PROJECTIONS

Copyright Lighting &Sound America June 2009 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

The Season of Projections

So many shows, so many projections— that projection designers can join the union on an equal basis with set, but are they really necessary? A leading lighting, and costume designers, perhaps the members of the designer and educator takes a look Broadway League would rather not recognize projection designers, thus By: Wendall K. Harrington saving themselves from the duty of more pension and welfare payments? (Editor’s note: In New York, this has sets had major projection elements, Projection designers are not going been an extraordinary season for but completely ignored the contribu - away; we’re organized and multiplying projection design. Never before have tions of the projection designers. This like pixels. The ranks will only grow; so many major theatre productions seems odd, especially when the academic theatre departments like Cal made crucial use of projections. Drama Desk managed to recognize Arts and Yale will soon give projection Wendall K. Harrington, herself a noted and reward me for my projection work MFAs, and, from what I read in the projection designer and educator, on The Who’s Tommy 15 years ago. blogs, audiences are generally excited attended some of these productions Is it possible that, this year, the video by projection. My first question is: Can to investigate how and why projec - work was not worthy of mention? Is it we all decide on what to call it? There tions were used. Have projections possible that the nominators lack the are projection designers, video really become so necessary to the experience and sophistication to know designers, and imaging designers— theatre? And why were they shut out where scenery ends and projection maybe that’s adding to the awards of this year’s awards season?) begins? Is there a conspiracy? Now judges’ confusion. Josef Svoboda, the This time last year, Tim Bird’s stunning projections in Sunday in the Park with George caught everyone’s attention and gathered a number of awards, including the first-ever Tony nomination for a projection designer. This year, there have been so many new, and potentially eligible, produc - tions with projections that the Drama Desk and Tony Awards eliminated projection design altogether. Huh? It sure makes you wonder— last year, there were six Drama Desk nominees in the category of Outstanding Video and Projection

Design; this year, the Drama Desk, g g e s

which considers both Broadway and o R l o r

Off Broadway shows, managed to a C : s

nominate two set designers whose o t

Above left: This Beautiful City. Above right: Irena’s Vow . o h P

88 • June 2009 • Lighting &Sound America godfather of us, all called it kinetic exists, the LED lightbulbs exist, but scenography. I’m not recommending the rest is digital dust—locale-giving, that, although it is precise, and, emotion-raising, thought-provoking, having been there in the moment and beautiful little 0s and 1s. having made a conscious decision not to call it multi-media, I still vote for Projecting the time projection design as the most encom - and place passing term. We can take a vote on (This Beautiful City , with a book by it; just remember there will be more Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis and tools coming. “There are more things music and lyrics by Michael in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are Friedman, was a project of theatre dreamt of in your philosophy…” company The Civilians; it was It proved impossible to see all the presented at Off Broadway’s Vineyard Mary Testa in Guys and Dolls . recent shows with substantial Theatre. Based on interviews, it’s a projection, but I did see several of portrait of life in Colorado Springs, them, both on and Off Broadway, Colorado, which has become the logical images—projecting the Rocky (and, in one case, at a nearby resident center of evangelical Christianity as Mountains on the cyc upstage of the theatre), trying to take the temperature well as the Ted Haggard scandal. roof drop to indicate a sense of of a medium that, in 30 years, has The production, which also featured place—felt less satisfying, and, when gone from invisible to ubiquitous. After lighting by David Weiner in addition to the same sky was used as projected all, cinema is the language of our age. the designers mentioned below, signage, I sensed an inconsistency in Unlike early film audiences, who ran earned mixed to good reviews .) the design. There is something I call commitment to surface: You invite the “Last year, there were six Drama Desk audience to understand the theatrical nominees in the category of Outstanding Video space and the way you are prepared to tell the story, so they can absorb it, and Projection Design; this year, the Drama forget it, and concentrate on the play Desk, which considers both Broadway and off and the players. When you mix it up Broadway shows, managed to nominate two too much—it’s scenery, it’s informa - tion, it’s the punchline—the constant set designers whose sets had major projection reassessing seems unnoticed, but it elements, but ignored the contributions of the takes a toll. I’m not blaming Jason projection designers. This seems odd, especially Thompson, the projection designer; I’ve done too many shows myself not when the Drama Desk managed to recognize to be aware of the demands from and reward me for my projection work on The directors or producers to make things Who’s Tommy 15 years ago. more explicit, but I think this work ” could have benefitted from trusting the intelligence of its audience more. away when they saw a locomotive The set of This Beautiful City , by (A somewhat similar use of projec - coming at them, we accept shadows Neil Patel, was a vertical white wall tions is seen in Irena’s Vow , the story as representative of reality. Not only do depicting a bird’s-eye view of Colorado of Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish Catholic we accept them, it is our willingness to Springs’ landscape, with its rooftops woman who, during World War II, hid fill in the gaps that makes the dance rendered in relief. The audience easily a dozen Jews while keeping house for between the stage and the audience accepted that handsome abstraction; a Nazi officer. Dan Gordon’s play, so thrilling and so life-affirming —one later, the roofs were revealed to be which opened Off Broadway in the fall must be alive and engaged to get it. light boxes, filled with LED units— and transferred to Broadway’s Walter Without an inherent respect for the and, used as individual screens, Kerr Theatre in the spring, is framed audience’s imagination, projection flashing news of Ted Haggard’s as a long flashback in which Opdyke design can’t exist. Actually, for all exposure, it had a visual harmony, even tells her story to an audience of intents and purposes, projection though it was logically impossible. schoolchildren. Kevin Judge’s set is doesn’t exist—the screen surface However, the use of more visually an architectural arrangement of

