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Jill Scott at the Fabulous Fox

Jill Scott at the Fabulous Fox

Jill Scott wanted elegance. LD Martin Thomas, as set designer, lighting designer, and lighting programming, delivered. Scott’s Live Soul tour had a lot of elegance, plus a lot of heart and class, when it rolled into St. Louis river city one recent rainy night. The sold-out show was well worth trudging through the wet weather, as the R&B singer provided a powerhouse of great music and showmanship. Scott is far from what all too often passes for a pop star these days: she’s a woman of experience and talent, and effectively and sincerely connects with the audience.

 

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Infusing “Cat” with New Life

Broadway revivals have become so commonplace that a creative theatre team must think outside of the box and indulge in new ideas to make an old chestnut both exciting and refreshing for modern audiences. Debbie Allen’s interpretation of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — starring Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad — faced such a scenario.  Beyond its powerhouse casting and acting and the overstated aspect of having an all-black cast, the show is a rarity these days: a three-act, three-hour show with one main set that does not change. Set designer Ray Klausen was up to the task of invigorating the look of the show to fit Williams’ cynical tale of a family whose sibling brothers — one an injured alcoholic and former athletic hero, the other a corporate lawyer — and their spouses are tussling over the inheritance of Big Daddy’s massive Southern plantation.

 

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Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige in the Heart of the City

When Mary J. Blige decided to embark upon a solo tour, her production manager wanted Justin Collie of Artfag, LLC to be the designer. Over the course of several weeks the tour evolved into a joint collaboration with Jay-Z. But rather than sharing design duty with someone of Jay-Z’s choosing, Collie was asked to handle the design of the entire tour. The result was their Heart of the City tour.

Patrick Dierson, who has worked with Collie on many occasions, was asked to take on lighting director duties in addition to maintaining the integrity of the design for the run of the tour. Collie had the role of “Performance Environment Designer,” and he handled every aspect of the design including scenic elements, lighting and video layout.

 

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On a Mission

The First Baptist Church of Marco Island, Florida, had a problem: They’d outgrown both the size and technology of their 30-year-old facility. But on a small, conservative island populated mainly by senior adults, how could the church keep to its core while also reaching out to a younger, hipper generation — at home and around the world?

“We live on an island with a lot of older people on it,” says Senior Pastor Tim Neptune. “We couldn’t ostracize them by going with this extremely new contemporary facility, but media, lighting and technical elements are crucial to delivering our message.”

Neptune knew his facility needed some serious technology.
 

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Diana Kesselschmidt

In this month’s PLSN Interview, we get acquainted with Diana Kesselschmidt. The multi-talented lighting designer with a clever and sharp sense of humor tells about how she gained real-life experience in high school and college, why her professor thought she had gone off the deep-end and her most intimate design to date.

 

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Oh, Brave New Workflow

If you’d like the full surround sound version of this column, I’d recommend playing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A-Changin’ ” as you read along. I recently had the opportunity to shoot with a Sony XDCAM-EX, a new full-featured professional camcorder that offers HD resolution up to 1080i, at a very economical price point. The differentiating factor, though, is that the model EX records on high speed, high capacity “SxS” memory cards, and this presents a few workflow surprises to the shooter.

 

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Stealth Programming

Several years ago I made an amazing discovery about automated lights — they actually make noise when they’re on. I know, I know — I was as shocked to learn this as you are. Up until that point, all of my experience had led me to believe that those babies were silently operating behind the 115 dB wall of sound produced by whatever band happened to be on stage at the moment.

 

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Projecting Into the Future

On the cusp of the concert-touring season, projection video finds itself coming to terms with the LED. A quick survey of some projection video systems providers finds that the sector is still robust, but that LEDs are gaining ground with designers and bookkeepers, thanks to their lower cost, increasing flexibility and programmability and how easily they pack and transport.

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Peeling Back the Layers

Each year it seems that new lighting fixtures become more and more complex.  If you attend any lighting tradeshows you will find that most manufacturers have LED fixtures, media servers and digital lighting products.  These unique products are very different in output and control from good old “automated” lighting fixtures.  Many of these units require knowledge of their protocol as well as a good understanding of how they interact with a lighting desk.

 

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The BS Factor

In every business, there is a lot of scheming and plotting to get accounts. Presentations mean a lot. Not just the financial charts or 8-inch-by-10-inch glossy renderings of a stage, but of the presenter himself. Whether we like to admit it or not, lighting and set designers are salesman. And as we sell ourselves to any potential client there is one thing we must be able to deliver on demand without any hesitation whatsoever — BS.

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