JURIED EXHIBIT (Creative Activity - Lighting Design)

USA NATIONAL EXHIBIT, PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL OF STAGE DESIGN, Prague, The Czech Republic, 2007

 

Design Statement:

 

A boy climbs a narrow flight of stairs and emerges into the attic. Scanning the space with a flashlight, he notices an old book. With the turn of a page, the dust covers stir and the storytellers awake. One assumes the role of Scrooge. 

 

The lighting in A CHRISTMAS CAROL transitions seamlessly, transporting the characters through space and time. Scrooge’s reality is stark. His office is dimly lit and his home is almost black. The lighting scheme supports his frugal nature. When the ghosts infiltrate his world, the lighting intensifies and deepens in saturation. Marley cracks open the space and the air is pierced with cool textured shafts. Past is blinding in intensity. The surrounding storytellers reinforce his radiance by tracking him with flashlights from on-stage. These beams, reading in the haze, make Past appear to be emulating light from his being. Present brings a quality of syrupy sweetness to the environment as a warm glow fills the space. Practicals, imbedded in the set, glow for the first time when Present enters. With Future, new angles of light are introduced. Low angles create the grandest shadows possible, allowing the small Future to consume Scrooge.

 

The lighting design in A CHRISTMAS CAROL uses bold strokes to illustrate to the audience what chapter of the classic story is being told. As all locales are staged within the attic, the lighting distinguishes the interior and exterior scenes. To do this, the quality of the light shifts from diffuse light to layered, textured light. The circular scenic element up-stage is treated with a variety of textures and colors to anchor the scenes.  At times the orb showed window panes to define the attic, at other times, a moon for a city street.