FInding a theatre

A few weeks back I started a contract for Spring Awakening the musical. I have really loved this show for a long time. The story is something that still rings true even though it was written in the 1890's. The show deals with a few issues, that of sex, abuse, and suicide. Though the musical itself somewhat follows the storyline of the original pal, Duncan Sheik wrote the score with Steven Sater writing the book. In 2008 Spring Awakening won the Tony Award for Best musical, best orchestrations, and best original score, and a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album. 

The company this show is with doesn't have a permanent home or theatre, so rehearsals are held wherever they can get a place to do them, and performances are always at different theatre's and spaces.  I think its a great concept but in our area its a hard one to do.  Lets look at the list of theatre spaces available in the area. 

Barter Theatre- Abingdon, VA- 2 spaces both in constant rep with the equity shows. I won't go into the details for this space cause no one can rent it.

Theatre Bristol-Bristol, TN- a 99 seat proscenium space that runs maybe 5 shows a year, but doesn't currently have any full time staff and is run part time by the board. Leprechaun 1500 or 1600 board with 24 dimmers one of which is constantly on. 

Paramount Center- Bristol, TN- a 756 seat fully equipped proscenium space that acts as a local touring house, also brining in its own season ticketed shows. ETC Express with 96+ dimmers, no movers or LEDS, but has 4 scrollers in house.

Cameo Theatre- Bristol, VA- a shabby movie theatre/ vaudeville house that was run by a christian radio station. It currently is in need of MAJOR repairs as the basement floods because its part of a creek bed. The building is currently for sale. no lighting or sound installed in building 

Kingsprt Theatre Guild at the Renaissance Center- Kingsport, TN- this is a 200 to 300 seat theatre with out of date 2 pin patch panel with analogue light board and out of code rigging that attempts to put on shows. I attempted to design one show with them 3 years ago, the budget $0, my pay $0, the show Little Shop of Horrors. Needless to say I never went back after the initial meeting. 

Toy F. Reid Employee Center- Owned by Eastman Chemical Co- Kingsport, TN- i have never been in this space, heard it is massive and awesome. unknown lighting and sound 

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   Wellmont Theatre at Northeast State Community College- I took a tour of this building just before it opened, other then not having movers or LEDS it was pretty decent. For a theatre built in the last 5 years I would expect something other than an ETC Express at the lighting helm.

   
   

   Milligan College Theatre- Milligan College is a Christian College with a 4 year old amazing theatre, scene shop located off the stage deck, plenty of fly space, and awesome lighting. No movers. It also has a ETC Express for a light board, but because the theatre is used for worship services, lectures, shows, and more it is attached to a server that can hold multiple shows at the same time. Kinda cool, but why use the Express?

   
   

   Johnson City Community Theatre- a 100 year old community theatre that has been continuously producing shows for 60 years in the same space. This is a converted church located in a interesting part of town. The board of directors has been making improvements over the last 2 years. First, there is a newer sound system in place, new sound board, new computer and new wiring. The 170 seat thrust stage is unique that its a wood deck in need of repairs and a good homisote (forgive my spelling on this one) and masonite revamp. There is a TV monitor system to watch the shows downstairs in the dressing room, scene shop, storage, ext areas. They are fundraising for a new lighting system, a ETC Element with LED fixtures to supplement their current 3 dimmer packs on 3 pin multiplex , if all dimmers were working they would have 24, then have 18 with a Leprechaun 624 15' ceiling heights 

   
   

   Blue Moon Dinner Theatre- Johnson City, TN- its amazing what 2 to 3 blocks can do because Blue Moon is located in the heart of Downtown JC. This used to be a dinner theatre, then a gay bar, then another theatre, and now is Blue moon. They constantly have a show running. No idea the lighting or sound system. no fly space though. 

   
   

   Bud Frank Theatre at ETSU- this 250 seat proscenium space is nice. no fly space, 2 48 ETC tour racks, backstage, a Express 48/96, new sound system, LEDs in inventory. 

   
   

   VA Memorial Theatre- Mountain Home, TN- this 112 year old theatre needs help, ETSU was renting it from the VA until 2 years ago when a store came thru and destroyed the dressing rooms and the room, flooding part of the building. ETSU had provided the lighting and sound for the building and when they stopped the lease they stripped the building down to nothing and took it to the Bud Frank (thus why there are 2 tour racks there). This theatre has a hemp rigging system that maybe 1/2 of them work. 

   
   

   Niscwonger Performing Arts Center- I have never been in this space, its large and constantly in use, larger tours come in and out all the time.

