final missing and exciting element to the production. The costumes are amazing. Heather (our third year grad student) has developed an incredible array of costumes. Somewhere near 50 costumes for 18 different actors. What a feat...and our costume shop is working hard to make this a reality. Thank you guys! Your work is deeply appreciated!!! Hurray!!! for the cast and crew of Pericles... :)

Pericles ii.

2009-02-03T12:10:00.003-05:00

Check out a video interview with Director, Shawn LaCount, and Dramaturg, Liana Thompson, about the UMASS, Amherst Theater Departments production of Pericles! Don't think just GO!

Group Studio i.

2009-01-31T13:16:00.004-05:00

Jen Delyth...

Working on a Group Studio project now...We are beginning to develop a piece of devised theatre that will be performed at the end of the semester. I am very excited about this project. I hope it will be a glorious ride like the one I took while at Westmont working on the Mariner (adaption of Homer's the Odyssey). The class was asked to bring a myth to class with them. I have decided to peruse the myths found in Ancient Celtic...This one was translated into Enlgish...unfortunately many of them weren't like these ones...

I am very excited to look more deeply into The Courtship of Ferb.

More in the coming weeks and months.

Pericles i.

2009-01-29T23:47:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, our rough plot was due for Pericles. The campus was closed due to extreme weather conditions, so we presented the rough plot today.

Plot drawn in Vectorworks 2008 Educational Version...

It has been a wild ride so far. The image above is from Revision G...I am sure I will have at least three more before the final is due on Monday. I will also have attached a Center Line Section...

Center Line Section...lots more to do before Monday...

Also, I will need to produce a Boom Plate for booms directly on the deck, the floor in the Front of House , and Box Booms in FOH. The great thing about this project is that the tiring parts of getting started, and the detail work just flies by. I just have a lot of detail work to do before Monday. I will need to modify a few symbols, build booms, create a key that I like, place notes where necessary, and then double check my instrument placement and information to the paperwork in our Lightwright4 files. We create our Lightwright file first, then we create the plot from that information...a long process that I am sure has a shorter route, but we don't have the time on this project to learn it...so, for the next one that will be my goal.

Awaji Puppet Theater

2009-01-28T21:25:00.003-05:00

Awaji-Puppet Theater...Over 500 years of tradition...

I have been working on a Grant through the UMASS Arts Council with a couple of colleagues from the UMASS Theater Department. It is a small and simple grant...perfect for my first attempt. I have been working on scheduling the event and organizing the writing. Jason has been working hard on the publicity, scheduling and writing of the grant. Dora has been our liason, organizer, writer, and chief director for the grant. I can't thank them enough for all their work. I am very excited about this company, the workshop on the 27th of February, and their performace on the 28th of February. I spent some time reading a few articles of theirs and watching a DVD of their production, and I can't say enough how intense their work is! Check them out at www.japansociety.org

Havenworth Performing Arts Center

2009-01-27T08:04:00.005-05:00

A beautiful image...

I have been thinking about this "performing arts center" a lot in the back of my head over the past several years, and I wonder...If I don't ever push the idea to the front of my head, will it ever make it out of my head?

So, in the vein of moving the idea out of my head, I want to take a kind of census or consensus about where artists (sculptures, painters, film producers, dancers, ARTISTS) believe their work would best benefit the broader community. How would your art have the best impact (not the most, but the best)? What kind of environment does your art need to thrive (interior, exterior, winter season, spring season, an auditorium or a studio)? Also, what kind of geographical location is required or desired (L.A., Prague, a suburb, metropolitan cities)? And, I feel that this is important...where do you believe the answers to these questions are? What city, state, or country would best suit the benefit of your art for the benefit of society?

Sound Design

2009-01-26T17:40:00.004-05:00

So, I attended my first design class at Amherst College today. It was laid back, informative, and intriguing. All the things I hope for and look for in a class. I want a chance to explore and learn at the same time. A chance to ask questions without the constant..."you can't do that"...phrase penetrating my art. Anyway, our first assignment is to record 10 sounds, but I don't have a device to record sound on: Our video camera only records video and not sound, I lost my phone today, and so what am I going to do? Rob, the instructor, offered a recording device, but made it clear that he prefers we find our own device, rather than borrow one of the available one's. He likes resourcefulness, who doesn't? At the break, I hopped on my computer and attempted to see if I could make a recording...after all, I can Skype...why not make a movie or sound recording too...Here are the fruits of my search...

