Week 10: So Many Shows

This week was filled with so much art, I was pretty dang blown away. There was a total of four shows that I was actually able to see this weekend- Pizza Man, IREV's St. Patty's Day Show, The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon-Marigolds, and 39 Steps. For this blog, I will not talk about IREV because it didn't really have any lighting- but it was still good!!!

I will begin in a chronological order. On thursday, I went to Yasmin's show Pizza Man for their invited dress. The picture below is what the audience walks into. I really love the gobo here, I'm a fan of window gobos (hehe). I also adore the color that Yasmin got on the CYC, it fit the mood and aesthetic of the show very well. The composition itself was very well done, and all the areas were lit very well; however there were some fades that happened on and off that I didn't completely understand. I imagine they were meant to follow the mood, but some of them didn't really read well for me. 

The next show I went to was Naomi's- The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon-Marigolds. Naomi did a wonderful job with this. I absolutely loved her choice in the gobos for her pipe ends. The color itself was really interesting and strong, but I found it fit the play very well. One of my favorite moments in the show was the night time scene with the storm. I LOVED the visibility and color achieved in this moment. There was also another night time scene where the mother spoke on the phone with someone ad the phone itself had a down light. This was very effective and worked beautifully with the moment. One thing about this moment that did strike me as being a little off was the fade time between night to day- the pipe end gobos were brought up very quickly, and as an audience, member it was a little jarring. Other than a few other fade times that were off for me, I really enjoyed this piece a lot. The compositions were very strong and her color choice was great.

The last show I saw this weekend was 39 Steps. I was SOOOO blown away with Kyle's work on this. His use of practicals and flashlights to provide face light was very clever- and I love that the mute clowns had forehead flashlights that provided face light, strobe, and red effects-SUPER CLEVER. I was impressed to find out that power strips provided the control for all of these lights- THATS INSANE. Especially since the timing was all so great with the cues. One of my favorite aspects of the show was the shadow play done behind those drapes. I was also impressed to find out that this was also a practical light, just one that had an LED light source, which explains the very white color and intensity of the light. This show was truly inspiring for me because it showed me that beautiful things can still be done without much means. 

TO ALL THESE WONDERFUL LIGHTING DESIGNERS- GREAT JOB! And I can't wait to see all your next works.

Now on to the classes this week. We had a plotting class. WOO.. YAY... that was fun. But actually, I was really happy to see this class, and while plotting does not seem like my cup of tea, after seeing how vector works makes it much more simple. The more important discovery I made in this class is that bigger spaces are not scary. The idea of having over 300 lights always scared me, its extremely daunting. But after realizing that with big spaces comes larger systems of light, it's not so scary. In fact, I am really excited to work in the Little now because of this--AND I AM NOT SCARED AT ALL. WOO. well maybe a little, but they its more like nerves. After the class, I really didn't see myself wanting to plot for a living, but in actuality, plotting may be something I want to explore further. It's not for sure, but the possibility of looking into it is not out of my mind anymore.

Lastly, the final class. The book we read was interesting and had a lot of beautiful poetic language, I will say that. But, as I mentioned in class, I began reading it with a much more technical mindset, and because of this I do not think I really got all I should've gotten out of it. I plan to read it again over break with a much more free mind. I want to read it again before my next show that I am lighting. :)

I am so happy with this quarter, and I am grateful to have had the support and education that was all wrapped into one. Thanks Lonnie! I am excited for next quarter.