To reflect on the creative, innovative moments of 2020 and to welcome the hope that the New Year brings, Live Design is conducting 31 Days Of Plots. Every day during the month of December 2020, we will highlight a different lighting design, from across theatre, concert tours, corporate events, and more.
"We decided to focus on the essence of the light source for each scene and work out from there," says lighting designer Bailey Costa about Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play in the Atlas Theater at NYU Tisch. "The ground plan, materials, etc. all developed with the light in mind. When the play begins, the grid has collapsed and electricity no longer exists. We wanted to take the audience on a journey as these characters learn to tell stories in order to survive. I strove to make the light sources for the first two acts as believable as possible, such as a fire’s glow and sunlight through a window.
When the play began, the creative team overwhelmed the audience with light and sound before plunging them into the darkness of the first act. "The actors played around the fire which was indeed the only source onstage," explains Costa. "By the time we reach the third act, which takes place 75 years later, electricity has been partially reinvented, and is showcased at the finale of a pageant that tells of the apocalypse nearly a century earlier. This finale featured a collection of light sources found over nearly three months by myself and the set designer Lina Younes. Electrified set pieces featured a variety of bulbs of different colors, sizes, and states of wear and tear. We wanted this moment to convey the searching and careful assembly that would have taken place by this band of storytellers. The work and attention to detail that went into the third act of this play was extensive, but I can’t remember being prouder to see a show take shape."
- View the lighting plot for Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play.
Check out other plots from the 31 Days here, and stay tuned for more over the next 4 days.