World by Design

Why does farm equipment often resemble creatures?

2012-01-22T17:06:00.000-06:00

Old Case Wheat Harvester - Photo by Heidi Hoffer

At the Payne County Exposition Center, there's a museum of vintage and antique cars, vacuum cleaners, and farm equipment. This Case Wheat Harvester's "head" looked like so many different animals to me. I could see a floppy eared dog, a chameleon, a happy fish face, and more.

http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/forum/62391.html
Above is the link to the website where I found a picture of what I think this creature looked like unfolded and out in the field.

If you go to the website for the full image of the old harvestor, you'll be in for a treat of old seed lore and growing food. Their pictures are particularly nice! In the above image of the old harvester, submitted by DavidInAmityOr,UsdaZ8 on January 31, 2009 at 10:58 am PST, I can really see a resemblance to a dashound, or a lizard, or a long-tailed duck.

The John Deere tractors also caught my eye. It was night time, and the tractor arena was lit by Mercury-Vapor lights. The tractor collectors had just finished a parade around the expo center. This imposing John Deere was my introduction to the beauty of tractors. This fellow looked stout and ready, like a prize-fighter.

Photo by Heidi Hoffer.

The John Deere group of tractors shows they came in all sizes. Huge tires and strong looking steel horizontals made it clear these tractors were designed to pull anything and featured strong power take offs to make any attached piece of equipment work. In the background of this photo you can see the revolving metal basket ride with its star shaped lights.

Photo by Heidi Hoffer.

The red International Haverster tractor had exceptionally well-designed lines. The design of the grille is of course meant to allow fresh cool air into the engine. It's creators actually took the time to round the ends of the grilles and line up interior screw holes through rounded openings as well. The fronts of both the John Deere and the IH were impressive.

I looked hard to find an Oliver tractor. It seems this part of the country favored Deere. However, my search was rewarded with an Oliver that looked like the Oliver I rode back in my dairy summer in Pennsylvania.

Photo by Heidi Hoffer.

Massive strong machines meant for hard work were also designed to look nice: rounded corners, good-looking grilles, useful headlights, and powerful reassuring structures. It's no wonder people collect them and refurbish them.

Soweto Theatre Jabulani Update

2012-01-05T16:04:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Denis Hutchinson, Theatre Consultant on the project, I have three new photos of the theatre complex to share!

The land in front of the complex will get a beautiful paving design.

See all those dangling wires? It looks like the proscenium theatre is getting its fly system in order.

This theatre looks like it has its sound absorption materials in place.

Construction Site - Jabulani Performing Arts Complex in Soweto

2011-10-16T21:04:00.001-05:00

Construction Zone: Jabulani – Soweto’s New Theatre Complex

These aluminum studs are cut-offs from the construction of walls within the theatre complex. The complex is due to open soon.

Since these images are of the theatre venues, offices and shops still under construction, it makes sense to apply a little imagination to see the full impact of the spaces. The photos were taken with only existing light,and are somewhat artistic in and of themselves.

Here’s a link http://www.inkanyeli.co.za/index.html to the website where you can see the artist’s original image of what the complex will look like. The order of the colours has changed, but the cubic collection is prominent and exciting to see on the landscape.

Looking from the West at the side of the Theatre. You can see each theatre space seems to have its own cube.

Theatre consultant Denis Hutchinson invited me to take a look at the new theatre being constructed in the Jabulani area of Soweto, Johannesburg. As Theatre Consultant, he worked with the architects to get the most valuable theatre environment for the community, audience, actor and technicians. The new theatre has three performing arts venues seating 420, 180 and 90 people respectively.

The theatre is a forward-looking reaction to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, promoting a lasting legacy for South Africans. One goal is to evolve Soweto from a bedroom community into a normalized city on its own merits. Executive Mayor, Amos Masondo said that the theatre would not just provide jobs during the construction phase but also provide on-going employment for cast and crew members such as actors, musicians, dancers, directors and singers. It is designated as a World Class Theatre Venue.