We also spent the day attempting to define "music"...Here is the definition of music for our class created from the students collaborative perspective:

"An intentional or deliberate arrangement of sound and/or silence encountered by an audience over time."

What do you think? What do you consider to be music?

Vectorworks Workshop pt. 3

2009-01-25T08:04:00.006-05:00

On Friday, we finished the final day of our Vectorworks workshop. I wanted to get a picture of the 12 students that were having fun playing around, but I forgot to bring my camera. Friday was the best day of the workshop, since we got to take the basics that we learned to guide us through the 3D functions. Everybody was horsing around with all kinds of wall gadgets, doors, windows, and especially the lighting options, rendering files, and finally meandering through viewports and doing walk throughs of their results. Here are a few shots...

Wire frame Right Isometric view...

Top plan using the Open GL view...

Front view using Open GL...

From below the image using the fly-over option...

These are all obviously very rudimentary, but it was really a lot of fun! When I first heard about Vectorworks in 2003, I wanted to use the 3D functions right away, but I never had time to play. Now I have some time, and I am sure I won't be disappointed :)

After a few days of playing, here is what I have converted, copy and pasted, and transformed into the basic layers and classes for a final design project I am working on for Pericles as the Assistant Lighting Designer. The final project is due in a week...yikes!!!

Architecture converted and modified from the Technical Directors drawings...

Adding in the set, masking, and scenic fabrics on linesets...

Adding in the electric linesets (which aren't finished yet) and the FOH positions...

Annular Solar Eclipse

2009-01-24T06:43:00.004-05:00

On file with the AFP...

On January 26th, there will be an annular solar eclipse visible from near the Indian Ocean and western Indonesia. It should be a very exciting event. I would expect that you may be able to watch a video of the event on their website (providing they shoot it). So, if you are interested be sure to check them out...here...Here is a photo from a previous annular eclipse. They are as expected rare and amazing. I hope to see one someday :)

Details from NASA...

Vectorworks Workshop pt. 2

2009-01-22T21:42:00.005-05:00

Today was another great day in the lab! We began by reviewing our work from yesterday. Asking questions that may have arose as we played late into the night on our new VW toys.

Then, we moved quickly into exploring how to create a Center line section. By pasting a copy of our Ground Plan onto a fresh layer, we were able to take quick measurements of the walls that we had created and bring them into reality. We then began to have some fun by creating a person and placing them into our set. This was great, because we could manipulate them in nearly any position that we wanted to...So, if we wanted to show them lying dead we could or if we wanted to show them walking we could or if we wanted to show them waving we could...it really was quite fun.

After this was accomplished, we moved into the real work of the lighting designer as we began to place instruments onto the set. We created a label legend, selected our choice of soft symbols, and then began to choose and select...and off we went. We wrapped up the day with a quick look into a few video training programs on Nemetschek's website. Check it out...here...

I can't wait for tomorrow as we will begin to look at 3D and rendering...at least I hope!

The results after day 2...

A friend says goodbye

2009-01-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

My graduate adviser has quickly become what I consider "a dear friend". She is someone that cares genuinely, deeply, and regardless. I appreciate the guidance and support she has given me just in this first year of knowing each other.

Late yesterday afternoon, her pup of 16 years passed away in her arms. I can think of no better way for a dear friend to pass. And so, as you say goodbye to your little one, I hope you know that we are all here to support you and listen...genuinely, deeply and regardless.

Here's to your pup, your friend, your baby...Here's to Fanny!!!

