When the star of the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon is asked by a reporter what he thinks Nixon should do to end the Vietnam War, Lennon stares incredulously into the camera. “He should declare peace.” As if this was the most obvious solution in the world.
Archive for 2006
War is Over
Saturday, December 30th, 2006The food here is terrible. – I know, and such small portions!
Thursday, December 28th, 2006We just got back some of the bids for Last Word today and I must say I am pleased as punch. When I was talking with the producer and he gave me the budget I half jokingly said, “well we can send the bids out and when we get them back you can double the budget.” The budget numbers are fine, its just that the theatre, St. Clement’s, has nothing. Well, that’s not true, it has power. But that is it. You have to bring in dimmers, lightboard, cable and, of course, lights.
I have dealt with this kind of a situation before with site specific work. Both Seven Deadly Sins and Medea were in spaces with no lighting infrastructure. It’s fine. You just need to spend more money.
So we send the bids out and one of the shops I regularly work with comes back with a quote close to what I expect. Twice the budget we had to work with. Sounds about right. But another shop that is new to me comes in under budget AND with a few hundred dollars remaining of wiggle room should we need more or different equipment. I was honestly amazed, bordering on shocked. I had to check the shop order to make sure I had not put down the wrong numbers.
The show is quite simple as far as lighting goes. It’s a 90 minute one act that takes place in a realistic interior. The play is quite good and will be nice to work on. I will hopefully be able to relax a bit and actually watch the show a few times since it is looking like the lighting should be so straight forward. Famous last words, I know. But really, not everything need be difficult.
My other shows are all rather quiet. We don’t really get rolling on any other projects until after the new year, so things are a bit slow right now. I am really enjoying this as I have had time to go to museums and do some intake. This is good to do after so much output. Even though I had breaks in the last year things were always bubbling or felt like they were. Right now is a lovely bit of calm.
I have also found more time to meditate. I am hoping to keep this up once things kick back into high gear. Sure there are lots of meditative ‘aspects’ to lighting design. That is one of the things I so love about it. But nothing beats sitting with your breath and facing the void of your consciousness. I am doing a mediation intensive in a week and a half so things might get rather quiet around here leading up to that.
All in all this is a very nice way to end the year.
Becoming Adele Pictures
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006Here are some pictures of Becoming Adele. None of the big sky/scene transition shots really came out. At least not of the batch that I have seen. So, the first three here are the Act 3 sunset. The next two are from the Act 2 sunrise. And finally, the company shot complete with performer, writer, directors, producers, designers and crew. Enjoy!
Directed by Victor Maog
Scenery by Antje Ellermann
Costumes by Myrna Colley-Lee
Photographs courtesy Ben Strothmann
Preset at the Tech Table
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006I just got some pictures from the dress rehearsal of Becoming Adele. Here is the preset look. You can also see me blurry in the middle at the tech table talking to the stage manager. I’ll have more up later tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy!
Photograph courtesy Ben Strothmann
Year in Review – 2006
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006Ok, four vacations sure helps explain my economic situation. But also my generally high level of sanity and calm. Thrice to California and once to the Dominican Republic. But so much work in between. Oh my!
Totals
Plays: 13
Dance: 6
Musicals: 3
Opera: 2
Benefits: 1
Assisting: 2
Vacations: 4
Show List
1) Designer, Seven Deadly Sins, Oakland, CA
2) Associate Lighting Designer, Land of Dreams, Montclair, NJ
3) Designer, 1/4″=1′-0″, New York, NY
4) Lighting Assistant, Dido and Aneas, Chicago, IL
5) Designer, Montclair Dance, Montclair, NJ
* California
6) Designer, Sake with the Haiku Geisha, New York, NY
7) Designer, The Crucible, New York, NY
Designer, Cupid and Psyche, New York, NY
9) Designer, Cinderella, New York, NY
10) Designer, A. Demille Celebration, New York, NY
* California
11) Designer, Bad Girls Good Writers, New York, NY
12) Designer, Hitting the Wall, New York, NY
* Dominican Republic
13) Designer, La Femme est Morte, New York, NY
14) Designer, Unlucky Man in the Yellow Cap, New York, NY
15) Designer, Twenty Years of Agnes, New York, NY
16) Designer, The Children, New York, NY
* California
17) Designer, Beginning of the And, New York, NY
18) Designer, Windows, New York, NY
19) Designer, Antigone, New York, NY
20) Designer, A Night with Gotham, New York, NY
21) Designer, Queen Coziah, New York, NY
22) Designer, Nutcracker, New York, NY
23) Designer, Five Points, Willamstown, MA
24) Designer, Waiting for Godot, New York, NY
25) Designer, Becoming Adele, New York, NY
It’s frustrating that I have pictures from less than half of these. I really need to get a camera. Or treat my projects as exercises in impermanence.
Mathematics of Invisibility
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006The theorists who first created the mathematics that describe the behavior of the recently announced ‘invisibility cloak’ have revealed a new analysis that may extend the current cloak’s powers, enabling it to hide even actively radiating objects like a flashlight or cell phone.Allan Greenleaf, professor of mathematics at the University of Rochester, working with colleagues around the globe, has announced a mathematical theory that predicts some strange goings on inside the cloak—and that what happens inside is crucial to the cloak’s effectiveness.
