Chad R Jung is a Texas-based educator and lighting designer with a focus on opera and dance. He recently designed a Federico Fellini-influenced Tosca, where the title character is portrayed as a 1970s Italian movie star for Wolftrap Opera at the Filene Center. Jung spoke to Live Design about what inspires him, the production's serendipitous encounter with Chance the Rapper, nature's dramatic contribution to Act III, and the most influential paragraph for designers in this discipline.
Live Design: What inspired you to be a lighting designer?
Chad R Jung: When I was 12 or 13 my grandparents took my brother and me to Disneyland. I remember being very annoyed that Tom Sawyer Island was closing early for some kind of show. As we exited the Pirates of the Caribbean to a park that was darker than usual, a smoke-filled shaft of light blasted straight into space, the show was standing room only so we couldn’t see much more than the pirate ship and fireworks. The next day I was keen to get a front row seat. Hours before sunset I watched huge hydraulic light towers raise out of the concrete for spot ops to climb into place. Fantasmic! It inspired me to explore the magic of light.
LD: Where did you train?
CRJ: Before I could drive, I started DJing parties as an excuse to pump up the fog machine and create light shows and I started working as a stagehand on any project that would take me. I think my first actual training started at Barnes & Nobel when I was 17. Richard Pilbrow’s book looked like a textbook, so I grabbed a highlighter ready to “study” and within the first few pages highlighted what is probably still one of the most impactful paragraphs of my life.
“There's nothing so invigorating as creating a whole world from the production desk. There's always a moment when you are certain that this time it won't work; it will be an embarrassing disaster. But then time passes. You refocus a bit. You tidge about a bit. It begins to look acceptable to you. Then first night arrives. It's OK.” – Pilbrow
Pilbrow’s words in “Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life” became my first official guide.
I almost didn’t go to college; I just wanted to light things, to practice my craft. As a first-year student at Texas Christian University, they laughed at me when I asked for a section drawing to “design” the freshmen “showcase,” which was just a 15-minute sketch to introduce the new kids to the department. I was confused about what college was and I am lucky that I didn’t drop out. College was not a trade school; it was a place to learn how to learn, and a community to find my people (which I did). Director John De Los and I cut our teeth together as TCU students and then as assistants, and he is the person who first invited me to Wolf Trap for Carmen last year.
I planned to get an MFA until the epiphany that a new adventure wouldn’t be the same without my girlfriend who was a year younger. My professors all rolled their eyes when I turned down a full ride at CCM for "love." My first year out of college I started production managing and designing for a children’s musical theater company, which gave me an office and enough time to be the lighting intern for Fort Worth Opera and tour with Bruce Wood Dance Company which is where I was mentored by the two designers who I still consider my greatest lighting influences to this day. Tony Tucci (who was mentored by Gilbert V. Hemsley and Nicholas Cernovich) is my mentor in dance & Marie Barrett (who was mentored by Billington) is my mentor in opera. (P.S. – I made the right decision; Sarah & I are still married and have two amazing sons. I am really lucky!)
LD: Have you worked at Wolf Trap or with the design team before?
CRJ: Last year I worked on the 250th anniversary of Carmen at WT as part of a team with my longtime friend, director John De Los Santos. I was honored to be invited back by Lee Anne Myslewski for what was essentially a blind date with a brand-new creative team who had all worked together on other projects. Building artistic trust within the compressed timeline of a typical tech process isn’t easy. A new production adds a layer of vulnerability that can’t be ignored. I often think of first-time collaborations like those pre-digital “first dates” of the 1990s—sometimes awkward, but always full of energy and the thrill of discovering something new.
LD: What attracted you to working on this version of Tosca?
CRJ: I was very nervous about taking the gig, it was a very ambitions new production built from the ground up, an established creative team that I did not know, for the company’s biggest show of the season on a very short timeline. All I knew about the concept was that it would be Tosca in front of a video wall. It felt like a trap… I understood the venue and limitations of the timeline, but none of the creative team, and I have seen my fair share of productions that thought a video wall would solve all problems. Ultimately, it was my trust in Lee Anne & Ryan Haderlie’s leadership that led me to sign on. Wolf Trap has cultivated a culture that I am so proud to support. It is so inspiring when everyone is on the same page about a new production. Now that I know the Tosca Team I can honestly say they were in sync with the Wolf Trap family that I am so lucky to be a part of.
LD: The vision of the 1970s Italian movie star is so specific and must have been an absolute treat for the costume/projection designers to work on. How did it influence your vision for the work?
CRJ: The vision was so clear from the beginning of the collaboration. It wasn’t about making Tosca “modern” to justify the technology. The technology existed in service of the vision. It is so sexy to describe Tosca as a movie star in the 1970’s world that inspired Fellini's films. The roots of this production grew from our own political discourse around the cult of personality, ideological control, suppression of dissent, perceived enemies, and hyper-nationalism that were better portrayed in a world that was not so close to home to spark negative attention from the powers that be. Federico Fellini’s Italian world of film gave us this place.
LD: The production was outside, so external lighting conditions were changing as evening fell, and the large video screen must have limited some of your angles/lighting positions. How did you work around these factors?
