The fourth day of Live Design’s ’12 Plots Of Christmas’ places us into a standard vacation temper with a recent revival of A Christmas Carol at The Alley Theater in Houston, TX. Lighting designer Cat Tate Starmer tells us how work on this new manufacturing started in 2019 however was moth-balled till 2022. It’s again in an improved model this yr, working by means of December 30, 2023. Ho! Ho! Ho!
“We began engaged on The Alley’s new manufacturing of A Christmas Carol in the course of the top of the pandemic, which was a lifeline for me after my upcoming productions had both been placed on maintain or canceled solely. I’ve labored with Rob Melrose, the creative director at The Alley and the adapter and director of this manufacturing, and the opposite designers on the group many occasions and am all the time impressed by their daring decisions and collaborative fashion. The design course of ended up feeling a bit like an excellent guide membership the place we might supply any thought up for dialogue,” explains Starmer.
“In 2022, we put the manufacturing on its toes, regardless of staffing shortages and provide chain points delaying the arrival of some gear,” she provides. “While I used to be pleased with the strong basis we constructed, I used to be desirous to return to the manufacturing this yr to refine it. Happily, the evolution of concepts from the earlier yr mixed with a well-planned load-in and synergistic tech course of. The result’s a real celebration of the Dickens basic.”
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The Alley’s manufacturing greets audiences with a warehouse containing lovely dollhouses and slightly little bit of magic. “This is the gateway for a bunch of Victorian gamers to enact the story and punctuate it with narration extracted straight from the novella. I needed to create distinct worlds right here, in order that we might visually bookend the play and so we might foreshadow the Ghost’s magical moments. For these otherworldly scenes, the lighting wanted to remodel the looks of Michael Locher’s attractive set shortly and dramatically whereas remaining visually linked to the remainder of the manufacturing. It was vital that the unique textual content wasn’t misplaced amid flashing lights and different litter. I landed on an method that outlined the magical moments in an austere, low-tech way- with breakups, refined motion, and a restricted shade palette,” Starmer notes.
“We had been fortunate to have a funds that allowed plenty of freedom to reinforce The Alley’s strong stock. At the start of the method the lighting director, Jason Weber, launched me to Mac Ultra Performance fixtures. I used to be actually impressed and located them to be ultimate for theatre functions. They are tremendous brilliant, the depth simply overpowering any standard lighting system, and are quiet sufficient to be hung over an viewers. They even have a great deal of texture choices with 2 gobo wheels, exacting shutters, and wonderful shade mixing,” says the LD. Seven of those fixtures had been bought for the manufacturing.
“Despite the enjoyable results that magical moments name for, my favourite lighting cues in A Christmas Carol contain a diagonal again shaft of sunshine. On a thrust stage, I depend on diagonal angles to successfully lower by means of the area and set up a powerful focus. For this manufacturing, I discovered {that a} Mac Ultra Performance, when hung as a again diagonal, created an intense beam of sunshine that might turn out to be a bodily factor onstage to stability the composition, filling the stage with a way of opulence, and making a beatific halo across the actors. It was an efficient alternative and I loved discovering methods to control the standard of that gentle all through the manufacturing,” Starmer concludes.
A Christmas Carol
November 19, 2023 – December 30, 2023; Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas
Selected Lighting Gear:
2 ETC Source Four-10 575w
8 ETC Source Four-10 750w
39 ETC Source Four-19 575w
88 ETC Source Four-26 575w
43 ETC Source Four-36 575w
27 ETC Source Four-50 575w
1 ETC Source Four-14 575w
4 ETC Source Four-70 575w
3 ETC 3 ETC Source Four Lustr2-19
18 ETC ETC Source Four Lustr2-26
10 ETC Source Four Lustr2-36
1 ETC Source Four Lustr2-50
10 Birdies
6 Prolights Ecl CT-26
2 Prolights Ecl CT-36
7 ETC Source Four-PAR XWFL
2 ChromaQ Color One 100X 63
1 ChromaQ Color One 100X
2 Elation SixPAR 100
8 Elation SixPAR 200
5 TMB Solaris Flare Jr 70
3 Rosco Pica Cube 4C
7 Rosco Miro Cube 2 4CA
15 ChromaQ Colorforce II 48
2 Robert Juliat Ginger (6 Colors)
3 Martin MAC Encore Performance CLD
7 Martin MAC Ultra Performance
3 Look Solutions Unique 2.1
19 Snowbox
1 Ultratec G3000
1 ETC Eos Ti console
Creative Team:
Original Book by Charles Dickens
Adapted and Directed by Rob Melrose
Set Design: Michael Locher
Costume Design: Raquel Barreto
Lighting Design: Cat Tate Starmer
Original Composition and Sound by: Cliff Caruthers
Illusions: Jim Steinmeyer
Puppet Design: Afsaneh Aayani
Fight and Intimacy Director: Adam Noble
Music Direction: John L. Cornelius II
Choreography: Christopher Windom
Stage Management: Rebecca R.D. Hamlin, Ryan Barrett & Rachel Dooley-Harris
Photos: Lynn Lane and Francisco Hermosillo III
Lighting Director: Jason Weber
Assistant Lighting Director: Francisco Hermosillo III
Electrics Supervisors: Joe Engler, Archer Touchet
Lighting Technicians: Joseph Aguilar, Rosa Cano, Brianna Escobedo, Michael Glover, Daniel Loughran
Original Drafting: Harrison Freni, Sarah Woods
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