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • June 2009 • 89 PROJECTIONS

platforms, plus a few flown-in pieces. Alex Koch’s projections draw on historical material, including photos of the Nazi occupation of Poland and images of the real Opdyke. The lighting is by David Castaneda) If Irena’s Vow had been presented ten years ago, I have little doubt it would have been done with a drop and lights. I don’t want to denigrate the contribution of the delicate, scene-shifting projections; I think they are modest in the best way, and, for the most part, perfectly appropriate. But I wonder who thought they were essential to begin with. Why do we think we have to take the audience by however, nobody could agree on what the hand? Have we lost faith in the not to like. Reviewers singled out ability of actors to create worlds? different members of the cast for Do today’s audiences need the praise or criticism. Similarly, Robert stimulation? It’s a question we should Brill’s scenic design and Dustin never get tired of asking. Would a O’Neill’s projections were described more extensive use of sound with the as original and eye-filling, or agitating historical images do as much, if not and overwhelming. The lighting was more, to evoke a sense of period and designed by Howell Binkley.) create the shifting locales? Guys and Dolls is as flawless and The projections are used here to charming a musical as has ever been create a sense of place, except for a written; even a high school production few documentary images that establish of it will delight. This expensive the time frame. This is always a production’s sets are very handsome; difficult approach, because, as in This the LED wall is majestic and hand - Beautiful City , there is a conflict of somely humanized by the addition of intention. You ask the audience to an RP screen and a bobbinette just accept the projection screen as a wall, downstage of it, removing all those Top: Distracted. Above: Impressionism . a garden, or a cellar—but then it ugly little pixels and allowing for a s u c

becomes a news-delivering surface. graceful fade to black. The video r a M

It’s easy to make the leap from wall to imagery is expertly made—but it just one feels shot out of a cannon. The n a o J

garden; it’s the news part that feels won’t stop. It is busy being the most choreographed transitions let us see : e g a

odd. How do you frame it? Is this brilliant thing on stage to the detriment the characters in action; the way they p t h g i

image inside the story or outside it? of all, including the score. It wasn’t move fleshes out who they are, which R d n

Both kinds of projections happen in until three quarters of the way in, is useful, since most musicals aren’t a m o t

one space, which can be confusing to when Mary Testa, as a Salvation Army exactly dense with exposition; t o b

the audience. This is another question general, hit a note that’s still on its however, if they get upstaged by the e g a p t

worth asking: How do we create ideas way to Saturn, that I realized there fancy video, you betray the actors, the f e L

in the viewers’ minds without their were actual people in the show. Only choreography, and, ultimately, the n e d r

awareness? Still, this is lovely work. Mary Testa can out-perform that level text. Actors speak with gestures; our a Y l a

of lumens; if you put a big LED wall eyes go to the brightest thing on T f o y

Moving violations on stage, make sure she’s available. stage—in this case, the wall does all s e t r u

