Austin

Production of Romeo and Juliet. Directed by: Mindy Clarke. Set by: Sean Powers. Lighting Design by: Austin Powers. Photography by: Jeff Locke. Boca Raton Community High School, Thespian Troupe #2564. Winner, Best Lighting Design, 2011 South Florida Cappie Awards

Several different atmospheres needed to be created around the same immobile set. For the hot, dusty streets of Verona, I blasted R02 and R09 through 2K Fresnels almost directly overhead, filling shadows with R302 and R60 area washes from the catwalk. Some more R09 provided a bit of sidelight in these sequences, which added dimensionality for the swordfights. Romeo and Tybalt’s swordfight ended in a dramatic full-red cyc wash of pure R124, which was one of the less realistic moments but fit with the intensity of the action. I wanted the nighttime Capulet party to feel cool and magical, and used a cyc wash of R328 to establish this. A defocused cobblestone breakup gelled with R78 provided soft downlit pools of light for the partygoers, and amber LED candles served as onstage practicals, complementing the deep blue/purple of the Congo Blue cyc wash. When the fated couple first meet, and again during the balcony scene, I used a more intense R78 downlight to create a magical moonlight effect and isolate them from the rest of the action. Many scenes relied on mixes of the available colors in our three-cell cyc lights to create new looks: R61, R124 and R328 above, and R09, R124, and R328 below. Finally, in the dim and sorrowful tomb, R78-gelled R77798 gobos (the pattern is called “Cracked”, appropriate for the shattered dreams of the couple) cast texture on the walls, while some of the daylight amber fixtures were repurposed to provide the low-level light supposedly cast by LED prop torches. A single R60 special illuminated Juliet’s body at center stage, providing the dramatic focus for the scene. R4215, R55, and R33 were also used a few times. Needless to say, it was a very Rosco-heavy show. Congo Blue is unquestionably my favorite gel, and it did its job well. So well that I won a regional award for my design work. Thanks, Rosco!