Polarity Ensemble Theatre Blog

“The best lighting in the world is the kind you never hear about in reviews,” laughs Stephanette Smith, “but it takes a lot of time and collaboration to make that sort of hypnosis happen.” Smith is the lighting designer for The Good Harvest. Smith, in partnership with Ashley Ann Woods, scenic designer, collaborate again after their phenomenal work on Polarity’s Fall 2009 production, an acclaimed revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

“If the lighting and the set don’t work together,” says Woods, “a whole layer of the performance will be at risk.” Beginning the process with a groundplan, sketches, and a white model, the two have devised a set of great depth for multiple changeovers—moving between harsh reality of the present, to the murky remembrances of character’s pasts, to even dreams. To achieve this effect, the set is being built as a series of scrim-like walls whose translucent quality allows light to reveal new worlds behind them.

“(Main Character) Joan had this whole life before she had triplets. She puts on a front that masks everything. When designing the set, I wanted the true essence of her character is visible behind these walls,” says Woods. Smith echoes this approach: “The realistic scenes are more ‘opaque.’ We’re using practical lights such as lamps to give concrete reference points to past versus present. The dream scenes are abstract, but behind the scrim.”

When starting the process, both took a look at what kind of a world this fictional family inhabits – what kind of house, what kind of environment did Joan and her triplets grow up in? Concrete concepts are done first, then secondary ones with more abstract approaches. This allowed for the manipulations of the perception of things and is “a journey and a definition of what’s possible,” remarks Woods.

What’s possible was often restricted by the space that currently serves as home for Polarity Ensemble Theatre. The Good Harvest is their fourth full production in the Josephinum Academy, a comfortable storefront space with much to offer, but not without limitations.

“I knew when I started work in that space that there were basic things to consider, like limits on electricity,” says Smith on creating her lighting schema, “a lot of the more robust equipment we don’t have there. We were limited to clip lights and I would have to consider, instead of one light or two lights, we need six clips in one area and 6 colors in another.” Smith, who has an MFA from Illinois State’s technical theatre program, has even done lighting for productions as broad as 300-seat houses with swimming pools onstage, 400 lights in the air and disco balls. Woods has a BFA in Scenic and Costume Design herself and is used to more available resources. “Considering the space,” she says, “it’s a healthy budget for set construction and painting the set.”

“It’s a challenge,” concludes Smith, “but not impossible. We feel we have and can again create a remarkable, pro set, and light it well, even within the parameters.”

Woods and Smith proved to be a potent combination on Streetcar—the set prompted “wows” from the audience. The lighting, too, heightened the emotions of Tennessee Willliams’ sexually charged Southern melodrama.

For The Good Harvest, the women raised the bar with a simple, yet evocative set that perfectly matches Rosenthal’s potent story. “I do two kinds of research,” says Woods. “First comes practical research to time and place, second comes metaphysical research to present a response from the audience with color and form.” Smith compliments this approach by saying, “I’m not a very technical designer, I think more in terms of color and movement – I say, this scene looks very blue to me as I structure the cue.”

“We definitely had the potential to make this as or more spectacular than Streetcar,” concludes Smith. “This is not straightforward realism. This is something that takes all of our imaginations.”

Performances of The Good Harvest take place at the Polarity Ensemble Theatre in Wicker Park at the Josephinum Academy, 1500 N Bell, Chicago, through May 2, 2010. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets may be purchased by calling 1-800-838-3006 or at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98824

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 2:46 pm and is filed under From the Ensemble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.