(A t the same time, projections can be Projection is especially useful at the talking. o C :

controversial, even if they are used performing transitions, but the video Even the principals get upstaged; p o t e

with a greater unity of purpose. The transitions in Guys and Dolls are so by the end of the show’s “Havana” g a p t f

Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls slick, so bright, and so eye-catching, sequence, the unlikely romance e L : s

drew mixed to negative notices— that nothing else can happen; each between Sky Masterson, the gambler, o t o h P

90 • June 2009 • Lighting &Sound America and Sarah Brown, the mission doll, is the family TV—all of them were used dismissed and it closed a about to be solidified with the last to make the point: Who among us couple of months before its limited run haunting notes of “If I Were a Bell”— isn’t distracted and, it would seem, was scheduled to end. In the play, when, on the video wall, the sun looking for distraction? For an Off Allen played an art gallery owner who jumps up into the sky before they are Broadway show, it had an impressive spars on a daily basis with Irons, her even done. There’s no time for the amount of video gear: a 16K projector one employee. Each of the paintings audience to share in their feelings, to out front on the big scrim, and five in the gallery cues a flashback fall in love with them falling in love. 6Ks buried in the set, all run off of revealing the characters’ emotional Nope, gotta go! seven channels of Dataton Watchout, traumas. Once they are completed, the couple can fall in love. The scenery was designed by Scott Pask; the “Why do we think we have to take the audience projections were by Elaine McCarthy, by the hand? Have we lost faith in the ability of with lighting by Natasha Katz.) The projections in Impressionism actors to create worlds? Do today’s audiences left me feeling sad for the lost need the stimulation? It’s a question we should opportunity they presented. I am never get tired of asking. guessing that many were written into ” the script, but you can’t always believe what you read. Giant projec - The execution of these effects is supplied by Scharff Weisberg. “A lot tions should carry their weight in story flawless, but someone—like the of what you see is written into the and character development. Even director—should have told the designer text,” Yarden told me. There wasn’t before the show began, one entered when to stop. Remember: Trust the anything particularly surprising about the theatre to see dim, dissolving play, trust the actors. They were here the images, but they just seemed right versions of Impressionist paintings on long before digital dust and they did and elegantly produced. If that seems a scrim; this seemed like a mistake. quite fine without us for several like damning with faint praise, all I can The giant scale of the priceless, yet hundred years. That said, here’s where say is I value correctness and good seemingly random, works made the the canker gnaws: a Tony nomination sense above all; a careless designer effect feel more like a screen saver for Robert Brill that does not acknowl - could have made a real mess. than the work of humans. If the theme edge Dustin O’ Neill. Can I suggest (Projected images were also central of your show hinges on the power of that the voters be forced to watch the to the concept of Impressionism , art, the first time you see it it should show without the projections and see which came to Broadway with many be vibrant, luscious, breathtaking, what the set does by itself? Dustin, I high-profile names attached, including confounding, and alive. feel your pain; if Brill wins, I hope he Joan Allen, Jeremy Irons, and the In my classes at Yale, I am a tyrant remembers your name. director Jack O’Brien. However, about transitions. I teach the necessity Michael Jacobs’ play was quickly of not losing the thread of the story When projections are built into the script Dizzy, busy projections were the goal in Roundabout Theatre’s Off Broadway production of Lisa Loomer’s Distracted . The play is about a mother’s struggle with her son’s diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder. The whole set, by Mark Wendland, was more or less a projec - tion surface with various planes; the projections, by Tal Yarden, were the first thing you saw when you entered the theatre. It was the world of media is coming at you from all directions. (Jane Cox was the lighting designer.) News feeds, scene-setting images, A scene from 33 Variations .