The Jabulani Theatre under construction in July, 2010. This is a view looking nearly East. This side is going to have the large words “Jabulani Theatre” on it.

This view from the audience seating level on the main floor is an interesting composition of curved and diagonal lines. You can see the proscenium arch walkway above on the right.

The complex features a 420-seater main proscenium venue fully fitted with wings, orchestra pit, fly tower and buttress.

The proscenium opening shows the curved pit fitted in steel, and the scaffolding in place to work the rigging points for the fly system.

This tall view of the proscenium theatre from the backstage door looking stage right shows the temporary plywood surface covering the steel girders in place for the soon - to - arrive stage floor.

What is really interesting is the view from the very top of the proscenium arch. This is going to be a hallway. This view of the consultant discussing the location of the ceiling is from on top of the proscenium arch looking toward the audience seating.

This view of the proscenium venue is from the back of the balcony. Soon there will be carpeting, seats, and aisle lights.

This view from the audience seating level on the main floor is an interesting composition of curved and diagonal lines. You can see the proscenium arch walkway above on the right.

The complex also includes two smaller "black box" venues of 180 and 90 seats, respectively.

This is what the black box looked like a few days ago. Work lights and ceiling are in. Image is supplied by Denis Hutchinson, the Theatre Consultant.

This is the smaller of the two black box theatres. The catwalk system and surrounding balcony are similar in both theatres.

The footprints are a reminder for me to add that other amenities, such as bathrooms, offices, food preparation areas, library and workrooms are also being built. We traveled across some very dusty and very new surfaces to find the costume shop, wardrobe, make-up rooms, offices and loading doors to the scene shop and storage areas.

This work-dusty stairwell will lead from the second floor proscenium arch area down to the hallways leading to the main foyer.

The plasterers are masters at throwing “mud” on vertical surfaces. The curved walls of the foyer blend into the hallways upstairs.

As with all construction sites, entrepreneurs find a shady spot to set up food service.

Through the construction scaffolding of the theatre complex you can see the famous Jabulani Amphitheatre where in 1985 Zindzi Mandela read her father’s letter to President P. W. Botha regarding the ”… preconditions for his release and the ultimate negotiations with the ANC.” (Kgolane, Alfred Rudolph. Celebrating and Commemorating Twenty-Years of the Harare Declaration. Web accessed 10/9/2011. http://www.sahistory.org.za/articles/harare-declaration ).

And so you see that even with the creation of a new entertainment complex progress in South Africa mingles with history as well as makes history in its own right.

New Theatre Being Built!

2011-07-17T06:47:00.000-05:00

A new theatre is being built in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg South Africa, and I got the cook's tour. I'll provide more photos in a later post.

Grahamstown National Arts Festival

2011-07-12T04:59:00.000-05:00

I had the honor of being the guardian for one of the two University of Pretoria productions performing in the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. This entailed helping to drive a 10 seat van with a trailer full of luggage on a journey of about 12 hours. Since there was no scenery, the costumes and the props rode in the van with us. There were so many different kinds of theatre going on at the Festival that it was difficult to choose which ones to watch. Eventually I learned to rely on The Cue – the daily newspaper. U.P’s production of As Night Falls was awarded an Ovation Award and featured on the front page of the Cue!

The long road to Grahamstown, South Africa featured potholes with giraffes's head sticking up out of them. This is a common occurrence, according to South Africans.

One of my Fulbright goals was to experience all of the different kind of theatre I could from Physical theatre to regular drama, with mime and puppet work in between and a little bit of dance, music and singing thrown in. There were more than 3,000 events to choose from in a period of 10 days. Some of these events were international in scope, like the Sky Like Sky production produced by recent Fulbrighter, Emily Mendelsohn with her actors from Rwanda.

