On day nine of Live Design's 12 Plots of Christmas feature, Stuart Duke shares this year's plot for an event which he has lit for an astonishing 35 years.
Stuart Duke, lighting designer, educator, and associate at MWHarris Lighting Studio, has worked all over the country designing for off Broadway, regional theatre, opera, dance, and corporate events but has made a point of working on the Yuletide Celebration Concert for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra every year. This year, the celebration is hosted by Broadway star Ben Crawford, and features tap dancing Santas, a circus Cyr wheel, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra--quite a range of design requirements.
Stuart Duke: Yuletide is the biggest physical production mounted by the Indianapolis Symphony and is considered the grandaddy of symphonic holiday shows . The ISO also produces a number of pops concerts throughout the year as well as an outdoor summer season. Steve Martin, the house electrician - and Production Electrician for Yuletide - handles the lighting for most of these other events. We’ve worked closely with Steve over the years to build his in-house inventory in ways that benefit him and also the Yuletide show. The Storm fixtures are a good example of units that are workhorses in the Yuletide plot but are also perfect for the outdoor summer concert series. Our rental order is, to some extent, constrained by gear available at local rental shops. Fortunately there are a couple of excellent shops in the Indianapolis area.
LD: Can you talk us through your choice of fixtures on this production?
SD: Looking back on the 35+ years I’ve been lighting this event is like strolling through the lighting
history museum. We started with a very spare conventional rig, added our first moving mirror fixture a couple of years later. The rig has continued to grow incrementally year by year, with the biggest overhaul coming in 2002 when the Yuletide set (third iteration) was re-designed by Gregory Hill. Around that time we made the leap to Vari*Lites with several VL2500’s. At that time, Matthew Hudson programmed the moving lights on a Virtuoso. The conventionals were on an Expression for a long time until we consolidated the programming chores onto one console. Topher Stumreiter started programming everything on a Gio five years ago and we’ve continued to expand the rig, adding workhorse moving lights like the Ayrton Ghiblis and Chauvets.
The progression to a rig that is largely intelligent fixtures and predominantly LED sources has really changed how I light the show. Ty Johnson, the Executive Producer came to me last year and said, “It’s amazing, we’ve reached the point where everything on stage always looks fabulous.” It’s no easy feat on a show with this many elements. The challenge has always been to create a multitude of looks within a mostly static scenic environment. Advances in the gear allow so many more opportunities to create sparkle and layer rich color. There is also a great deal more specificity in the lighting. We’re able to pull off lots of intimate moments with performers in tight back lights against a floor painted with deep blue and maybe a field of artful patterns. It affords our eye a welcome complement to the parts of the show where the stage is filled with performers (and lights).
A huge part of the rig is lighting that is scenery specific. I think there must be 20 channels of stuff for the show portal alone. The “workhorse” systems are built on very conventional ideas, some of which have evolved from conventional to intelligent fixtures. Front/area light is accomplished with 10degree Source 4’s from a far box boom position. In addition, there are LED color washes from the same location and the cove, used mostly to tone costumes.
Overhead are two zones of backlight provided by the MK2 Washes, complemented by a system of Maverick Spots to do floor textures and backlight/toplight specials. There are conventional pink and blue sidelight washes, augmented with some low Mac Aura sidelights and a system of Ghiblis. I keep thinking I could probably do away with the conventional sidelight washes, and yet each year I find a reason to turn them on. No color hi sides have appeared in virtually every plot I’ve ever designed after assisting the late, great Craig Miller decades ago. They’re always there to help with sparkle, composition and helping to clean up any color pile-up. The orchestra are all seated on multiple levels behind the main playing area.
Lighting the musicians turns out to be one of the most challenging tasks. This year we moved the Chauvet Storms from a dead-on backlight angle off to the sides as diagonal backlight. Orchestra front light is provided by a system of ADJ Encores and some Colorsource Spots for the balcony where we need more shutter control. A few years ago, the orchestra switched to tunable white stand lights which has really improved our ability to layer color onto the orchestra (they wear white jackets). There’s a smattering of Chauvet Rogue R1 FX-B multi head units (we call them Chihuahuas for reasons I can’t recall) overhead and in the house to jump in when we need just a little more “flash and trash.”