Vectorworks Workshop pt. 1

2009-01-21T18:17:00.003-05:00

Here are three images of today's work. We had a brief introduction, and then we began to learn the basic functions of the software. Anything from cursor movement to basic shapes, navigation to tool sets, object information to visualization and the resource browser. It was all very straight forward as was to be expected. I particularly enjoy the mirror device, navigating layers and classes, and the duplicate array option. All of this was done in the 2D function, but it all applies in a similar fashion to the 3D function, which we will get to on the last day. If this workshop is enjoyable and beneficial for the class of 12 students, then the five college design council may bring it back next year along with an advanced class, where we will begin to explore creating scenes, video, and rendering.

Before the workshop...

We went over the basic construction, layers, and classes...

We finished by applying some of the things we learned...

Tomorrow, I will bring some of the designs I will be working on tonight and tomorrow morning in preparation for day two of the workshop. Check back for more updates!!!

Performing Arts Center

2009-01-17T21:00:00.001-05:00

What is a "Performing Arts Center"?

Commenting

2009-01-16T18:34:00.002-05:00

I can't help but be tempted to announce that I just discovered a technical difficulty with posting comments on my blog. So, if you have been wanting to leave a comment about what you have read, seen or thought, then please give it another try. I have updated the system, and fixed the problem. Many thanks to the folks at Nemestcheck for sending me a couple of e-mails, which allowed me to realize the glitch! Thanks again!!

Reading

2009-01-15T21:28:00.003-05:00

I have been trying to read a play a day for the past month. I didn't really get started until about three weeks ago, and at this point I have read 15 plays. I read some Strindberg, Williams, Shakespeare, Brecht, Pinter, and I am still plugging away. I have developed a list of about 5o plays that I want to read, and about 30 books that I want to read. All within the realm of theatre. With all the recent reading I have done, I still find myself thinking back to when I first read Peer Gynt by Ibsen. It was the best play I ever read. I haven't had that kind of experience yet with any of the plays that I have read, but I am sure sooner or later I will find another play that takes me to the moon and back.

What stories hold a special memory for you?

Producing Quality Art

2009-01-14T12:35:00.003-05:00

I finished my first lighting design for graduate school at UMASS in the beginning of December, but I was terribly disappointed with the final product. Granted, I was attempting to design light in a way I had never experienced before; I learned an insane amount of information through the process, and the show was successfully staged. I don't necessarily think that it was an amazing piece of art, nor that it was necessarily art, but more that it was a great piece of educational work toward creating future theatrical works of art. I have been trying to take a step forward after this defeating experience, and until now, I didn't know why I had been struggling to move forward and let the experience be what it was. Here is a section I just read from Steve Shelley's introduction to his book: A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, that allowed me to see, understand, let go, and move forward...

"When I was a younger student of lighting design, I wasted a lot of stage time. I had gone to classes and read books, but no one said anything about effectively using time. The classroom didn't address the need to streamline the lighting design construction process. Without a system or enough experience, I would unknowingly allow myself to be led by others through a production schedule that would frequently result in an unfinished product. Afterward, I would attempt to analyze my disappointment resulting from unsatisfactory designs that remained unfulfilled because I had run out of time. Eventually I realized I had it backwards. I needed to analyze the situation first, construct a strategy, and create the tools prior to the load-in that would allow on-site decisions to be made. Rather than walking in the door and backpedaling through whatever situation was dictated to me, I began searching for ways to dictate the situation. My goal broadened to not only creating a design, but also to establishing the environment that would allow the design to be completed within the presented parameters."

more...

What a great statement! This is exactly the kind of proactive choices and action that I need to be making as I move forward in my studies hear at UMASS and elsewhere in the work world. I can't wait to get started with this next semester so that I can start putting this idea of "dictating the situation" into practice.

Story Telling

2009-01-12T14:28:00.005-05:00

According to Arden Fingerhut, "To create a story, then, is to create meaning" (Theatre: Choice in Action, 3). I don't necessarily disagree with this statement. I do, however, wonder...

What if I want to tell a story to create confusion...to create the opposite of meaning?

What if I want to tell a story that has no "discrete conclusion"?

What if I want to tell stories that "appear particularly unfathomable"?

Do stories need to have beginnings, middles, and ends? What happens if a story just starts and ends as rapidly as it began with no description of the events before nor any predilection of what may happen in the future?

