There is so much that one can take away from “Top Chef” and apply not only to lighting design but life in general. My favorite quote from the show is “At this point in the competition there is no reason you are not putting your best food on the table.” I was reminded of that quote last night talking to my programmer about an old show of mine. I was telling a story about a rather cheesy silly thing I had done once and commented that I have no shame about it. He said “There is no time for shame.”
Working in an artform with such strict deadlines like the theatre one has little to no time to second guess one’s decisions. Sure, changes can and should be made if the course of action is seen to be wrong, but more often than not one’s gut decision is the right one. Questioning decisions can be very problematic. More often, the best way of thinking is to look at a problematic situation and try and work out how to make it the best it can be. Largely this is a simple mind game, taking the pressure off “why is this wrong” and placing it towards “how can this scene/cue/transition be the best it possibly can.” Then again there are times when you just scrap everything and start over.
One of the things that has been a true delight working on Lovers and Executioners is my highly skilled lightboard programmer. He combines a depth of knowledge about the lighting console along with an alacrity in programming that makes my job incredibly easy. I do not have to think about every little programming detail, but rather can just say what I want to happen and he makes it so.
Its like the difference between a chef and a cook. Anyone can be taught to program a lightboard. It is a specialized computer and the job of the board operator is often like taking dictation. To bring light three to full intensity I say “3 at full.” There is a button for each of those [3] [at] [full]. Very simple.
But when working with moving lights it can get complicated as when the fixture can reposition while the intensity is off such that the next time it comes on it is where it wants to be rather than tracking across the stage at full intensity. The storm sequence that opens the play has a lot of lightning and wave effects, and rather than thinking meticulously about the programming and keystrokes I can simply say what I want and he makes it happen. The true benefit of all this is that I no longer have to think through all of that stuff but can free my attention to just lighting the play.
This is a wonderful freedom and one I rarely get to enjoy. Typically my knowledge of a lightboard is well beyond that of the programmer I am working with. As such I have to think through my every step in detail. Each time I have to think through HOW I am programming a cue I have less brainpower devoted to WHAT I am lighting.
Working with a programmer like the one I have here, I am able to produce a higher quality product faster than I ordinarily would. This is good for the director because she or he can see what I am going for earlier and we can get into deeper discussions about how the lighting for the play should work earlier in the tech process. This is good for me for largely the same reason, I can take that initial gut feeling and go with it full force to completion. Then I have the time to look at it, see if it works and reevaluate as needed.
We have a curious difficulty with Lovers and Executioners. All the actors are wearing large brimmed hats. This is difficult because it means to clearly light their faces, the lighting must come from head height or below in order to get underneath the hats themselves. This alone is not difficult. I have several systems of light all specifically to do this in addition to the higher angled lighting that works more environmentally. The problem resides in the fact that using these lights to light the actors faces does not feel totally right to me within the style of the piece.
But now that I have taken my initial idea as far as it can go(through balancing these different ideas of light) I must now rework it. I must change the aesthetic criteria under which I was evaluating the lighting and move on to a new and different way of thinking. More specifically a different way of seeing.
And that is the tech process. Try something, see what works and change what does not work. Every show does this, some more than others.
The very fortunate thing about this process is that I have a highly capable(and fast) programmer, so making these changes should come rather quickly.
First paid audience is tonight. I am looking forward to seeing how they react.
