New York City-based lighting design Lev Chesnov has a master's degree in cinematography from the prestigious VGIK Russian Cinema School, the oldest film school in the world. After working as a cinematographer in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Chesnov began using his eye for the role of light and dark in narrative performance as a lighting designer. He expanded his career into theatre lighting design in 2010 and moved to the United States a couple of years later, where he has pursued this passion for lighting while working on off-Broadway productions.
Chesnov's most recent project is Baudelaire's Passion, written by Henry Keen, at the Cullum Theater Auditorium. Directed by Eduard Tolokonnikov, with choreography by Eryc Taylor, an original score by Nate Sasson, and original artwork by Alfred Rechester, the piece is performed in Russian with English super titles.
Chesnov talked to Live Design about his design for this project and how his focus is informed by his work in cinema.
Live Design: What attracted you to this project?
Lev Chesnov: When I read the script I liked it because it is about a French poet, and I like the 19th century and its [artists] including Dumas, Rimbaud etc.
When I spoke to the director Eduard Tolokonnikov, I found he was open to ideas. He is a young guy who recently graduated theatre school and we talked about my cinematic ideas and references. That was important, because my background is as a cinematographer so most of my lighting experience is from movies, not theatre.
For me, the experience is quite different. You cannot take more than one take, you can't stop the show and say, "Let me just change the lighting over here." You have to do it once and do it well. Also in movies, you can experiment with different shots and angles, you can illustrate different viewpoints. But in theatre, there is just one space and the lighting must cover all the actors and background for the audience. It is much more challenging to create that look for everyone, not just for one camera.
LD: How does your background in cinematography impact your choice of fixtures?
LC: This theatre has washes, spotlights, and a couple of movers. I didn’t want to use a lot of washes, I don't like to light a whole scene, I like a narrow focus, directing the view like in movies. I use more spotlights, because if I use too much washers it reminds me of the same lighting everywhere. We used 500W ellipsoidals, LED washers, five movers, and an ETC console.
LD: How is it working with your collaborator, Kate Odinokova?
LC: She has an architectural education and is a former architect/interior designer. We don’t have a formal technical lighting design education and perspective, but it is good combination of backgrounds and we have crazy ideas and inspirations.
LD: What was the inspiration behind the design?
LC: I’m a big fan of black and white movies and film noir, where one corner can be black and in shadow and another can be bright white or a series of grays. I like a separation of areas, rather than shaded colors. I am also a big fan of German Expressionist movies from 1920s, that was really my inspiration. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was one of my references. I used contrast lighting to evoke the past: past poets and past times.
The production needs to evoke heaven and hell, the characters are trapped in limbo, stuck between heaven and hell. In my mind, heaven is bright and blue and hell is darker and more red, and so I had to find something in between where all the action happens. I wanted contrasts but somewhere in that in between space.
LD: What was the biggest challenge?
LC: The director used a lot of haze and strobes, and there was a large screen with a powerful projector so the biggest challenge was the reflection and light spill form the screen, but all designers should be prepared to work with media and special effects, it is the next generation of theatre.