As a theatrical artist, I often wonder, what is it that drives people to create and re-create? I want to tell stories for people to become more human as a result of staging the story being told and watching stories being staged. I want to create theatre that steps outside of convention, that seeks out things that have not been done under the sun, and allowing the human experience a chance to grapple with stories that create the unfathomable.

From Bertolt Brecht's Baal...

"THE BEGGAR: Nothing is understood. But some things are felt. If one understands a story it's just that its been told badly."

New Software

2009-01-12T06:38:00.004-05:00

Press photo for Pericles, Prince of Tyre

As the new year begins to come into its own, most of us have stopped writing 2008 and have accepted 2009, our jobs have been back in full swing for over a week now, for most, school is starting back up, and for some, new year's resolutions are beginning to wane. Well, as these things happen, I am beginning to learn a software program that isn't necessarily new to me, but I have never taken the time to learn it, so most of its functions are actually new to me. For any theatrical lighting designer (or at least their assistants), Nemestcheck's revolutionary software program, VectorWorks, is a wonderful tool for advancing the field of design. It doesn't make any of us a better designer, but it does offer us the tools to put our ideas on paper faster. In this way, we are more able to focus our energies on the actual design of the production. This is particularly valuable for theatrics because we tend to be designing more than one show at a time, as well as, in a rapid sort of fashion. So, if you happen to love Auto-CAD programs, but have never heard of VectorWorks, then I suggest you check it out, because it truly is a lighting designers dream offering advantages to a wide variety of industries.

Havenworth Mission Statement

2009-01-10T15:15:00.002-05:00

I wanted to start the new year off with a re-cap of the Arts Center's Mission Statement. I am still developing this statement. I believe it will strengthen the development not only of my own work, but of the work of all that get involved. I believe a dream may only be realized by constant pursuit, refinement, and support. Please, aid me in my pursuit by suggesting pros and cons to such a mission statement, benefits, challenges, and questions.

"Our society requires a Visual and Performing Arts Center that has a high impact on the local and global community, and a low impact on the local and global environment. The center exists to offer artists an opportunity to collaborate with artists, with economists, with scientists, administrators, contractors, academics, youth and more... The center will offer collaborators the opportunity to live in residence and be nurtured by society through the arts. The center is a place for artists and audiences to live in a community where they can explore the wonders of humanities creative minds and energies. The center will be a place for all art forms to come and begin a conversation, to live a conversation, and to become the conversation around the world."

Current Productions

2009-01-10T14:56:00.003-05:00

I am currently working as the Assistant Lighting Designer for a production of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. It is a fantastic adventure through distant and ancient lands, the story of a King strengthened by the gods challenges. A story of heroism, bravery, love, longing, lust, retribution, and romance. The production opens February 26th at 8pm and closes on March 7th at 2pm. It promises to be an adventurous night into many lands of Greece, so please if you are in the Western Massachusetts area come and enjoy one of Shakespeare's last beautiful stories.

Voudin

2009-01-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is the Prologue to Part 3 of my play series. I am still developing the ideas and shape of the play with this poem as a source of fuel.

Voudin

There are many things to be learned.
In each moment a new experience.
There are many things to be learned.
Everyday gives birth to a new resistance,
Listen to the Voices.

There are many things to be forgotten.
For each new moment a new design.
There are many things to be forgotten.
Everyday arises for the benign,
Respond to the Voices.

There are many things to be earned.
In each new moment we avail one another.
There are many things to be earned.
Everyday we listen to a "mother".
Become a part of the Voice.

Uncle Roudin

2009-01-09T07:09:00.000-05:00

My play is finished! I have been working on this play since January 2005, a couple of years after I staged the first part of the three part series Ganz. I staged a movement performance of the play to explore space, light, and the audience reactions.

Photo from Uncle Roudin by Joy Barker, 2005

Now, I have finished writing the 2nd part, Uncle Roudin, which is essentially the second act of Ganz, but may be staged separately from the first act. Each part of the series is a play in itself, and at the same time a part of a larger play. I have written the prologue to the third part, and I will start writing the play this month. Here is the prologue Houdin and the play Uncle Roudin.

