In a production of Romeo and Juliet at The Richard Rodgers Theater, “director David Leveaux, wanted to organically develop the staging of the scenes and their surroundings in the theater,” says lighting designer David Weiner, who will appear at the 2014 Broadway Lighting Master Classes on a “Next Generation” panel.
“To that end decisions about where the scenery of the modular set would play were not made until we were in the theater,” Weiner continues. “Great lighting is specific lighting and there was no way to develop that specificity prior to being in the space with the cast. In order to be fast and flexible in our ability to develop specificity we deployed a nearly fully automated lighting rig, which is somewhat unusual for a play.
In preproduction meetings it was discussed that the look of the show should be spare and severe. To that end we chose automated fixtures that could replicate the feeling of an HMI's cool, crisp light.” Haze was used to augment the architecture of the beams.
The automated rig consisted of Philips Vari-Lite VLXs, 3500Q, 1000AS, and 1000TS, and well as ETC Revolutions, while the conventional gear was all ETC Source Source Fours.
In a career of over 20 years, Weiner’s Broadway credits include: this season's production of Romeo and Juliet, Dead Accounts, Grace, Godspell, The Normal Heart, Reasons to be Pretty, Butley, Dinner at Eight (Lincoln Center), Betrayal (The Roundabout), and The Real Thing. He has also worked extensively off-Broadway and across the United States at regional theatres His awards include: Lucille Lortel Awards (Through a Glass Darkly, Rodney’s Wife); LA Ovation Award (Venice); Drama Desk nomination (Small Fire); American Theater Wing Hewes Design Award nominations (Reasons to be Pretty, This Beautiful City, Pumpgirl, The Overwhelming,The Seven.)
In addition to his theater career David also design's exhibit lighting for museums and permanent installations. He recently completed the forty thousand square foot Nature Research Center at The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on the capital square in Raleigh, North Carolina.
REGISTER for the Broadway Lighting Master Classes before April 10 to take advantage of early bird prices or register for all three Broadway Master Classes and make it a winning trifecta:
BLMC: May 30-June 1 (includes a ticket to Rocky)
BPMC: June 2-3 (includes a ticket to Here Lies Love)
BSMC: June 4-5 (includes a ticket to Bullets Over Broadway)
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