Personal Essay (Orpheum HSMTA)

Letter from Technical Director

Lighting Design Proposal/Plan (Jan. 2017)

LEDs

Two MegaLite Baby Color LED lights


In the Prologue, as time passes, the lights change as it was “another day”. Each time it’s ‘another day’, the Baby Colors changed colors; amber for fall, pink for Valentine’s Day, etc. The Baby Colors were also used for the red flashing during the Prologue’s nuclear attack drill, and throughout the rest of the show to differentiate moods, settings, and time.

Mood Lighting

During the nuclear attack drill in the prologue, Jonny and Toffee meet and fall in love. I had the red flashing lights fade down with the sirens fading down, and added some dim pink LED lighting, along with keeping all of the front lights dim, and the followspots bright on them, in order to focus in on the moment.

I used the same technique in the Gym scene, where Delilah and Eddie meet again, to show the parallel between their relationship and Jonny and Toffee’s. This was also used for comic effect, as when Josh interrupted them, the lights suddenly came back up full, effectively breaking the moment.

During “Case Closed”, the lights started moving in a sequence towards the end in order to reflect the chaos between the trio. At the end of the song (which

When Toffee entered the prom, the lights on everyone else went dim, and she had a pink followspot hit her, to separate her from the rest of the kids. Then, when Jonny came out, a followspot went on him, green, and the two were effectively in ‘their own little world.’

Concepts

When Jonny commits suicide, he runs through the back door of the set, and jump off the backstage platform. I hung a small can light gelled R89 Moss Green so the audience could see Jonny jump, and when he did, (with the explosion sound effect) I had all of the front lights come up at 100% very quickly and then the atom gobo came up. This was to simulate the nuclear explosion.

Before “Blast from the Past”, when Jonny comes back as a nuclear zombie, Toffee keeps hearing his voice saying, “Toffee, Toffee.” Each time this happened, The scoops and the LEDs lit the stage up green, and the green light behind the door also came on.

Due to makeup supply and sweating issues, Jonny had trouble staying green enough. Because of this, I had the spot ops keep their followspots gelled green when they were on Jonny. “Come Join Us” takes place in a TV studio. To simulate the cameras coming on and off areas, I had the lights come up full in those areas when the cameras switched to them, then go back to half when the cameras were off those areas.