12 Plots Of Christmas: Justin Townsend's Lighting For Here Lies Love

By Ellen Lampert-Greaux Dec 19, 2023 1:07pm

Day eight of Live Design's '12 Plots Of Christmas' focuses on the "more-is-more" mentality of Justin Townsend's huge lighting rig for Here Lies Love, which took over the re-designed Broadway Theatre in NYC (the show closed on November 26, 2023). Transformed by scenic designer David Korins into the Club Millennium, the theatre hosted the Broadway version of the "disco pop" musical based on David Byrne's and Fatboy Slim's concept music album based, in turn, on Byrne's research on the life of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos. Developed and directed by Alex Timbers, with costumes by Clint Ramos, projections by Peter Nigrini, and sound by M.L. Dogg & Cody Spencer.

Click To Expand: Lighting Plot

"Here Lies Love was a remarkable team effort," says Townsend. "The only way this production was able to happen was because of the creative thoughtful hard work that the entire team participated in. Associate Jake DeGroot spent hours and hours working through the 3D draftings of the rig and worked closely with set Associate Amanda Stephens daily in preproduction to shape the clockwork of the interface between David Korin’s Scenery and my lights. Jake's detailed thinking and work was the bedrock of all of our work."

Townsend adds "The on-site the crew, led by Jeremy Wahlers, devised new ways of thinking to be break the rig down into manageable chunks for load in. The whole theater needed to be taken apart and then put back together. Jeremy Lane, the production electrician from the Downtown production was able to offer key insights from his experience before. Dimmer Beach, in part, was back of house right, in what was traditionally the orchestra, I doubt that will happen again in this room!

"A rig this size also starts to deal with data management issues and ETC sat by programmer Brad Gray’s side to help take our efforts to the bleeding edge of technology. Brad Gray and I have worked for years together and our relationship and work uniquely allows to play to both of our strengths in both speed and bold ideas while following up with details and flushing out of cues. He created over seven pages of magic sheets to help manage all of the data and with the use of the remarkable program VOR we were able to detail and finesse this production which ran almost entirely on timecode," notes the LD. "The whole lighting staff was by my side in the headset with information, insight, and help as the hundreds of cues and thousands upon thousands of pixels were shaped."

Click To Expand: Magic Sheet

"An immersive production is unique in the sense that the design has no one clear point of view. The show must look good from every seat in the house. Interestingly, on Broadway, it was clear there were three kinds of ways to engage with the show: In the pit as a party goer, in the huge mezzanine that became our orchestra seating, or on the sides as an observer to both groups. This meant that each of the lighting areas in some ways needed to be treated differently. Standing on the dance floor allows for more flashing lights and lighting movements than people in the seats perhaps want. I spent a lot of time in the back of the mezzanine making sure that the party continued up all the way to the back row. I worked to find the balance that kept the mezzanine part of the party," explains Townsend.

"I thought of this production having two large ideas: The dazzling, seductive, saccharine world of Imelda as she grows up and becomes a dictator and then the clean simple purity of the warm incandescent light for the final protest look. That first look depended on deep pinks, rich purples and acid yellows and worked closely with projection designer Peter Nigrini’s brilliant story telling content," notes the LD. "The light swirls into a seductive whirlwind and has a tight control over the whole theater both in the effects and in the focus of the light so that the whole theater feels like a machine pumping and vibrating tot the story of Imelda. When Imelda flees to the US, I used light that came from outside of the huge truss rig to blast through like sunlight waking us up to the reality and humanity around us."

"Christie Lites provided the HUGE rig and was able to support and help us when changes inevitably came. We added a series of Auras over the entire mezzanine to balance the feel of the audience up there, says Townsend. "The lighting rig has a "more is more" mentality, so I found the right price point with Mac Encores as a great solid light that we could get a lot of as well as Elation's Hit ZW19’s and ZW 37’s. Elation continues to put out solid great products that I have been putting more and more on Broadway shows for their great price point and heavy hitting effects.

"This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m so very grateful to have lead a team of true lighting experts in making the show happen," Townsend concludes.

Here Lies Love Lighting and Electrics Team:

Lighting Designer: Justin Townsend
Associate Lighting Designer: Jake DeGroot
Assistant Lighting Designer: Colleen Doherty
Lighting Programmer: Brad Gray
Production Electrician - Jeremy Wahlers
Head Electrician - Jeremy Lane
Advance Electricians - Sean Furphy, Savannah Bell
Video/Deck Electrician - Adam Bishop
House Electrician - Paul Davila
Followspot 1 (Lead) - Robert “Rocco” Williams
Followspot 2 - Melissa Graves
Lighting/Video Substitutes - Majid Younis, Lee Eisenberger, Pallas Gutierrez

Lighting gear, provided by Christie Lites:

Consoles, Control, Dimming, and Networking:

1 ETC Apex 10
1 ETC RPU
1 ETC Nomad Pucks
2 Robe Robospot Controllers
22 Pathway Via12 Switches
43 Pathway Octo 8-port Gateways
6 ETC Sensor 96-way Touring Racks
12 CL 60-way 208v PD Racks
7 CL 36-way 120v PD Racks

Moving Lights:

6 Robe BMFL Followspot
36 Martin Mac Encore CLD
44 Elation ZW37
50 Elation ZW19
30 Martin Mac Aura
17 GLP Impression x4 Bar20
18 Elation ACL 360i
4 Martin Mac 350 Entour

Conventionals and LEDs:

36 ETC Source 4 Lustr2 (various lenses)
282 Elation SixPAR 200
18 Martin Atomic 3000 LED
32 Elation CuePix Panel
11 Chroma-Q Colorforce II 12
1 Chroma-Q Colorforce II 48
5 Chroma-Q Colorforce II 72
70 Chroma-Q Colorforce 12
6 Chroma-Q Colorforce 48
22 Chroma-Q Colorforce 72
49 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12
7 GLP Watson
52 ETC Source Four 750w Leko (various lenses)
120 ETC Source Four PAR (various lenses)
1 8” Fresnel
2 6’ MR16 Ministrip
17 ProCan 20-lite Blinder
27 ProCan 4-lite Linear Blinder
2 ProCan 4-lite Square Blinder
8 Altman Focusing Cyc

Truss (lighting positions only)

205’ Christie Lites 24” Swing Wing
284’ 12”x12” Silver Box Truss
212’ 20”x20” Silver Box Truss

Miscellaneous

250 4’ Fluorescent Fixtures (various colors)
1 42” Motorized Mirror Ball
45 Gobo Rotators
16 150w A21 Lamp
Lots and lots - RGBW LED Neon

Atmospherics:

2 MDG Atmosphere ATME Hazers
3 Look Solutions Unique 2.1 Hazers
6 Look Solutions Viper NT Foggers
6 JEM Fan
2 Antari W-715 Fog Jet
4 Artistry in Motion Double Barrel Confetti Cannons
10 Wonderfall XL Snow Box

2023 Lighting Plots 12 Plots Of Christmas 2023 Lighting