Since everyone had to travel from their home institutions, productions had very limited scenery and so the only events that had anything of great scenery spectacle were the Rhodes theatre productions because they were in their own theatre. Lighting for most of the productions was flat and unimaginative because the venues had basic plighting plots and nearly zero time to add specials. I should say that they often had nearly half of a basic lighting plot. In fact most venues were lucky to have 2 or 3 booms or side lighting pipes with three or four instruments and four front lights and four back lights. Lighting designers did their level best with these limitations, and some made it work and some did not. It really depended upon how bendable the choreographers or directors were, to move their actors into the available light.

In this rehearsal photo of As Night Falls, you can see the basic lighting rig. The venues were not always meant to be theatres. This a venue was a school auditorium with a small proscenium stage. To use it for the festival the stage was ignored, a full black curtain was hung in front of its proscenium to become the background and rented bleachers were brough in and placed in the middle of the auditorium floor. Essentially the venue was redone to accomodate the Festival's needs.

In the end, much of the theatre I saw was physical in a way that increased the storytelling aspects of every production. It is subtle, but the University of Pretoria students could quickly point out troupes that had had no physical theatre training. It showed in their incomplete or clumsy movements. Perhaps this is one great reason why they won their award. Below are pictures! As you can see, their lighting designer Bailey Snyman and choregographer Nicky Haskins managed very well including clear use of warm and cool tones for different moments.

Nicky Haskins is an award-winning Choregorapher. Not only did she direct the University of Pretoria students in As Night Falls, she performed, along with Bailey Snyman and others, another strong piece at the festival called Anatomy of Weather. Behind her you can see the rented bleachers with their metal railings and plastic seats. All of the windows are hung with blackout curtains.

Many of the Festival's dance pieces used LED headlamps in their dances, and As Night Falls was no exception. They used the lamps to indicate a pathway for a journey, an owl, and emotional chaos in different scenes. In this scene the actors are lying on the ground, shining the lamps at each other's faces.

The actors also used LED camping lanterns and silver grey folding chairs.

The main focus in the dance was on the woman in white. She represented Helen Martins, South Africa's foremost Outsider Artist.

A fair explanation of Helen Martins' unusual work and bizarre history can be found at http://africanhistory.about.com/od/biography/p/OwlHouse.htm Nicky Haskins is not the only one to use Helen's unusual life as a source of inspiration. Athol Fugard's Road to Mecca does a wonderful job of capturing the Outsider spirit as well.

The actor playing Helen is physically very strong, and not only exhibited total trust and relaxation when being lifted and dragged about in a manner to relate the abuse Helen faced, but also managed a few good lifts of others as well.

The real Helen had her toes amputated as a result of poor footwear, and also hired a man of colour to help her make her camel garden and other glass-imbedded cement sculptures. She was shunned by society because of her relationship with this man and also shunned for her crazy artwork which she exhibited once a year by allowing the public into her studio/home.

The company of dancers in As Night Falls wore black with attention to a 1960's coctail dress style or black trousers and shirts for the men. The period flavour grabbed your attention because it was both formal and funereal. In the picture above you can see an actor wearing a mask, a feathered headpiece, and gesturing her fingers in a feather-like spread.

In this scene the actors are taunting Helen.

They capture her, and forcer her to wear this cage skirt which to me represented a final attempt at being normal.

A social scene - a party - shows Helen cannot manage with other people, and ends in two ugly rapes.

In the end, Helen takes her own life. In this scene, her employee/lover find her and is in anguish, dancing a fantastic solo.

The movement in this piece was really difficult to capture on film. I am adamant about not using flah and really tried to capture the darkness of the piece. I hope that through these photos you can see why As Night Falls received an Ovation Award.

"Sexcetera" with NYU, Sibikwa Arts Center and Wits Drama Department

2011-07-09T06:46:00.001-05:00

Sexcetera – an exploration of space between audience and performer, the right to choose, obsession, fetish, voyeurism, and sequence.

