The Thorn enthrals audiences with Elation
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The Thorn is a modern-day passion play, a theatrical depiction of the life and death of Jesus, yet with a modern touch. The immersive theatrical show combines modern dance, music, martial arts, aerial acrobatics, and emotionally powerful performances, with lighting and visuals. This year’s spring tour kicked off in early February and travels to venues across the U.S., ending in early May in Miami, Florida.
This year, IPS provided audio, video, lighting, staging and special FX, their 11th year working with this production. Caleb Franke, IPS vice president of design & operations, has been entrusted with lighting the show since he was 14 and again served as lead lighting designer. “It's been a really fun journey and the show has changed and morphed a lot through the years,” he stated. “There is a lot of variety in the rig and it works out really well.” When asked what his favourite scenes are, the designer shared “any of the supernatural scenes where we have acrobats and martial artists, the fun scenes where we get to show off the rig.”
That rig includes a variety of lights in Elation’s Fuze, Proteus, Rayzor and SixPar series, along with other luminaires, used to flood the stage in colour and break-up textures, as well as provide striking mid-air beam looks. Designed to be inspirational and motivating, visually stunning beams, colour-changing scenes with pattern projection, and changing background graphics add an extra element of visual drama and intensity to the production that both wows and engages the audience.
“The Elation fixtures we use give us the dynamic range we need to help tell the story,” Caleb says.
Because passion plays lend themselves to creative use of haze and fog effects as an important aspect of atmosphere creation, The Thorn uses a pair of Therma Tour 800 hazers from Magmatic effects to provide exceptionally fine, long-lasting atmospheric haze that enhances the light beams for higher impact visuals.
The Thorn toured in churches for nearly a decade before the production moved to performing arts centres and arenas and according to Caleb, the move posed a challenge. “When we used to do churches, we'd have a whole week to load in, do rehearsals and do a show,” he said. “Now that we're in performing arts centres, we're loading in in the morning and doing a show that night. The show has had to change a lot on the production side with audio, video and lighting, but also with the cast and props, they've had to change as well. It's been a challenge but it's been fun and we figured it out.”
He says that in the past, because church venues vary so much in design and layout, they were redesigning and deploying new custom solutions for the show every week, which took a lot of time and creative solutions to accommodate. Now that they are in larger spaces, they’ve reduced many of those challenges. “Keeping a similar design from venue to venue translates into faster load-in and load-out, a more prepared crew and cast, and most importantly, a universally better experience for attendees,” he said.
Caleb works closely with show director Andrew Harmon, as well as John Bolin, executive producer and creator of the show. Caleb and Andrew started working on The Thorn around the same time and have collaborated and grown with the show over the years, building a unique partnership along the way.
Andrew says that lighting is often used to obscure elements on stage so that supernatural elements or graphic elements feel more impactful or mysterious. “For example, light obscures things in the crucifixion sequence where shadows lay this blanket of sadness over everything and allow the audience’s imagination to take over.” He says that in other moments of the story they use more concert style lighting than you would typically see in theatre in order to pump up the energy and drive the celebration.
Rick Franke, president of Illuminate Production Services, says it's been a very exciting project for them to work on over the years and that the show continues to leave a lasting impression on him. “I've worked with The Thorn for many years now and even though I’ve seen the show hundreds of times, it always impacts me.”
He concludes by expressing gratitude for the collaboration IPS has had with Elation throughout its run. “I want to thank Elation for supporting us even when we're on the road. When you have a group like Elation behind you, it is a powerful force. Also, a special thanks to the founders and executive producers of The Thorn, John and Sarah Bolin.”
