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Stage Directions

The Bouba / Kiki Effect

Craig Rutherford looks at how the bouba / kiki effect, the idea of how people “map” between sounds and the visual shapes of objects, has relevance in the lighting discipline. He suggests it should be considered by programmers and designers to avoid a visual mismatch to the content being presented, especially for corporate shows.

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‘Summer Stock’ at the Goodspeed Opera House

Forget your troubles—come on, get happy! Take a trip to Connecticut where Goodspeed Musicals takes an opera house, turns it into a barn that turns into a theater for the world premiere of Summer Stock. Designers Jeff Croiter and Wilson Chin tells us how they fit it all, and a full company of tap dancers, on a small stage.

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‘Here Lies Love’ reimagines the Broadway Theatre

In “Here Lies Love” on Broadway, the creative team has reshaped the Broadway Theatre into a discotheque experience presenting David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s pop musical take on Imelda Marcos. With massive video projections surrounding the runway stage, audiences are immersed in the show, dancing below the disco ball.

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Designing ‘New York, New York’

‘New York, New York’ is a big, spectacular Broadway musical with stunning designs that saw Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt win a Tony Award and Lighting Designer Ken Billington get a Tony nomination. They tell us about how their designs evoke 1940’s New York and interpret it for a musical theater stylized staging.

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Bob Fosse’s ‘Dancin’’

Adrienne Gurman writes about the lighting design for Broadway’s Bob Fosse’s ‘Dancin,” which opened at the Music Box Theatre with a lighting design by David Grill and lighting services provided by PRG.

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Theater Books to Consider

A look at some noteworthy books, including ‘The Production Manager’s Toolkit Second Edition,’ by Cary Gillett and Jay Sheehan; ‘The Projection Designer’s Toolkit,’ by Jeromy Hopgood; ‘Bloody Brilliant: How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance,’ by Jennifer McClure; ‘Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career,’ edited by Rafael Jaen and Christopher Sadler; ‘The Assistant Lighting Designer’s Toolkit,’ by Anne E. McMills; and ‘The Scenic Charge Artist’s Toolkit: Tips, Templates, and Techniques for Planning and Running a Successful Paint Shop in the Theatre and Performing Arts,’ by Jennifer Rose Ivey.

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