Houdin

Sleep deprived
Lost in time
Can't remember how
Nor even why

I never contrived
I'm like a mime
I have to go now
Before I cry

Uncle Roudin

Sensational lantern enchanted eclipse pause deprivation echoes pass riveting internal voices Ethan despairs

Listen (Ganz begins his monologue, Uncle Roudin listens) Odd such turmoil Illegitimate nimbus That imp malingers ebullition.

Chthonian acuity never thought remarkable Ethan manages brevity excepting restless helicity often wearyingly

Now opressions repetitions evolve vindicating Ethan's nepenthes without hindering yesteryear

I need edaphic viridescent ether rather consistently Observing natural telluric residue is vastly effective decontamination

If my laborious injurious keen enactment induces mimesis irrespectively mollifying Ethan

Intact hallucinations apparitions visions ended then orectic gesticulations originating near obscurity would

Become enabling forces offering rational eloquent intentions creating resolutely Yahweh

New Year Re-developing

2009-01-01T08:02:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks,

I have been away for a while on break, and now I am ready to start the new year with some redeveloping. I will taking Havenworth down to its bare necessities and re-focusing my energies. I want this project to grow this year, and I think that starts with refreshing my goals, my network, and my site. Please keep in touch as I continue to develop this project.

Jonathan

Portfolio Update

2008-12-15T13:59:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks...I wanted to let you all know that my Portfolio is completed. Check in the list of links to the right and you will find a link that takes you to my Portfolio. I will also be working on a page where you will be able to read a brief description of the production.

While you are purusing the links to the right find something you are interested in and enjoy looking at the various sites I enjoy looking at...Also, you may find a number links within my posts...please take some time to check out these links as they are most often quite intriguing.

Thanks for stopping by...

J

Imaginary Invalid viii.

2008-12-11T16:05:00.000-05:00

I just had my first post-opening review meeting with Penny, my adviser, and I...well, it was a great meeting. We have so much to talk about that it is hard to contain the conversation or rather not contain, but retain the conversation in a way that is memorable and tangible. The bulk of my learning has to take place during the technical run, so that the learning is physical. Talking about theatre is great, but often becomes futile when it regards needing to bring these things to fruition. Anyway, one thing that I am interested in really make happen in these next few months is to jump on Penny's suggestion to be designing a show every month. I need to design design design. I can't be sitting on an empty tank for the next 9 months. I need to practice, to learn, to make mistakes, it is the only way that I will be able to integrate these lessons into my daily and routine practice. Anybody know of shows that need a lighting designer or assistant lighting designer in and around the Massachusetts area??? Please let me know!!!

Spiral Jetty

2008-11-28T20:17:00.000-05:00

Sprial Jetty...an amazing work of art...!

I was doing some research on Installation art today, and I found this blog...

First, it is a great exploration into art versus capitalism, art versus corporation, and/or historic art versus forward future. What are cities, corporations, and people willing to give up or destroy in order to make money, learn for the sake of our "future", and compromise without understanding what is being compromised.

The site also offers a myriad of links to other eco friendly sites, artists, blogs, and journals. I can't wait to utilize the site to find more artists like myself who are interested in preserving art for the sake of our "future", while creating valuable opportunities for the environment, the next generation, and society.

Edward Hopper

2008-11-28T16:28:00.000-05:00

Automat, Edward Hopper, 1927

I am working on a lighting studio project. We are instructed to research one painter, write a paper telling about the artist and his work, focusing on the artists concept and use of light, color, and space. I have decided to do my project on Edward Hopper. He is a realist painter of the 20th century, whose art has a decidedly architectural and geometric emphasis to it. Although many of his paintings contain men and women, most of his paintings are of buildings and landscapes. It may be argued that the buildings and landscapes are the subject of his work even the paintings with human figures in them. I am enjoying his work in relationship to this project specifically because he is a great artist to study for inspiration while working on lighting installations for architectural environments.

The geometrical shapes and angles that he works with, the focus and direction of light, and the moods created in his art are combined an inspiration to my art. I have never been able to explore an artists work and understand what they are creating. I have never been able to enjoy looking at the art. However, with this project, I am beginning to find a way into the world of the painter of the still artist.