CRJ: Opera is rarely amplified with body mics, so for a long-time projection in opera revolved around how to create an image that was big enough and bright enough, using equipment that had to be strategically placed to avoid the loud cooling fans hurting the acoustic soundscape. The optics and cooling of modern-day projection have really opened so many creative doors that the Sun has really become part of the challenge in an outdoor venue, where you’re lucky to get a true blackout onstage by the end of Act One. Most LED screens are designed to compete with daylight, which often means turning the brightness down to 1% in traditional indoor venues. The brightness possibility of LED screens means they are not just a backdrop; they are a light source on stage. There were several times when projection designer, Adam Larsen, and I would simultaneously be dialing in color for a scene and realize if we both tried to fix the same thing. At the same time, we might be working against each other if I am dialing in more cyan to patch the projection while he is pulling down the green to match the lighting. Where the LED screen color range, pitch, and pixels per inch can really impact how I need to light traditional, theatrically painted scenery on stage. This production had one of the largest and most advanced LED screens I have seen for a non-profit production, which is partially serendipity. Chance the Rapper’s show was the night before the opera load in and since his rider called for an LED screen, the Wolf Trap Team created some real synergy that allowed us to use the same screen. Plus, I got to see Chance perform after the Tosca’s final run in the rehearsal room 😃
LD: What were some of the other challenges?
CRJ: For this production we opted to not use a front curtain, and since blackouts are not possible while the Sun is setting, Act One staging was impacted. I have to remind myself to be careful about any lighting notes for the top of show that I do in the middle of the night, the daylight has a solid impact on the brightness, contrast, and color, so cues look very strange if you look at them outside of the normal conditions.
Time was without a doubt the biggest challenge. It’s a huge rig, a new production, a new team, working with a budget that does not have room for added calls, all at the mercy of the weather. This is where trust among the creative team, and the skilled support of the Wolf Trap house crew from IATSE Local 22, have the biggest impact. Special shout out to my ALD Jamie Milligan, Head LX Leslie M. Hartzel, and Eos Programmer: Rachel Prel. I just looked at the schedule, and the math does not lie: Our three days onstage breakdown to 8-10 hours to load in set / LX, four hours of daytime tech notes, four hours of daytime spacing rehearsals with cast, two, four-hour Orchestra Dress Techs, and a couple of hours for cue notes after the final rehearsal. It is truly remarkable how we were able to create a production on this schedule. I cut my teeth on rotating rep opera, so this schedule feels normal as long as there is a team that trust the unique challenges of this kind of creative process.
LD: Walk us through some of your gear choices—did the 1970s theme have any impact on which fixtures you chose?
CRJ: I am a big fan of a rep-plot, so many venues have had to abandon the concept of a rep-plot to ensure they can support every kind of live performance all in open place, which has left regional opera and dance to build from scratch on very tight timelines. The Wolf Trap team takes excellent care of the Filene Center’s robust rep-plot. While primarily designed to support live music, much of the crew are theatrically trained and understand the adjustments we need to support an opera. A rock 'n' roll rep-plot of arc sources and LED strobe lights in addition to an LED video wall needed to find a path to blend into a 1970s film world, including key-lights and lights supported by incandescent sources with bold color which we tackled in several ways. The LED wall was surrounded by a scenic façade that included 66 incandescent lamps with clear glass that was painted with a treatment to give them an aged look. These lamps were often adjusted to support different locations. We were very lucky that the venue still had several older incandescent Fresnel’s in storage which extended the incandescent movie light feel all the way around the outside of the playing area. Fresnels on rolling stands were pushed around as key lights for each scene and were supported by incandescent Source 4 followspots on the #1 light bridge. I am so lucky WT still has incandescent Par 56 strips, I love these fixtures for so many reasons and I am often sad when venues have retired them. These were a big help to create the world so quickly and effectively.
The Wolf Trap rep-plot is primarily composed of 100+ Elation fixtures that continue to impress me. They have been incredibly reliable despite the outdoor environment and while the feature set looks rock 'n' roll on the surface, we were able to create some solid and subtle theatrical cues that have me looking at Elation fixtures with new eyes these days. (Plus the wash lights have shutters and gobos!) The venue’s rep-plot is typically run on a grandMA, which is great for so many events. Without question, a favorite workhorse for opera and dance is EOS, which WT rented for my last two productions. EOS is the perfect choice for my workflow on a project like this. Seeing the command line creates a redundant confirmation that is critically important for communicating and confirming changes in blind during the various stages of such a short tech. This is also where Augment3d becomes a key tool, it’s not about pre-viz, it’s about doing the math to prep the rig for a fast focus, checking our work during daytime notes, and creating a quick clean record of what we did for the purposes of future recreations.
LD: What was your favorite part of this project?
CRJ: Without a doubt, the Wolf Trap team. It is so amazing that we continue to have a National Park for the Performing Arts that honors all art and artists. Not just onstage and backstage, opening night I feel it from the ushers, park rangers, parking, security and concessions people who all continue to create a culture where non-profit companies, artists, and audiences feel like VIPs. I love the people and the design, but I also have to say how amazing it was to hear a thunderstorm approach during ACT III, during the last five minutes the rain came down and I watched a thousand umbrellas open across the lawn to see Tosca’s final bow.
