Lighting designer Xavier Pierce relates strongly to Suzan-Lori Parks’ new play, White Noise, which is wowing audiences in The Anspacher at The Public Theatre, where it runs through May 5. A look at racism though the lens of friendship, media, and privilege, the play’s creative team also includes set designer Clint Ramos, costume designer Toni-Leslie James, projection designer Lucy Mackinnon, and sound designer Dan Moses Schreier. Read about the sets, costumes, projections, and sound design.
“Suzan Lori Parks wrote my story with her play, White Noise,” says Pierce. “The character Leo could be a carbon copy of myself: black, male, 30-something, artist, who in the past has had a difficult time sleeping. Like Leo, I went through a series of events that made me question my value as an American citizen. It made me question my ability to protect my family, my community, and myself. I had to answer those questions for myself; I could not answer them under duress or from an emotional chaotic space. I had to be clear-eyed. I had to have clarity, and I had to be resolute because the answers will have to govern the way I interact with society, with my family, with myself. Not abiding by those answers could lead to dangerous outcomes in my personal and professional life. The foundation for which the lighting stems from comes from that clear-eyed space. We needed lighting vocabulary to let us know clearly where we were from location to location. Leo and Dawn’s apartment was textured and warm, Misha and Ralph’s apartment was cool and clean, The Spot/bowling alley was kinetic and deeply saturated. If sound and video were the representation of white noise then lighting was the representation of Leo’s clarity on his quest for answers.”
For Pierce, one of the biggest lighting moments is the transition into The Spot/bowling alley; a transition that sets up the vocabulary of all the design elements for The Spot which is the band’s “happy place.” The other big lighting moment for the LD is when Leo puts on the slave collar: “The weight of watching him climb on the table with the slave collar is incredibly powerful and, as an African American man, deeply triggering,” allows Pierce. “Seeing him in ‘full light’ and having the audience have to sit with that image makes everyone in the room have to reckon with our past, and our present. The lighting is not trying to make an already dramatic moment more dramatic. Its just clear, clarifying, and resolute.”
The rig has a mix of ETC Source Fours and LED fixtures including the ETC Source Four Lustr 2 and Chauvet Professional COLORado Solo lighting fixtures, Chroma-Q Colorforce 72 and Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 (see gear list below). “First off I want to say I loooooove the ETC Lustrs!” notes Pierce. “I have an extreme affection for their flexibility, their dimming capability, and how they look so similar to tungsten sources in their No-Color hue. 90 percent of the conventional lights are Rosco 119-No Color. The LEDs are used to tone the No Color.” Lustr fixtures equipped with Rosco I-Cue intelligent mirrors are used primarily to light the actors in their solo moments.
In integrating the lighting with the numerous video screens, Pierce points out: “The integration really happens with getting on the headset and ‘punching in’ to talk to Lucy, the projection designer, about timing, color, and/or composition. Having a discussion in real time about what we are both doing on stage was essential in creating the visual composition to the show,” says the LD.
“The biggest challenge in a space like The Anspacher is realizing early that you cannot change the architecture, and no, you cannot will the columns away and why would you? It’s a beautiful, iconic space with a rich history,” explains Pierce. “I just embraced the space with my heart and mind, and embraced being in the room. Why put energy into things you cannot change? Maybe the backlight is a little steeper because of it or the sidelight needs to be placed more downstage because of the columns? Oh well, it’s the space, don’t fight it!”
Lighting Credits
- Brandon Bagwell, Programmer
- Cheyenne Sykes, ALD
- Remy Leelike, Master Electrician
- Megan Seibel, Assistant Master Electrician
Lighting Gear
Provided by PRG and 4Wall
- 1 ETC Ion console
- 28 ETC Source Four-26°
- 95 ETC Source Four-36°
- 65 ETC Source Four-50°
- 4 ETC Source Four-70°
- 3 ETC Source Four-90°
- 2 ETC Source Four LUSTR 2 26º
- 23 ETC Source Four LUSTR 2 36º
- 32 ETC Source Four LUSTR 2 50º
- 3 ETC Source Four LUSTR 2 70º
- 4 ETC Source Four PAR WFL 750
- 22 MINI 10
- 15 Chauvet Professional COLORado Solo 1
- 11 Chauvet Professional COLORado Solo 2
- 7 Chroma-Q Colorforce 72
- 10 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12
- 2 RGBAW LED Tape
- 1 Rosco I-CUE Brain
- 7 Rosco I-CUE 16B
- 1 Martin by Harman Atomic 3000
- 7 DMX Iris