Townsend lights Jagged Little Pill with Elation
- Details
The world premiere of Jagged Little Pill ran for 79 sold-out performances - 5 May to 15 July - at American Repertory Theatre’s Loeb Drama Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the longest run of any production at the theatre. The show, which incorporates music from Morissette’s 1995 Grammy Award-winning album such as Ironic and You Oughta Know, is an original story that deals with some of today’s most significant issues like opiate addiction, gun control and gender identity.
“The light of the production used bold, strong ideas working with the action of the play and the mood,” Townsend reports. Playing a prominent role in the lighting rig were 42 LED source Elation ZW37 beam/wash moving head effects that the LD had lined in angled overhead trusses in the iconic shape of a roof.
“Working with set designer Riccardo Hernandez, we created a world of light- the iconic shape of a roof of a house became the unifying design idea and we hung three trusses full of wash lights to create an overhead structure. The units acted as both powerful lights to compose each scene, but also created a unique theatrical architecture- activating the scenic design idea. This ceiling of light flew in and out during the action, creating compressed spaces as well as completely flying out to the grid, creating a giant black void.”
The designer complemented the look with Artiste Picassos, the first use of the new LED moving head in a theatrical environment.
Townsend, who also uses Elation gear when he teaches lighting design at the Brooklyn College Department of Theatre in New York, a city school that has the same strict requirements as Broadway level musicals, says both places need top notch gear that is dependable. “Elation offers that,” he says. “The gear is solid and the quality is excellent.”
The Elation fixtures for Jagged Little Pill were supplied by Christie Lites with Townsend mentioning Christie account rep Chris McMeen, who provided him with fixture advice and support.
(Jim Evans)
