A charming little circus featuring 10 performers and a windmill has come to town: Cirque Mechanics Zephyr, which harnesses the wind via people power. Mounted on a turntable, the windmill—which tours with the show—combines both modern and older more picturesque elements–with the transformation from one aspect to another providing a change of scenery in real time. Live Design chats with Chris Lashua, who wears many hats as creative director, founder, machine designer, fabricator, and problem solver for the company. His roots are in Cirque du Soleil, where he shared his talents on the bicycle and his knack for cool gadgetry, as well as performed in Quidam, before founding his own Las-Vegas based circus.
Live Design: What is the overall concept for the show? How does the design support the storytelling?
Chris Lashua: The concept of Zephyr, much like that of all our other shows, is to tell a simple story with a big message through the interactions of artists and acrobats with our machines. In Zephyr, the concept was to highlight the tug of war that exists between man and nature, in the name of progress.
Humans have been harnessing the power of the wind for thousands of years. The beauty and efficacy of that timeless and ingenious process inspired the creative team to create a theatrical circus show that harnesses human power, instead of wind, to generate an energetic acrobatic experience.
Cirque Mechanics has designed and built a performance windmill to serve as the multi-functional mechanical centerpiece of our story. Mounted on a turntable, the windmill combines both modern and older, more picturesque elements—with the transformation from one traditional aspect to another more modern one, providing a change of scenery in real time.
Inspired by a visit to a working windmill in central England, Zephyr (which means gentle breeze from the Greek god of the west wind Zephyrus) tells the story of Nigel, mill owner and operator, and his complicated relationship with wind, the natural resource that powers his flour mill. His reliance on wind is tested and in turn he is lured by fuel in the name of progress as a primary energy source. Elation and disruption ensue, aptly represented by the community the mill serves as dynamic and lyrical circus acts. Nigel grapples with his choices and outcomes with humor and optimism
LD: How is the turntable designed and built?
CL: The original concept was to build a ground-based device that would fly an aerialist around the space. All of the concept drawings utilized a turntable to make this happen. Our approach is always the same, what is the simplest way to achieve this goal. From the first stages we began to evaluate how heavy the windmill crane itself might be to guide our decisions about turntable design. Our earliest drawings utilized the four-legged structure that we currently have in the show.
Initially we explored having wheels on the base of the legs. We quickly realized that unless we locked the rotation to an axis, the windmill would shift and travel across the stage over the course of the show. This meant that we had to change our approach. We instead created a base that had wheels under it and would sit on a round track and have a center pin that would connect to the circular base. Once this decision was made, we set about drawing and using a water jet machine to cut the metal plate that would form the circle track that sits on the stage itself.
LD: Where was it built?
CL: In Las Vegas at our friend’s machine shop “United Machine.”The team over there have all the tools and fabrication knowledge to help us realize these ambitious builds.
LD: What drawing program do you use?
CL: We use Sketchup, so that we can refine these designs and share them among the creative team. Sean Riley, our scenic and rigging AND machine designer, is based in Vancouver and we do much of our design work together online using this rendering software.
LD: Is it on stage for the entire production?
CL: Yes, when we are in the concept phase of a show, we evaluate the apparatus design and make decisions based on how much space that device will take. That informs wether the device will be one of many or one large singular device that will become the centerpiece of the show.
It was almost immediately clear that the windmill crane would be a device that would be the primary set/ scenic and rigging device. Once built, it remains in the center of the stage for the duration of the show. The narrative and the acts chosen take this into consideration.
LD: How do other set pieces coordinate with it?
CL: Once we decided this large crane was going to be a windmill, we then began to think about what elements belong to that world or could support the setting where a windmill might be placed. The ladder used in the opening act of the show are a great example of supportive devices. To create a pastoral setting for the windmill, Riley wanted to have a sort of picket fence along the back of the set. We realized that if we built ladders that tapered at the top that we could use for circus acrobatics, we could then lay those ladders on their side to create the “fence” in the background, plus the taper of the ladder design could be used to create a sort of vanishing point/ perspective of distance behind the windmill.
LD: Design and mechanics for the windmill?
CL: We wanted the windmill to be powered by acrobatics or somehow to be connected to the story. In Act 1, the windmill is powered or turned by our “Wind” character. In Act 2 it becomes powered by the circus act the “Wheel of Destiny.” This idea of powering the machine by the human action is central to much of our work.
LD: Collaboration with lighting?
CL: As is always the case, our lighting designers—in the case of Zephyr there are two: Joe D’Emilio and Leo Hidalgo—are part of the creative team and the process from the start of the project.
LD: Biggest challenge in designing for acrobatic acts?
CL: Our lighting designers will tell you that the main difference in lighting for circus is that as opposed to dance or theater, the lighting for circus has to not only light the acrobat on stage but the space where that acrobat will “fly.” Until the acrobat is actually in the air, you don’t have an object to focus on, so even with careful planning there are many adjustments that need to be made once you get the artists onstage building the show.
LD: And one has to design for their needs?
CL: …and yes, an act like foot juggling for example, where the artist is laying on her back looking straight up at the lights presents a unique challenge that isn’t common in dance or theater.
We are fortunate that we have such an amazing team of creators and designers that LOVE this work and these challenges. As a collective we are poised to create unique live performance that can be transported from venue to venue, which is another “art” that is rarely discussed.
There is absolute art and craft executed daily by our stage and production managers. Getting a show like this loaded in before coffee break, rehearsed by artists by mid afternoon, tech'ed by the local crew by dinner, and performed and loaded out the same evening is something that doesn’t just happen. Decisions are made by the creative and production teams early in the process to make it all possible.