Imaginary Invalid vii.

2008-11-26T10:11:00.000-05:00

Dora Arreola (Graduate Candidate for Directing MFA) staging the prologue...

Day four is now complete...We had a fantastic run through of act 1. I have a number of cues to adjust. I think they need some attention to focus on the stage, dark spots for actors moving through the space, and highlights on the set, a lot of attention to the upstage drop and the drops outside the windows, but other than that I have a nice shape to Act 1.

I will be developing the final cues for Act 2 and into the Prologue during a cue over this up-coming Monday. I will be able to make minor adjustments to the general lighting cues that I have created. I hope to get a clear sense of the direction I am going in for the Epilogue after this rehearsal.

Then moving into Tuesday next week, we will be wrapping up the final tech of the Epilogue, and then it is a matter of finessing the blocking to the lighting and the lighting to the blocking, in order to ensure that the actors are always visible, especially the eyes.

Imaginary Invalid vi.

2008-11-25T11:59:00.000-05:00

2nd cue in Act I...(not a very good camera...sorry)...

Day three has been tacked up on the complete board for the Invalid tech. My advisor, Penny Remsen, met with me at couple of different time yesterday to discuss the process, the systems of lighting that she has taught me how to create, and the process of layering them in through the production. I am used to creating cues virtually seperate from each other...each cue almost being its own entity seperate from the cue before. The only thing that is usually the same is the instruments I am using. So, the same brushes, just different paint, to use an artist example of how to paint a set with light.

Here are just a few things that I learned from this process...

1. Never stress
2. Don't apologize
3. Start with the first cue and layer in the light progressively from cue to cue. (This is an indoor set (living room), period play (Moliere), essentially afternoon to twilight, and one room). So, I don't have a lot of need for drastically different lighting. I can create essentially two pallettes (afternoon and evening) and have exactly what I need to cue the show. Good thing for me, that is exactly what I did on paper, and now it is working on the actual set.
4. Do not draw the audience attention away from the actors unless the actors are directing the audience attention to a specific object or location in the set.
5. Color is very important and does not always work the same on paper as it does on the real set...always be ready with back-up gels and ideas, in case color choices need to be adjusted. It may be the right color, but the wrong saturation.
6. Technical rehearsals never work the same from show to show, director to director, and crew to crew. I am learning so many things with this process. Yesterday, I was on information overload, and especially the day before. I am now beginning to process all the information. I hope I can retain all of or most of it for the next round of designs.

Imaginary Invalid v.

2008-11-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

Actor warm-up...

We finished day two of tech last night, however, I walked away from that day frustrated with myself for not understanding how the light is working on the set. I am beginning to see it more, but the paper choices I made are not all working. It may be a matter of color, but I am not sure if it is...? I also came away from yesterday disappointed in the design team as a whole. We did not communicate to each other as well as I have been hoping we would or could. As Rob said yesterday, "We are trying to blend design ideas together rather than finding a single direction to work as a whole." I agree that we have done this, but I am not sure at this point if that can be corrected. We never had any design meetings longer than 1 hour, and we never met as a whole group after the pre-liminary scenic and costume design were made. We never had any design or production notes taken or plans about what we were going to address in these meetings. It has always been a kind of check in and never a growing of ideas and exploring.

I have never worked through a tech where I received so little information from other designers and especially from the director. I assumed that what was being seen was understood as the cue for the show, but apparently all the cues that I have written except for the prologue and into Act I scene 1 are not being conisdered as the final cue. I don't know when we are going to write the final cue if it was not this weekend. I know we have two more tech/design runs tonight, but they are essentially runs and not stop and go as we definitely need. Anyway, I should have been talking more with Dora, and asked her to come sit behind me so that we could collaborate...checked in with her that what we had written was good (as well as if it was good with the other designers)...and then moved on to the next cue. I wonder what the next step is...do we step through now and get the approval...do we step through and assume that the cues are good unless someone stops me. (That is what I was doing the last two days, but apparently that is not a good method)...any suggestions...???