I used Google Sketchup 8 to create this map of the locations for our site specific performances.

Sexcetera was devised by Phyllis Klotz of the Sibikwa Arts Centre, and designed by Heidi Hoffer who is a Fulbright Scholar currently in residence at University of Pretoria Drama. The cast was made up of students from the New York University in collaboration with The University of the Witwatersrand School of the Arts Drama Department, actors from the Sibikwa Arts Centre and students from the Wits Drama Department. It was a site specific piece, with the location being a premium space for musicians and artists as well as the production.

The courtyard of the Wits School of the Arts was our location. This is a view from the middle looking down the stairs towards the foot fetish corner in red light.

This view is from the Lovers doorway looking down towards the Enchained piece with performers in white across from the sultry Priced Right performance.

Lovers was performed by Thapelo Kotolo and Thandi Dube. Audience members had to squeeze their way past these two occupied performers to get into the courtyard.

Smoochers in the pathway.

Tree of Love was written and performed by the musicians Eric Namaky, Siyabulela Sifatyi and Esther Maumela.

The musicians performed love songs...what else?

And to greet you and ignore you was an angel wearing a hard hat, because love is a dangerous business. The Angel was performed by Rasta Mokhere.

An Angel to guide us through and keep an eye on things.

When you crossed the metal bridge past the Lovers if you looked down to your left you could get a top view of the dominatrici in their subterranean lair. Succumb was developed and performed by NYU students.

View from above of the Dominatrix duo.

On the left performing while standing in sinks of water was Chris Couperthwaite and Bulelwa Ndaba in Love Lost written by Jessica Annunziata. Audience members viewed them through open windows.

Love Lost written by Jessica Annunziata could be performed backwards and forwards.

Continuing to the opposite end of the courtyard from the entrance, one got a glimpse of young love/lust on a car seat. Don't worry, they didn't really do it. They just expertly gave animated explanations of the sexual feelings and thought that accompanied their date. Oops and Umms was written by Bulelwa Ndaba in collaboration with Denise Mosiana. It was performed by Denise Mosiana and Taemane Mothobi.

Performers in Oops and Umms talk about the awkwardness of love on a car seat.

My Pastor, My Father, My Pilgrim was developed by Ethan Fishbane, Vuyelwa Maluleke, and Masiza Mbali. This performance was achingly surreal in its depiction of religious bindings.

The performers of My Pastor, My Father, My Pilgrim used long lengths of elastic to stretch and snap their ideas.

A site specific performance about sensuality, sex and acceptance is not without its body image artist. Caged was choreographed and performed by Louisa Levy.

The workshop built a "cage" for the actor in Caged to athletically manouver within while checking her reflection in shards of dangling mirrors.

The viewing of Caged brought the audience to the top of the stairs. Just underneath the stairs, lurking like a sensuous troll in a sequinned outfit was the performance of Basadi which was choreographed and performed by Freddie Nkantolo Zwane.

Freddie Nkantolo Zwane performed near- contortionist moves in his dance of obsession with the curvy lounge chair.

Priced Right was developed and performed by Ashalin Singh and Chanelle Sardinha. This performance was reminiscent of the window displays of prostitutes in Amsterdam. Audience members got a glimpse of the power of money through the safety of a window.

Priced Right performers Ashalin Singh and Chanelle Sardinha exhibit some of what can be done for money.

Opposite the performance above was a unique poetic performance demonstrating need of acceptance and friendship and comany, and how those very things are often harmful.

Enchained was developed and performed by Raezeen Wentworth and Keith Leroyal Smith.

These performers performed circus style nearly - arial manouvers which were not completely arial because these performers were chained to the railing above.

Continuing in this basement level of the courtyard, the audience came acroos a scene of foot fetish. Foot Fetish was performed by Lesego Ngwato and Lucky Tshimbudzi.

