Jeff Behm is a Los Angeles-based production/lighting designer and 3D render artist working in theatre, concerts and multi-camera live for broadcast events. His work in lighting and scenic design has been seen in venues as diverse as New York's Public Theatre, Opera UCLA, the Kennedy Center, and Dubai Expo 2020.
His has designed multiple productions for Alabama Shakespeare Festival, including two productions this year. Here, he shares his lighting plot for this summer's production of Cabaret, which also featured costumes designed by his wife, Alexa Behm, a seasoned television and opera designer.
The design duo talked to Live Design about their work on Cabaret.
Live Design: What attracted you to this project?
Jeff Behm: I have always loved this musical, for many reasons. It has these big Broadway musical numbers intertwined with historical drama and tragedy. The audience progressively witnesses the loss of individuality and self-expression with the rise of the Nazi Party. We, as theatre creators, get to tell a story that not only reminds us of the horrors of the past but also gives strong warning and cadence to our current political climate.
LD: How did the venue impact your designs?
JB: I previously worked as a lighting designer in this space on The Tempest. The greatest challenge of the theatre is the stage extension past the proscenium. Ultimately, there was a learning curve when it came to lighting performers at dynamic angles on the Festival’s three quarter thrust. I explored many more FOH and balcony rail lighting positions during Cabaret than my previous show as a result.
The space has an inherently wide proscenium, giving the set designer a large canvas to create a lasting impression. However, from extreme angles the backstage areas and lighting positions become difficult to mask. From the beginning of the design process of Cabaret, I wanted the set to feel expansive and playful. The theatre house architecture and the stage wanted to meld together to create the Kit Kat Club. Through the use of large columns, an expansive balcony, and a protruding ceiling piece, I believe we accomplished this goal.
I am always thinking about light when I design sets. Lighting was my first learned discipline so it is usually my first visual instinct when I start reading a script. As the set design began to develop, I knew lighting would play an important role in bringing the visual landscape to life. The two design disciplines needed to work in tandem to create a balance between extreme realism and highly theatrical performances.
The set provided an excellent opportunity for natural shadows and lighting. The steel balcony, I-beam structures, and concrete pillars took advantage of the space’s overwhelmingly tall proscenium. Rick Dildine, our director, and Christopher Windom, our choreographer utilized the balconies and elevated platforms to create dynamic stage pictures throughout the show.
Performers utilized every square inch of the stage and even the house. We took out the first three rows of audience seats that surrounded the thrust to make VIP seating areas with cabaret tables and chairs. Sally Bowles and the Emcee were able to weave their way among audience members creating a more immersive environment.
Speaking of the house, I hung several instruments to highlight certain aspects of the theatre architecture, creating my own system of house and aisle lights. The audience walked into a space that was lit and crafted to reflect the mood of the scenic elements onstage. I even brought the spotlight operators into the unused queen’s boxes, giving them a larger presence and lower angle for theatrical effect.
I wanted the orchestra to be a visually important part of the story telling. Their platform, upstage center, is always present during the Cabaret musical numbers. The upstage emerald curtain brings a soft relief from the harsh textures of brick and concrete and offers a wonderful canvas for lighting.
The set and lighting work together to provide us the ability to seamlessly transition in and out of the Kit Kat Club in a multitude of ways. For instance, during “Maybe this Time,” we subtly turn Cliff’s boarding room into the club stage, through the use of low lying fog, practical lighting, and revealing the orchestra in silhouette behind a black scrim.
Ultimately, the versatility of the set allowed lighting to enhance the narrative and guide the script’s emotional arc.
LD: How did the team approach this version of Cabaret?
Costume designer Alexa Behm: I had the absolute privilege of starting work on Cabaret about a year ago. From my first conversation with the director, Rick Dildine, it was apparent that we wanted to create a unique, character driven, design. Upon further analysis of the script, we found strength in the idea that the performers would be elevated to reflect how Cliff would remember the Kit Kat Club.
I had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with our Emcee (Pierre Marais) very early in my design process. We discovered Pierre had instrumental talent, so Jeff incorporated a piano into his design, giving Pierre an opportunity to express his versatility as a performer. Channeling his own persona, I created an arc of looks inspired by extremely theatrical musicians/rock stars married with the feel of period circus performers. This set a precedent for the world and every character that followed.
JB: The show had been a passion project of Rick’s since he first saw the Broadway revival with Alan Cumming. Rick had a strong idea about the club having an underground quality that decayed progressively with the evolving politics of the outside world. My research brought me to abandoned spaces and train stations. We loved the iron work and crumbling plaster. I also found images of underground clubs in modern day Berlin that conveyed a sense of power and strength to the set. We researched German Expressionist Art, particularly the work of George Grosz, whose paintings inspired the broken ceiling and back wall murals. The concrete pillars were also inspired by the Holocaust Memorial in the Berlin city center.
