Forever Plaid

Totem Pole Playhouse

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Creating a color pallette that conjured the 1950’s without being too heavy handed was a lot of fun...special thanks to my design assistant and ME Connor Dreibelbis.  Even more fun, however, was creating custom plaid gobos to project over the entire set at the finale (a little scrim and glitter helped us take the audience by surprise with this effect).  

 

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Grease!

Totem Pole Playhouse

 

Jim Fouchard’s design for TPP’s production of Grease was reminiscent of a giant juke box.  A large false proscenium as well as two internal portals were equipped with discreet linear lighting units.  In keeping with Jim’s concept, one of the central elements of BOOM!’s lighting plot was a grid of LED par cans over the entire stage.  During musical numbers, both the linear lighting as well as the LED color grid were set into a series of chases and other effects that made the giant juke box come to life.  Ambient lighting for dialogue utilized subtle rose and cyan hues inspired by the late 1950’s.  

Shenandoah 

Totem Pole Playhouse

 

Totem Pole Playhouse’s recent production of Shenandoah, starring Ben Davis, was staged to evoke a lush and dramatic atmosphere.  Director Rowan Joseph described his concept as “a dramatic production with music added” rather than a musical per se.  With this in mind, BOOM!’s lighting plot was included deep hues that represented different times of day and seasons with a potency that was intentionally one step beyond realistic.  The set design’s primary feature—a large upstage backdrop—was used as a canvas on which we painted various sky-scapes using a series of gobos and color washes.

The Medium

Messiah College Opera 

 

This award-winning production of Menotti’s signature opera featured heavy and grotesque break-ups strewn across webs of black scrim.  The selection of lavender and green color filters was guided by the desire to add a sense of fantasy to the production without jeopardizing its quintessential angst.

 

Directed by Damian Savarino

 

Best Collegiate Production (Div.1), National Opera Association

JB

Messiah College Dept. of Theatre and Dance

 

In keeping with the tired and neglected circus theme of this production, the prominent lighting design elements included randomly strung carnival lights and a series of cartoon-ish gobos projected onto a patchwork canvas.

 

Directed by Valerie Flower

 

Extraordinary Achievement (lighting), Kennedy Center ACTF

bobrauschenbergamerica

Loyala Marymount University 

 

This script was inspired by the work of American artist

Bob Rauschenberg.  Light was employed to resemble Bob Rauschenberg’s penchant for floating fields of translucent color in his prints and “combines.”  

 

Set Design by Daniel Pinha

 

Directed by Jim Knipple