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • June 2009 • 91 PROJECTIONS

Above left: Rock of Ages . Above right: Notes from Underground.

while the actress changes her clothes Diabelli Variations , the work that sadder that the Drama Desk and the or the next scene is set up. Each Katherine will study centuries later. Tonys singled out Derek McLane and choice must be about advancing the The production, which starred Jane ignored Jeff Sugg. This is the kind of story and illuminating details of Fonda, featured scenery by Derek invisible line between disciplines that character. This is where the projection McLane, projections, by Jeff Sugg, should be celebrated; applauding one designer gets to be the writer, the and lighting by David Lander. Reviews without the other creates an awkward director, and the actor; every detail were mixed; in some cases, critics and unnecessary tension. plays a part. In Impressionism , a appreciated the staging and design There were three types of projec - seemingly random painting sends us more than the script.) tions in 33 Variations : the handwritten into a memory scene from the life of a Better, perhaps, than the play it self pages of Beethoven’s manuscript, character. None of the images used were Jeff Sugg’s poetic projections for scene-setting images of specific helped us fill in a bit of personal history, 33 Variations . Originally a student of locations, and semi-surreal images of or deepen our relationship to that character. The choices were so vague that it was necessary to spell out, on “Perhaps all my caveats are just about growing the screen, that what we were seeing pains; after all, we’ve never had such tools was a memory. Jeremy Irons’ played a before. After years of driving the equivalent of a former National Geographic photogra - pher, yet the images presented as his hay wagon, pulling over repeatedly to re-shoe the lacked personality or character. This horses, we now have Ferraris at our disposal. ” was a missed opportunity for projection to be subtle, informative, and penetrating—especially since it directing, Sugg says his presence at Beethoven arriving on a horse and was clear that no expense was spared. rehearsals allowed him to create a walking; the latter were brief, dream - (Projections played a key role in 33 visual language as the spoken like, and completely captivating even Variations . Moisés Kaufman’s play, language evolved. It certainly paid off. as they served as an entry into the which he also directed, was As you entered the theatre, there was a text. Proportion was a key virtue: A developed in a workshop process that series of images depicting handwritten subway stop in Bonn was indicated allowed the designers to work on the musical notation dissolving on a dark by a perfectly scaled station name play as it was being created. It centers stage. They were small, intriguing, and a small “exit” icon. It was just on Katherine Brandt, a Beethoven and human—you didn’t know what enough. An airplane flight to Bonn scholar, who is racing to unearth the was coming, but there was some - consisted of nothing more than the secret behind one of the composer’s thing intimate, curious, and inviting view out the window of the plane, soft

works before she succumbs to Lou about them. clouds, a level horizon, and the sound s u c r Gehrig’s disease. In a parallel track, Throughout the evening, there was of flying—allowing the audience to a M n a

we see Beethoven obsessively a satisfying collaboration between the share that suspension of time and o J : s

struggling over the composition of the sets and projections, making it all the space that is air travel. The simplicity o t o h P

