Lighting the Way
Posted by James F. Ingalls on 7/28/2010
(James is the Lighting Designer for A Parallelogram. He shared with us his schedule and what he does at each stage of the production process when working on a Steppenwolf show)
Pre-production (February through late June): Lighting design is the alchemic member of the design department. Unlike scene, costume and sound designs, you can’t draw or make models of it, construct mock-ups, or hear it ahead of the actual time in the theatre. So in the pre-production phase, it’s important to assemble as much information about the play and how we are going to do it as we can.
By March, I had read the play, and met with Anna Shapiro, Todd, Mara and Rob (and in this case, the playwright Bruce Norris as well) to discuss the approach, the world of the play. I have studied photos of the model and then see the model in person. Todd sends in-scale drawings of the set. It’s almost like building a house on a stage: ground plan, section, elevations… I am closer to knowing what to assemble to create that world. Having done two of Bruce Norris’ other plays helps as well: the world is similar. We joke about the theme of Norris’ sliding glass door.
April-May: My assistant, Seth Reiser, and I draw an in-scale light plot - a map - which shows the tools (the actual lights in relation to the set, gel to color them, and circuits to control them) we think we’ll need to accomplish the job.
June 24: I fly in from New York to see the last rehearsal run-through in Yondorf before moving to the theatre. I see the play on its feet, the staging. The actors are in the mocked up version of the set. It’s the next level of specificity: where they will actually be. Jay really DOES spend a lot of act one in the up left corner! Bee really IS on the bed up right the entire first act! Bee 2 never leaves down left! But I am encouraged that I have assembled the right tools for the production.
June 25: The focus: the lights have been hung and the set installed (what we call “loaded in”) the week or so before. I am onstage in the set, standing in the correct place for each light while the electricians in the catwalks and on ladders point each light, lock it down (wrenches are important) and use the shutters to cut unwanted light off walls. With a light walled set, I don’t want any extra light spilling in unhelpful places. I am pleased that what I assembled seems to make sense onstage. The lights are in the right places and in the right colors to do the jobs I imagined. It feels promising. As is typical with JR, Ernie and the crews they assemble, this all goes well and we are done in a surprisingly short five hours. We are now ready for the actors the day after. We’ll start at the top and lay in the look of the scenes – the cues - as the actors get used to the space and work through the play slowly.