[snip]
Their analysis also revealed another surprise: a person trying to look out of the cloak would effectively be faced with a mirror in every direction. If you can imagine Harry Potter’s own invisibility cloak working this way, and Harry turning on his flashlight to see, its light would shine right back at him, no matter where he pointed it.
Greenleaf’s team determined that a more complicated phenomenon arises when using Maxwell’s equations, leading to a “blow up” (an unexpected infinite behavior) of the electromagnetic fields. They determined that by inserting conductive linings, whose properties depend on the specific geometry of the cloak, this problem can be resolved. Alternatively, covering both the inside and outside surfaces of the cloaked region with carefully matched materials can also be used to bypass this problem.
“We should also keep in mind that, given the current technology, when we talk about invisibility, we’re talking only about being invisible at just a narrow range of wavelengths,” says Greenleaf. “For example, an object could be rendered invisible at just a specific wavelength of red; it would be visible in nearly every other color.”
Even the Hardest working die one day
Monday, December 25th, 2006James Brown, the singer, songwriter, bandleader and dancer, who indelibly transformed 20th-century music, died today at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, where he been admitted on Saturday for pneumonia, news services said. He was 73 years old and had lived in Beech Island, S.C., near the Georgia border.His agent, Frank Copsidas, told The Associated Press Mr. Brown died of congestive heart failure.
Over a career that lasted more than 50 years, Mr. Brown called himself ‘the hardest working man in show business,’ ‘Mr. Dynamite,’ ‘Soul Brother No. 1,’ ‘the Minister of Super Heavy Funk’ and ‘the Godfather of Soul,’ and he was all of those and more.
Mr. Brown’s music was sweaty and complex, disciplined and wild, lusty and socially conscious. Beyond his dozens of hits, Mr. Brown forged an entire musical idiom that is now a foundation of pop worldwide.
‘I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know,’ he wrote in an autobiography.
Happy birthday Sir Isaac Newton!
Monday, December 25th, 2006We should all be grateful for the birth of Sir Isaac Newton on this day the 25th of December in the year 1642.
Not only did he develop theories of gravity and motion, but he was able to prove that the colored spectrum caused when white light passes through a prism is inherent to light itself and not added on by the prism.
He invented Calculus, and thank god I never took that in school so I can remain in a state of virginal awe at the miracle of mathematics.
But math is just not as interesting as baseball.
Ricky Henderson, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, was also born today.
Career Records
* Record for most stolen bases in a career (1,406)
* Record for most times caught stealing in a career (335)
* Record for most runs scored in a career (2,295)
* Ended his career with the record for most walks in a career (2,190 — since broken by Barry Bonds)
* Record for most seasons by a non-pitcher (25)
* Record for most consecutive seasons with at least one home run (25)
* Record for most postseason stolen bases (33)
* Record for most games led off with a home run (81)Season Records
* Record for most stolen bases in a season (130, in 1982)
* Record for most times caught stealing in a season (42, in 1982)Season Highlights
* Led the American League 12 times in stolen bases (1980-86, 1988-91, 1998)
* Led the Major Leagues 6 times in stolen bases (1980, 1982-83, 1988-89, 1998)
* Led the Major Leagues 5 times in runs scored (1981, 1985-86, 1989-90)
* Led the American League 4 times in walks (1982-83, 1989, 1998)
* Led the Major Leagues once in times on base (301, in 1980)
* Led the Major Leagues once in on-base percentage (1990)
* Led the American League once in hits (1981 (strike-shortened season), with 135)Awards
* American League MVP (1990)
* American League Championship Series MVP (1989)
* Ten-time All-Star (1980, 1982-88, 1990-91)
* Gold Glove for the outfield (1981)
* Three-Time Silver Slugger for outfielder (1981, 1985, 1990)Misc
* Had 21 game-ending RBI, the third most since 1957
* Oldest player in the American League (2002, at 43)
Cloud formations
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006A friend of mine, who is running the light board for Becoming Adele this week, just called to tell me he likes the clouds. When he first saw the show he did not realize that the six light cues were actually long complicated multipart sequences of transforming and evolving color and cloud formations and of course the light on the actor herself. Most of the work I did may be too subtle to be noticed on a first viewing of the piece, but I think that is fine. Consciously noticed or not, I think the level of detail still enhances the experience. It just means I will most likely not get mentioned in the reviews.
So far the reviews are a mixed bag. Here is what I have seen:
NY Times
TheatreMania
Curtain Up
Talkin’ Broadway
Backstage
I think we still have yet to hear from Variety, NYTheatre.com, TimeOut NY, and Villiage Voice. But that is just a guess.
No pictures yet. I am still waiting to get them from the photographer.
Williams Dance Pictures
Thursday, December 21st, 2006Pictures from the Dance Concert I lit last month at Williams College.
Choreography by Sandra Burton and Holly Silva
Musical Direction by KweYao Agyapon
Costumes by Barbara A. Bell
Photographs courtesy Ben Rudick