Imaginary Invalid iv.

2008-11-23T08:24:00.000-05:00

Starting the day...Thad editing a cue list...

Yesterday we started our official tech day. What a long and enriching and exhausting experience! I have worked long days, but rarely ones that require so much focus on what light is doing in so many different places, yet really only within a small frame. Comparatively the world we live in has so many different aspects of lighting, but mostly out of our control. This however, in the theatre, I have complete control, yet the control in this particular production is coming from a much larger number of sources than I am used to working with. Harnessing all that light into a cohesive whole has been challenging. I need to remember to start with my key light, then filter in my fill light. One last challenging thing with this process is the difference between my definition of comic and others definition of comic...or rather our definition of how lighting enhances or detracts from the comedy of a show. How does your light in your world make your life more comic or more tragic?

Imaginary Invalid iii.

2008-11-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

Blocking the light...

The lighting focus went well yesterday. I finally got a sense that the design was being respected and developed through the process of focus. It took me some time to find my momentum and my voice. In the end, we looked at the lights to see if they were blended well, and if they looked like they were doing what I had hoped they would do on paper. I think the gobos I am using in the are light and in the washes is creating too much of a break up...as if they are walking through shadows of trees. I am going to use the hazer to create the effect I was hoping to create with the gobos. A sense of warmth, staleness, and the yuck...of the play.

Low wash...

Thad posing grumpy

Penny going ugh to Michael

Imaginary Invalid ii.

2008-11-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

The Focus...

The set continues to grow. Some walls are up, the translucencies are being completed, the masking is being repaired and prepared, and the final touches on the window units are being installed. I can't wait to get to tech this weekend. I started focusing lights last night, and I have discovered that I like to move slowly. I like focusing a light or two then comparing them to each other. I like working a system, then checking it before we move on.

Checking center...

I am not a big fan of focusing a dozen lights half-hazardly, bouncing around the theatre. It moves things too quickly and does not allow for continuity of the lighting design. I think we did it this way last night partly because we lost a couple of hours at the beginning working on getting our dimmer racks to cooperate. We had about half of our lights not working...not good!

Thad, Jeff, and Michael trouble shooting the lighting system...

I know I will find out many more new challenges and revelations as I continue to play with light on the full scale set...!

Low warm wash...

I hope we can take a step back today and move more methodically and in a way that I feel the design is being treated with some respect. I did not give my work its due respect, and if I do not respect the work that I have done, then how can the people I am working with give my design respect. I worked hard to calculate the angles, positions, and color of these lights...now is the time to paint with them and enjoy the creative process, and not a time to rush and push on...

Focusing two lights at the same time...

And so, onward with theatre and into new worlds!

Imaginary Invalid i.

2008-11-18T05:33:00.000-05:00

Rob and Dennis hard at work after a grueling long night!!!

GREAT WORK GUYS!!!

The set building for Invalid has been underway for some weeks now. The scenic team has installed the stage deck, and worked late into the night and early mornings to paint the deck. I am very excited. The colors are wonderful, bright, blue, and have a sense of texture, which is always wonderful. We also finished hanging all the lights for the show. Tonight I will head in to focus them and finish that focus on Wednesday night ready for a run through on Thursday, a design run on Friday, and an all day tech on Saturday and Sunday...Hurrah!

Up the ladder and away we go...!

First Night

2008-11-17T21:16:00.000-05:00

James Clar & Associates, "Pong"

I am looking forward to playing on an installation project for Northampton's celebration of this years First Night. It is a kind of New Years celebration (the images on these links are not the best, hopefully we will get some better ones for this year!) I have never worked on an installation with anybody, but myself and some classmates from College at Westmont. So, I am really looking forward to this opportunity. I heard that a kind of globe has been built atop the Northampton Hotel. Some of the equipment we will be using to light the installation has been purchased from Philips Color Kinetics. I tried to find some images of the installation that is being built, but I think I will have to wait until I have a chance to see it myself and take my own photos. I will be working with the artist Nan Zhang, who teaches lighting design at Smith College.

Stayed tuned for updates as I developed this new pursuit for my Thesis!