The research motivated an incredibly unique and raw interpretation of the stage classic. Rick and I saw eye to eye on creating a set that was versatile in use but functioned mostly as a cabaret performance. The stage within a stage gave the Kit Kat Club a certain level of charm and nostalgia, while the dark iron work and run-down concrete pillars brought a sense of impending doom. The ceiling, with its crumbling mural pieces and gaping hole, brought a sense of the peril that awaited our characters in the outside world.
LD: What was behind your gear choices?
JB: The show is lit with mostly conventional fixtures, I am a sucker for a PAR 64. We hung several of them onto added pipes built into the onstage concrete pillars. They helped create a scenic charm, as well as add great functionality and personality to the Kit Kat Club. In addition, the use of marquee light bulbs and other stage practicals contributed to the overall ambience of the club setting.
Being a period piece, I wanted to hide all the modern looking and LED fixtures from audience's view. The work horses of this show are the (5) Mac Encore CLD Movers. I have used these fixtures in a television rig but never theatrically. I was greatly impressed and would 10/10 use them on the next one. The color engine is fantastic, and the gobos are multipurpose. I would not have been able to do the show without the use of (16) Source Four Lustr II instruments. They provided color changing side light for the main dance area and illumination to the large ceiling element. They are highly reliable and versatile. Some of my other big go-to systems were the Scroller Back Light and Scroller Foot Light.
I also love finding success in the least likely of places. For Cabaret, this came in the form of (12) 300w landscape lights. We utilized them under the metal grating in the stage floor. They did an incredible job lighting through the low lying fog and illuminating the haze built into the deck.
LD: How was it collaborating with your wife, costume designer Alexa Behm, on this project?
JB: We were able to go through the design process, together, from day one. More often than not, designers are brought onto a project at different times. Sometimes a costume designer will begin their process when my drawings are in their final stages. Being able to work simultaneously, from start to finish, really allowed us to conceptualize aspects of the piece while things could still be changed. This is something I would love to carry with me on other shows. Our collaboration concerning the key moments, large reveals, color, texture, and overall theme was much more effective in the earliest stages of the design process.
With that said, my favorite part of working with my partner is that there really is an absence of ego and no fear to overstep another colleague’s discipline. We are not afraid to challenge each other, ask why choices are being made, or even make suggestions about design elements that are not normally our choice. It is nice to have a judgment-free collaboration where you truly can design without boundaries or the structure of a professional workplace.
LD: What was the biggest challenge on this project and how did you work around it?
JB: The set design is quite expansive and detailed. Our biggest enemy became time. We worked until opening day to finish all the elements seen onstage. As the lighting designer, it can be quite frustrating when you’re missing certain scenic pieces for the majority of tech, but when you’re also the set designer, you have no one to blame but yourself! I want to extend a huge thank you to the ASF crew who worked tirelessly to bring my vision to life:
- Edward Coffield (director of production)
- Matthew Holl (technical director)
- Jess Carlson (scenic charge)
- Philip Hahn (master electrician)
- Shanley Aumiller (head of props)
- And so many more...
LD: What are some significant moments in the design?
Alexa Behm: "Willkommen" opens with a beautiful demonstration of individuality. I really wanted the costumes
to feel like something the Club performers could have created themselves. Something original, lived in, and theatrical. While respecting this period in history, it was important to me that the visual of the club felt slightly modernized. Whether that be through silhouette, color, accessories, or trim, it felt impactful that the sexy expression of this piece spoke to current audiences. As the show progresses, the world falls apart. The club changes. It becomes more uniform and conformist, with an underlying sadness.
There is a journey from the gorgeous creativity in the beginning, to a severe loss of identity. Those who did not fit the mold of society faced brutal consequences. This is quite possibly the most relatable aspect of the show and I really wanted the audience to connect with the reality of each performer’s story.
JB: My favorite design element of this show occurred in the last three minutes. We were able to make the band completely disappear from their onstage positions with the use of a black scrim and rolling orchestra platforms. As the Emcee gestures one last time, the scrim rises revealing a missing but still audibly present orchestra. The rest of the Kit Kat girls and boys enter single file upstage against our concrete wall in big heavy coats, resembling long lines in Jewish ghettos. As the Emcee takes off his coat to reveal a concentration camp uniform, the back mural wall begins to lift slowly, creating an impactful final look with our performers in silhouette against a stark, white cyc.