A benefit of doing the show year after year is the ability to keep tweaking and improving the rig. Some years we introduce some significant new ideas and other years we focus on subtle adjustments. From day one on site we keep a list of “next year” thoughts. In September, I review this list with the team and we update the paperwork accordingly. Also at this time we participate in a meeting with the entire creative staff to review this year’s show and any specific lighting requirements.
Click To Expand Moving Light Magic Sheet
LD: Where did you take inspiration from on this production versus previous years?
SD: My inspiration for this show has always come from the music. Jack Everly is one of this country’s preeminent pops conductors and he brings elements of popular holiday standards, favorite movie music and broadway show tunes, woven in amongst traditional arrangements. It’s ingenious and the ISO really shines, despite sitting upstage of some very talented singers, dancers, acrobats, puppeteers, etc.
LD: How do you keep set pieces looking fresh?
SD: One segment of the show has been on stage every year since the show started - a staged version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” with puppets of santa and his reindeer. Another perennial favorite is the “Santa Tap” featuring a stage full of tap dancing santas. I “dust off” these pieces every year but most of the work we do is tweaking focus palettes. We rarely have time in the condensed production schedule to do major work on the legacy segments and I’m okay with that. They have a certain nostalgic look to them that I think goes along with their enduring popularity with the audiences.
Click To Expand Conventionals Magic Sheet
LD: How do you stay up to date on advances in lighting?
SD: I’ve never been able to attend LDI because it conflicts with Yuletide. I’ve consulted on a few lighting installations in the last couple of years and these afford me the chance to try out new lighting gear. I definitely try to work with any new or unfamiliar inventory in different venues. Mostly, though, I’m always feeling rather like “old dog, new tricks!”
LD: What was the biggest challenge for the 2023 production of Yuletide?
SD: The biggest challenge this year was COVID. I became sick on the first day of tech (along with the producer, director, two stage managers and the electrician!). I was banished to the balcony at a hastily constructed table with a couple of monitors. Travis and Topher remained downstairs at the tech table and thankfully never got sick. We got through it but the whole thing feels now like a fever dream! The show, as they say, must go on. There is a sophisticated in-house video system at the Hilbert Circle Theatre and I streamed the opening night performance from my hotel room. It was all very strange.
LD: What was your favorite part of this design?
SD: Clare Henkel designs the costumes and I give her equal credit for how good the lighting looks. It’s a comfort when we’re going through the many hours of “vacuum programming,” writing hundreds of cues with no one on stage! I always know it will look great once the stage is filled with Clare’s magnificent gowns. My abiding joy in lighting this show is the collaboration. I have an incredible team of collaborators. Travis McHale has been my associate for 10 years and I could hand over any or all of the show to him in a heartbeat. Topher Stumreiter is just a genius at programming the show. We’ve developed a shorthand that makes it possible to get this beast done in about three days of tech. I barely have to look at Topher and he knows exactly what I’m looking for. Most of the other members of the creative team are like family now. I’ve been working with many of them for decades.
LD: What are you working on next?
SD: I have two installations happening in the next few months as well as a couple of architectural
projects. I’ll be designing Tales of Hoffmann for Palm Beach Opera this spring
Gear List
S4 Leko Tungsten
14 S4 10° 575w
26 S4 19° 575w
26 S4 26° 575w
1 S4 26° 750w
22 S4 36° 575w
2 S4 36° 750w
LED Leko
6 Source 4 Lustr2 14° 171w
5 Source 4 Lustr2 26° 171w
6 ColorSource Spot 36° 148w
10 Source 4 Series 2 HD 19° 171w
PAR
23 S4 PAR WFL 575w
4 S4 PAR XWFL 575w
LED Wash
6 ColorSource PAR Deep Blue 90w
24 ADJ Encore LP12 IP 192w
4 ELAR108 Par 100w
6 Chauvet COLORdash Accent Quad 14w
2 Strong Super Trouper LT 1.5kW
8 Encore LB15IP 198w
ML
14 Ayrton Ghibli 900w
8 Chauvet Mk2 Spot 740w
12 Chauvet Mk2 Wash 651w
8 Chauvet Storm 1 Wash 433w
6 Chauvet Rogue R1 Beam Wash 285w
8 Chauvet Rogue R1 FX-B
8 Martin MAC Aura 260w
Special FX
4 HES ColorPro FX
2 Cloud9 2.6kW
5 Ultratec Silent Storm
4 T1100 Snow Machine
3 Glitter Drum
1 MGD ATMe Hazer
4 Chauvet Geyser