Live Design's fourth annual 31 Days Of Plots features one production per day during the month of December 2021, highlighting a different lighting design, from across theatre, concert tours, corporate events, live for broadcast, and more, as we wind down 2021 and head toward the new year.
Just in time for the holidays, Day 24 of 31 Days Of Plots reveals the plot for Christmas Dearest, a musical spoof presented by Hell in a Handbag, combining the film Mommy Dearest and A Christmas Carol, whipped up to embrace and celebrate camp. The lighting is by Liz Cooper.
"The venue, an auditorium in the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville, Chicago, is a shared multi-use space. The room has a small stage with a gorgeous, plaster curved back wall that could be used as a cyc to take light. We had to be creative in this space as any off-stage space was at a premium. The scenic designer designed a false proscenium, and a small stair extension to add additional levels and break up the regular lines. The remainder of the scenic and lighting elements on the main floor are struck between performances. The director chose to use a combination of the stage and the floor area immediately in front of the stage stairs," says Cooper.
"We really leaned into the options of pixel mapping IC LED string lights. Using the virtual media server in ETC EOS Nomad let us have a lot of over-the-top effects, which paired with a couple of well-timed ballyhoos completed the campy aesthetic nicely. Being a multi-use space with other events during the week we had to keep things simple. Most of our lighting instruments were rented from the dance company in residence," Cooper explains. "The FOH design stuck closely to the placement of their rep plot, which does its best to create a range of angles from the two FOH hanging positions. The space did not allow for bulky booms that would have to be struck nightly for the other events in the venue. Onstage we chose to utilize exclusively LEDs due to extremely limited power. Four little 3” LED pars tucked next to the jacks for the proscenium nicely illuminated the gorgeous back wall. To give more depth to the actors on the stage, two Chauvet SlimPars were also tucked into the space of the scenic jacks which saved on space, as most of our incredibly limited wing space was filled with props, puppets, and offstage actors."
Lighting Gear List
6 ETC Selador Pearl – House Lights
4 Chauvet Rogue 1 Wash
10 Chauvet Tritours
6 Chauvet DJ Slimpars
2 Chauvet Slimpars 64 RGBA
4 JLPow RGB Par
3 WS2811 12v string lights (50 per strand)
1 SP201E DMX controller
1 12V power supply
5 City Theatrical Show Baby
To see more 31 Days Of Plots, click here