End of Spring Training

What a week.  I’d say it went pretty well.  No fights, no complaints and a pretty decent show.  Phenomenon turned out to be a great choice of a show.  A solid script that had plenty to relate to and some pretty comedic moments.  It called for a simple but interesting set of a cabin in a bog.  The director, actors and other designers all brought something positive to a show that could have been a train-wreck.  It turned out to be a great experience, which is really all I could ask for.

The design process for this show was something that I will probably never come across again.  Living with the director and other designers for 8 months before the show opened leads for plenty of discussions and plenty of distractions.  Also I was forced to design a plot that could easily be hung and focused in under 5 hours.  But after the first tech, I had countless hours to make necessary changes.  It felt more like a college show as opposed to my summer work.

I called this show my spring training because I haven’t designed since last summer, and I knew it would be a simple show compared to the 7 shows I have coming up this summer.  It slowly became more important to me as we got into tech and got feedback from the Director and the Associate Artistic Director.  I realized the set was possibly the best I have ever lit, and I took full advantage of it by adding some lights after the first day of tech.  What started as a show that had some good cues and some moments that weren’t really working, quickly turned into a show I was extremely proud of and got plenty of positive feedback about.

I learned much more from this show than I thought I would.  By having the time to make each moment in the show really work I was able to achieve a new understanding about the choices I made, and what changes can be made a long the way to continue to improve the show.  I really think everything I took from this production and this season should make this summer so much “brighter”.

Time to play ball…