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Most of the pies were fake, but a few were real. The Waitress photo by Joan Marcus.

The Pie’s the Limit

Scott Pask’s Scenic Design for The Waitress

The Tony Award-nominated musical Waitress, adapted from the film by the late actor/writer-director Adrienne Shelly, combines splashy sets and breezy music with serious themes of repression, enlightenment, and female empowerment. Jessie Mueller plays Jenna, a diner waitress who possesses a passion for making pies with exotic names that reflect real-life themes and ideas — such as Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, I Hate My Husband Pie, and Kick In The Pants Pie — but she is under the thumb of her controlling and verbally abusive boyfriend Earl. Once she learns of a pie-making contest with a nice monetary prize and also begins an affair with a handsome doctor, she begins to feel a sense of liberation that she has been craving.

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Peter Gabriel, Sting and their longtime LDs, Rob Sinclair and Danny Nolan, all collaborated on the 2016 'Rock Paper Scissors' tour. Photo by Todd Kaplan

Peter Gabriel & Sting “Rock Paper Scissors” Tour

Two British Artists (and LDs) Meld Ideas to Create One Unique Show

This summer, two talented English legends joined forces (and bands) to unite on stage for one big show. Proclaiming the tour as Rock Paper Scissors made a lot of sense, as each artist played and sang on the other’s songs as band members effortlessly formed different ensembles to play a multitude of both artists’ hits. What made this production even more interesting was the collaboration of two popular English lighting designers, Rob Sinclair and Danny Nolan, who looked after their respective artists’ looks. They melded ideas, then networked two different lighting consoles together to run a dynamic looking show for a six week run of dates in America.

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Angus MacPhail, longtime LD for The Cure, spec'ed a wide array of fixtures for the band's latest tour. Photo by Steve Jennings

The Cure

Longtime LD Angus MacPhail on the Band’s Latest Trek

The Cure performed another of their marathon more-than-three-hour concert performances to a packed amphitheater of devoted fans, performing both hits and rarities in their ever-evolving set list. There’s no denying the bands influence and originality in a career spanning 40 years. Bringing even more mood and impact to vocalist Robert Smith and the band is lighting designer and director Angus MacPhail, who talked to us about his long association with the band.

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Robe Patt Lights on stands add to the visuals. Photo by Steve Jennings

Cage the Elephant 2016 Tour

Lighting designers Eric Cathcart and Michael Grant have been busy lately piecing together three different bands — Cage The Elephant, The Arcs and Silversun Pickups. They’ve managed to work out the scheduling to alternate LD duties from one to the other… timing has been on their side. PLSN spoke with Cathcart and Grant about the Cage The Elephant tour.

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'Cathedral of Light' was static, yet compelling. Photos courtesy Mandylights.

Vivid Sydney 2016

Vivid Sydney is a 23-day festival of light, music and ideas that takes place in Australia’s largest city. Now in its eighth year, Vivid began as Smart Light Sydney festival with a focus on energy efficiency by lighting designer Mary-Anne Kyriakou and headlined by musical artist Brian Eno. It is now called the world’s largest outdoor “art gallery,” with the 2016 event drawing more than two million visitors outdoors to downtown Sydney during May and June, the coolest (and darkest) time of the year in Australia.

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Sebastian Maniscalco lit by Bob Peterson at the Beacon Theatre.

Getting Personal with Comedy

Lighting for Comedy Specials Reflects the Star’s Distinctive Style

When Gabriel Iglesias sold out two nights in the Chicago area’s Allstate Arena May 20-21 for the filming of a Netflix special, lighting designer Robert Peterson knew he had a major challenge on his hands.

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Pyrotecnico’s 'Prism' at PyroFest 2016 was a Memorial Day weekend showcase for fireworks, flames and other special effects. Photo by Doug Van Sant.

Creative Sparks: Pyrotecnico Hosts PyroFest 2016

This past Memorial Day, more than 12,000 people at Cooper’s Lake campground in Western Pennsylvania attended PyroFest 2016, where they were treated to a celebration featuring two-days of fireworks and pyrotechnical special effects. Now in its fifth year, the event is hosted by New Castle, PA-based Pyrotecnico, a still-family-owned business that has been working with fireworks since 1889. New Castle is known as the “Fireworks Capital of America,” so there’s no better place to stage this spectacular annual showcase.

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Environment space for Nintendo players. Photo by Jeff Granbery.

E3 and Lightswitch: Long Time Runnin’

Once upon a time, by the sea in a western land called L.A., before the creation of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), there was a gathering called the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Great in size and broad in scope, much confusion reigned, for the leaders who ran it had no idea about what do about a village of “video games.” The video game players would gaze on the latest innovations in car alarms, refrigerators, stereos, and telephones imploring in despair, “Where are our games?”

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Chroma-Q Inspire in use at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO. Photo by Emmalee Schaumburg

Enhancing the Worship Experience with LED Fixtures

LED lighting has been around for at least a decade now. While interest in LED fixtures has always been high, the performance has often been lacking, causing potential adopters to hold back on making the transition, or ending up with a lighting rig with issues. In recent years, however, LED lighting has given house of worship lighting designers the brightness, control, and color options they had been seeking to bring their worship services to life.

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Northwoods Community Church in Peoria, IL upgraded its lighting, rigging and projection systems. Photo courtesy Northwoods.

At Northwoods Community Church, a Total Systems Upgrade

While the technical systems at Northwoods Community Church, located in Peoria, IL, were adequate for most services, there was no room for growth and little flexibility. To improve, the church upgraded or replaced almost all of their technical systems. Matt Hemmele, Northwoods’ Technical Director, walks us through their technical systems along with Graeme Brown, president of Peoria, IL-based Advanced Audio and Lighting Systems, who handled all of the lighting, video, and audio work for the project.

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PLSN Buyers Guide on Automated Consoles

Automated Consoles

It’s been more than 20 years since the first consoles designed to run automated lighting fixtures appeared on the market. Proprietary consoles for running certain companies’ light fixtures were available in the 1980s, but it took a while for someone to invent consoles that could spit out DMX and run any automated fixture as well as dimmers. Early on, there was the Whole Hog1, Scan Commander, Light Coordinator, Animator and the Status Cue to start the long learning curve. Here, we have more than a dozen top-of-the-line consoles listed. They are available to meet the needs of users with a wide range of features and price points. This month, as a bonus, we also reached out to more than a half-dozen LDs to get their perspective on the favorite features and functions of a sampling of different consoles.

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Washington DC was among the cities that organized vigils in support of the victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. Photo by Ted Eytan.

The New Normal

Bumping into an old tour mate and uttering a single word can recall a whole slew of events about a day, venue, person or even an entire tour. This shorthand form of communication develops out of the day-to-day way efficient and expeditious crews talk to one another as a tour progresses.

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