invisionary » Lighting

Rhino Staging

joe — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:38:05 +0000

I just got hired on with Rhino Staging to do crew work on shows all around the local area (Portland, OR and Washington venues) Unfortunately they don’t do productions but they do supply crew and operators for a lot of big acts, so I’m looking forward to getting to know some more locals in the industry in the this area.

An Evening with Groucho

joe — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:30:23 +0000

I had the good fortune to be tapped by CTPA to light Frank Ferrante’s “An Evening with Groucho.” (Thanks, Kelly!) It was a relatively simple plot to come up with based on his needs and the cues he provided us with. Rick from CTPA did me a huge favor and hung the plot, and I came in the next day to focus it… only to found out on day of show that Frank wanted to be 4 feet further downstage. So, quick LD thinking, I lost the 3rd Electric and refocused the remaining instruments for the looks he wanted. All in all, it worked out pretty good, I got the show programmed quickly and then ran through a couple of very fast tech rehearsals with Frank making changes along the way. What a great show, he and his music director are both incredibly talented. Frank was very friendly and generous with praise for all our hard work. Hope to put some pics up soon!

No Opera wraps up!

joe — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:02:08 +0000

We just wrapped up a very successful run of No Opera at the Op’ry House Tonight! at Love’s Street Playhouse. We all had a lot of fun, very few technical difficulties and the cast and crew managed to keep things going strong even when the majority of us got sick in the last week of the show. We’re now gearing up for a summer show / theater camp for the kids and following that “Leaving Iowa.”

Cabaret!

joe — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:57:03 +0000

Spent the day loading in and focusing Cabaret at CTPA and had a really good time. Once that was done the patch was set up and the show was ready to go. There was some last minute panic because of a weird problem with the fire alarms in the air handlers triggering the house lights (as if in an emergenc) but thankfully our TD Kelly took the bull by the horns, so to speak, and sorted it out in time for the show. The show was incredible, it was better than the troupe I saw perform it on Broadway many years ago. This production was done by Windwood Theatricals.

It’s a lighting weekend

joe — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:02:07 +0000

Spent a good chunk of Saturday prepping fixtures at CTPA for Cabaret which loads in Thursday morning. We have a bunch of new ETC Source4′s and they all needed bench-focusing. We also pulled all the existing fixtures down and benched them as well, including a ton of older 6×9 and 6×16 Altman’s. Today we’ll begin actually hanging the plot. Also, in between all of that I’m trying to get the lighting in order for No Opera which is due to start tech rehearsals next week, but that’s a bit less complicated and it’s right next door, so I can go do it in my pajamas if need be!

Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts – Grand Reopening

joe — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:04:15 +0000

Jeff and Melinda Leuthold of Love Street Playhouse invited me to join them and their daughter Ellen for a trip up to Longview, Washington to check out the grand re-opening of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. I immediately fell in love with the space. It was built in 1925, almost demolished in the 80′s and saved at the last minute by the eruption of Mount Saint Helen’s (talk about luck!) They recently completed a multimillion dollar renovation, and the place is amazing. It reminds me a lot of the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City. The stage was amazing, with a completely new grid / fly system, electrics, dimming and ETC Ion control over ETCNet3. After seeing the theater, I knew I’d love to work here and it was close to home, so I applied to be on the lighting crew. I met with their technical director Kelly Ragsdale and was brought on-board! My first show with CTPA is March 25th – Curtis Adams – Magic that Rocks!

A Christmas Pudding

joe — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:35:08 +0000

We were able to convince Melinda over at Love Street that she needed a show for Christmas this year (It’s A Wonderful Life was wonderful last year) so in short order she was able to put together A Christmas Pudding, which was a show with actors reading different Christmas themed monologues, along with choir pieces and musical interludes. Everyone did a great job, as always, and it really brought the warmth of the season to our little playhouse! Merry Christmas!

Steel Magnolias – Track lighting, anyone?!

joe — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:24:32 +0000

Just wrapped up a wonderful production of Steel Magnolias at Love Street. We had a blast and the ladies did a great job. The show turned out to be very popular and we had a lot of full houses. During the show strike we all took turns putting on wigs and getting our photos taken (No! I will not post them)

It’s A Wonderful Life

joe — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:59:06 +0000

Christmas was a lot of fun this year with the Love Street production of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life – A Radio Play’ – It’s always fun to do a production for Christmas and this year was no exception. From a lighting perspective it was mostly a simple wash with a few practicals and specials as needed. The cast performed a lot of the radio sound effects live on stage with their various foley apparatus. The show was well received, we had a full house most nights! Merry Christmas!

You’re wrong, Mr. Flint.. I am capable of… lighting…

joe — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:52:49 +0000

We just wrapped up on the Loves Street Playhouse production of Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand. This time around, we had the time to purchase all the lighting gear and only needed to rent 3 ETC SourceFour units for specials. For the main control board, I had them purchase the ETC Smartfade 1248 which is an exceptional board for small theaters. The show was great, and most nights the small house was packed. Everyone involved did an amazing job, and the lights didn’t look too bad either! Next up, just in time for Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life. I’ll have some shots up soon.