   
   

   
   

   So those are the theatre's of the area. What would you decide on? I was pulling for The Bud Frank, because their schedule seemed to work best for the week we needed for tech and load in/out. We ended up getting Johnson City Community.  I may not be ecstatic about it, but it works. I wish that their new lighting system would be installed as I find their current light board a pain to work with, there are also major dark spots on the stage because of the lack of fixtures and dimmers. But Mark your calendars, March 21, 22, and 23 there will be a show.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

My Design Process

As a scenic and lighting, and sound designer, design is what I do.  I have had conversations with professors and other designers many times over the process, there have even been times where I have had professors tell me flat out that my process is wrong. I will always disagree with the thought process that someones design process is wrong. Every designer works differently.  Be is a play, a musical, a dance piece, or a collection of short pieces; every show is different and requires a different thought process. The two main processes are:

Design without research-
I use this style more with lighting then scenic, however there have been a few shows where scenically the script spoke to me in a way that I didn't need to do research. If a script is written well and has enough of a description, it will tell you what to design. Scenically, I can give two examples of this:

Flags- a modern take on a Greek tragedy to protest the Iraq war, complete with a Greek chorus as news reporters. While reading this script, that takes place almost totally in a families living room, I kept seeing Greek Architecture. So I designed it with columns and a capitol.

Cats- This was just a crazy show to work on from the start. Generally, the show is places in a garbage pile of some sorts, however, my director wanted it placed in a carnival or fair grounds. There was no research with this design up front, later I did more research for small details like painting and such.

Design with research- 
Most of my scenic design is done this way, be it with types of stone, or house styles, or locations. Most recently I used this with a lighting design, but I will talk about a standard scenic design as well.

Voice of the Prairie- This show takes place in the early days of radio in the Kansas area. My research was mainly on when electricity came to the prairie. There is a 15 to 20 year difference between act 1 and act 2, with parts of both acts being done in flashbacks. The reason I researched when electricity came to the area was because it would decide what color the lighting would be as well as what types of practicals would be used. It was gas light by the way, so my practicals had to be warmed up to look like a flame.

Other Desert Cities- This show takes place outside the Palms Springs Dessert in a house that was built in the 1960's. My research focused on the types of houses, what the outside looks like, what the inside looks like.


There have been many shows that require a mixture of these processes. Hairspray was a show that required very little up front research for the original concept, but the actual design needed LOTS of research. Another show was A Piece of my Heart, it needed lots of research before I even started conceiving it because I needed to see more of what Vietnam looked like.

Design evolves and changes constantly, something that works for one show will not work for another.

Sochi Opening Ceremony

Russia is cold, that's what I got out of the trailer sequence that opened the ceremony. No matter what they offer, they are all cold.

First, I want to talk about the choice of Sochi as well as what Russia has offered to the Winter Games. Russia may be a global player but they routinely act like a teenager that wants to sit at the adult table.   The Russian government has attempted to give this as a gift to the world. Its trying to tell the world that its a new Russia, not the same Cold War Russia that the world knows. As Meredith Viera said in the start of the opening broadcast, they have been dubbed Putin's Games, because he went after the games personally to bring them to Russia. The Olympics not only bring jobs to the country that host, but it also gives them a huge tourism boost, both during the ceremony and for years later. Some of the things people have thought were reasons for the games to not be held in Russia has to do with terror threats and human rights.

Secondly, I take issue with NBC holding exclusive rights to the broadcast of the Olympiad. They have for numerous years, but it has been the past few years that NBC has cause some turbulence with holding the rights.  In England the BBC holds the rights, in Canada the CBC holds the rights, and globally the International Olympic Committee holds its own rights. Elsewhere, all over the globe any person can watch the Olympics anytime, online or on TV.  Some of the international theatre people that I follow set my feed on fire today because at 11am today the Opening Ceremony was aired LIVE on TV. Because NBC hold exclusive rights to the broadcast, and want to get the highest ratings and most bang for the buck in advertising revenue they have held the broadcast to be aired in prime-time only (it does re-air at 1am). During the London Games, NBC took a segment dedicated to the London Bombings, and instead of airing this dance segment, they aired an interview with Michael Phelps. I want NBC to stop messing with the airing of the games. If I want to watch an event online, with the NBC Olympic website or app, I am required to have cable access, and access to my cable providers account number.  Alright, that's fine, but lets say I live in the dorms on campus, I don't have access to that live access. However, throughout the ceremony I just wanted to tell Matt and Meredith that this was not the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and they needed to stop talking.

Back in September I was talking with a theatre friend who had come in to see one of my shows, he was working on some of the pieces for this opening. All he would tell me that he was working on were "Giant Inflatables". I think I am now starting to see what he was talking about with the first set pieces.

If you would live to know more about some of my thoughts on the opening ceremonies, go follow me on twitter. I am making and tweeting my snap judgments now.