Editor's note: Japhy Weideman was nominated for Best Lighting Design of a Play for 2014 Tony Awards for his work in Of Mice and Men.
New York-based lighting designer Japhy Weideman works on and off Broadway, regionally in the United States, and internationally for both theatre and opera. His work is currently represented on Broadway with John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men. Last season he received a Tony nomination for his lighting design of The Nance, and his additional Broadway credits include Macbeth at Lincoln Center Theatre. He is making his debut as a speaker at the Broadway Lighting Master Classes on the panel of Next Generation designers, including Jeff Croiter and Mark Barton.
“A significant technical challenge for the design for Of Mice And Men is due to the story’s requirement of for different sets with varying times of day: scene 1: The Riverbank (sunset into night); scene 2: The Bunkhouse (morning); scene 3: The Bunkhouse (night); scene 4: Crook’s Shed (night); scene 5: The Barn (afternoon); scene 6: The Riverbank (evening),” explains Weideman. “Todd Rosenthal’s vividly imagined scenic design occupies the majority of space in the theatre overhead as well as on the sides, leaving little room for lighting gear.”
Because of limited space with multiple set positions, the rig comprises three ETC Revolutions FOH, eight Philips Vari-Lite VL1000 Tungsten fixtures overhead, four Clay Paky Alpha Wash Halo 1.2kW on side booms, and three VL 2416s on side booms. There are also approximately 175 conventional units consisting of an assortment of ETC Source Four ellipsoidals and Par 64s, two MDG Hazers, and an assortment of cyc lights including three Color 1K Runts and ETC multi-PAR striplights for the PVC Cloud Drop. The lighting crew included associate LD Gary Slootskiy, assistant LD Jax Messenger, EOS programmer Colin Scott, and Jimmy Malony, production electrician.
“The design for Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Lincoln Center Theatre’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre could not be more stylistically different from Of Mice And Men,” indicates Weideman. “Scott Pask’s expressionist all black set consisted of two massive walls that formed the scenes by pivoting to various configurations around a fixed disk at center stage. We designed a series of thin slit openings in the walls in order to create penetrating shafts of light that could cut through the scenes in a multitude of angles and temperatures”.
Because Weideman wanted to use bold single sources for the overall look of the design, the light plot consisted of 11 VL3500 Washes and three Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures. Other automated fixtures included 14 VL1000 ARCs, five VL1000 Tungsten units, and 12 Martin MAC 2K Performance II. The conventionals comprised approximately 150 Par 64s of various sizes, 250 ETC Source Four ellipsoidals of various sizes, three MDG Hazers, two Look Solutions Viper Hazers, three Unique Hazers, seven Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, four Data Flash Strobes, and a multitude of cyc lights including ETC Multi-PAR striplights for the white RP. The lighting crew included associate LD Gary Slootskiy, assistant LD Tyler Lambert-Perkins, EOS programmer Colin Scott, and production electrician Patrick Merryman.
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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