92 • June 2009 • Lighting &Sound America of the work in 33 Variations left room contract yet; it just means you can try effect. The images were beautiful, for the audience to have an experience and get one. terrifying, and as repetitive as a that was far more successful than the hammer—they were perfectly suited to fitful gyrations of other, more highly Broadway and way the text and the director’s vision of. The produced, events. Careful, considered off Broadway problem with Notes from Underground thought will beat out mega-production (Another, very different use of is that the play itself relentlessly every time. projections was seen in Notes from depressing. I had a wonderful time; (Then there was Rock of Ages , Underground , adapted by Robert now I just want to kill myself. which transferred from Off Broadway. Woodruff and Bill Camp from The same projection designer, Peter It’s a jukebox musical drawing on the Dostoevsky’s novella and staged at Nigrini, along with Peggy Eisenhauer, songs of ‘80s hair bands. Beowulf Yale Repertory Theatre. The produc - is credited with the “imaging” on the Borrit’s set depicts the interior of a tion featured extensive use of video, new musical 9 to 5 , based on the hit Sunset Strip nightclub; Zachary including 10'-high closeups of the 1980 film. Congratulations to Scott Borovay’s projections fill out other face of Camp, who also starred. Pask on his Drama Desk nomination locations and add a music-video spin David Zinn was the set designer and for this show, but, again, I invite the to the musical numbers. The lighting is Mark Barton the lighting designer.) voters to watch it without the by Jason Lyons. The show acquired a Notes from Underground is the kind “imaging,” which, in this case, is a guilty-pleasure status among of projection design that, so far, thirty-nine by twenty 24mm LED wall reviewers, many whom have fond Broadway rejects. Deceptively simple, with a Rosco diffusion located about memories of Poison, Whitesnake, and its effect is layered and complex, and 6" downstage. It is the “what” that early MTV.) the specific hand of the director is tells you where you are; it is the Rock of Ages will be far more apparent. With projections by Peter driving force in all the transitions. To enjoyable if you check some parts of Nigrini, it was a mesmerizing and not mention it along with the set in your brain at the door—but enjoyable consistent, if disturbing, vision. any nomination seems totally capri - it is. The projections are frequently Woodruff is not a director who tells cious. Once Sunday in the Park was hilarious. It would be hard to judge you what he wants and you go do it; nominated, can only brilliant Brits be this work by the usual dramaturgical rather, he creates an atmosphere, a nominated? Or are we suffering a standards. “Basically, I tried to make way of telling the story that is backlash? But I digress. the rest of the creative team laugh,” complex, layered, deep, and thorough, In 9 to 5 , choices are made to Borovay told me. “When they cracked then leaves an artist room for genius. present images on the LED wall both up, I knew it was good.” He jumped In this case, the projections were with and without diffusion. The into the show when it was only three actual characters; although the only diffusion makes the image less sharp, weeks away from its first preview Off face we saw was Bill Camp’s, but still readable; and, I have to say, I Broadway; the set was there, with an relentlessly speaking into his camera, prefer a world without pixels. The LED wall and no one to feed it. The we were given the faceless bodies of scene-setting images all feel apt and wall exists in all its unvarnished those against whom he rails to great of a graphic piece with the set; it’s the truth—there’s no RP or voile to soften it, but it’s placed far enough away from the action to not be distressing. No one stands directly in front of it, and, in the rock-‘n’-roll context, it makes total sense. The collaboration between projections and the lighting is very satisfying; if anything, I wished that Borovay would have tossed aside some of his dramaturgical training and rocked out a bit more. Aside from that, and for the purposes of history, it is worth mentioning that he was able to secure the very first Broadway contract for projection design as part of USA Local 829. Being in the union doesn’t mean you get a union The opening sequence from 9 to 5 ; the lighting is by Jules Fisher and Ken Posner.

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • June 2009 • 93 PROJECTIONS

movement that sometimes made me of digital projection. I learned that a hay wagon, pulling over repeatedly to dizzy. The animation is as good as downstage plastic can tame the LED re-shoe the horses, we now have anything you’d see on TV, and that wall and make it creamy and human. I Ferraris at our disposal. Every idea we seems to me part of the issue. The learned that the European model of have is quickly and powerfully made transitions, as well as certain numbers creating the visual design in rehearsals visible, often to the delight of hungry staged with the images dancing with the director and company pays directors. Technology is changing so along, feel like commercials. Once we off—more collaboration is always bet - rapidly that mere enter a world of TV commercial ter; it keeps the edges blurry. Modesty mastery of the tools is perhaps the perfection as our standard, the and investment in the text will outshine challenge; the vigilance to keep these theatre, as we know it, is doomed. any amount of lumens. I learned that tools “of the theatre” may be yet to Adolphe Appia, arguably the father of there are any number of talented pro - come. Directors most of all need to modern set design, wrote: “The two jection—or whatever you want to call invest in understanding the power of primary conditions for the artistic it—designers who were all born after projection in order to use it most skill - display of the human body are these: They’re Playing Our Song , my debut fully. It’s huge, it’s bright, it’s a light that gives it plastic value, and show, “revolutionized” Broadway with moving, and it’s seductive —obedient an arrangement of the setting that its use of projection in 1979. And I where actors can be stubborn —but it gives importance to [the human learned what I already knew: Projection has no heart of its own. A performance body’s] attitudes and movements.” is the perfect tool for creating transi - has to be created from it. tions; it just has to be used thoughtful - Oh, and by the way, I’m still Summing up ly. And I learned what I never tire of wondering what’s up with the Tonys So what did I learn from all of this? I learning: It is the humans I have come and the Drama Desk. Please learned that the 16K Barco video to commune with when I enter a the - recognize the work of these many projector has replaced the 1200 ORC atre; I wish my soul to be penetrated. talented designers; don’t separate slide projector I used in The Who’s Perhaps all my caveats are just them from the set designers. And, if Tommy for front projection on scrims. about growing pains; after all, we’ve you have any questions, Intro to That says a lot about both audience never had such tools before. After Projection Design meets every expectation, as well as the economies years of driving the equivalent of a Thursday in New Haven.

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