What footsore Nurse wouldn't like to have a nice foot rub?

Lipstick was performed by Thokozane Nsibande. This actor sat on a swing, putting on his lipstick while audience membders went past him to the Foot Fetish performance or the Succumb dominatrix scene.

The tallest actor was given the task of using a bit of lipstick and a hand mirror on a swing suspended from the bridge above. He borrowed a swanky ginger coloured wig, some ladie's clothes, and voila! - a masterpiece of cross-dressing innocence.

The final destination on this level was the Succumb performance by Amanda Hillsberg and Jessica Annunziata.

The desire for a normal life was juxtaposed with the desire for a dominatrix life in this performance of Succumb by Amanda Hillsberg and Jessica Annunziata.

To quote the student Assistant Director Chris Couperthwaite in collaboration with the cast,

“The process for Sexcetera was highly personal and very organic. Grappling with the topic of sex is not easy for many people but we broke down the walls that we had built about sex, discovering as much about ourselves as we did this topic. With the direction of Phyllis Klotz we were exposed to a world of fantasy, sensuality and sexuality, working with sexologists, a dominatrix and, some of the cast observing professional strippers. We unanimously agreed upon not merely delivery of the expected but rather a highly thought provoking “sexhibition”, a show that is a creative collaboration of different voices, backgrounds, cultures and beliefs. We have grown together as a cast, exploring paths that we would not have had an opportunity to explore in any other way. It has been an unforgettable process of learning and engaging that will have lasting effects.”

Assistant Designer for the production was Chiara Moliaro. Stage Manager was Busizwe Mtshali. Assistant Stage Manager was Kgomotso Lwazi Mthembu. Crew members were Luke Webster, Darylene Pillay, Tyrel Van der Merwe, Chulekazi Mahlangeni, Karabo Sekgale, Crystal Vittee, Nicolette Spykerman, and Themba Twala.

Piper Band Scottie

2011-06-22T01:49:00.001-05:00

The Pretoria Boys Gathering was held at Pretoria Boys High School in Pretoria, Gauteng on Saturday, 11 June 2011. I fell into this event whilst walking about with my friends Richard and Susan. We heard the drums and the pipers of course, and walked into the boy's school to see a huge gathering and competition happening. What fun; great sound, sharp and colorful uniforms, and wonderful vendors of everything under the sun. The pipers were fantastic.

Not all entertainment is dramatic theatre, but it is full of characters and drama!

The clans were serious about their uniforms to the point that tucked into the stocking of the right leg is a sgian dubh knife.

And the bands performed well, with several judges scrutinizing their every drumstick twirl and bag pipe note. Here are a two of the judges:

The African Sky Pipe Band below is taking the field of competition.

And since it was also a gathering, a rasher of characters abounded.

The competitors checked each other out...

whilst a master (Transvaal Scottish) looks on...

Wonderful afternoon, ne? If anyone knows how to identify the bands according to their plaids, I would love to know that as I have pics of many bands and the drum heads are not always facing to where I can read the names, drop me a comment. Thanks!

SPIOENKOP NATURE RESERVE

2011-06-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

A brief visit to SPIOENKOP NATURE RESERVE allowed me to get close to the animals such as these giraffes.

Jesus Christ Superstar in Johannesburg, South Africa

2011-06-11T05:40:00.002-05:00

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the actor on the acrylic cross in the ascension scene. The cross unit was brought up from the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. It was run by hydraulics and they brought in a master engineer stagehand to initiate the setup and supervise its use in the rehearsals. At one moment in the show it was a flat cross shaped platform about 2 meters up in the air on top of which Caesar sings.

Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson, who took me on the University of Johannesburg tour with his theatre consulting group, brought me onboard for observing his work on Jesus Christ Superstar. Denis, or Hutch as he likes to be called sometimes, had seen JCS through several incarnations and an Asian tour. His Grand MA programmer is none other than Glenn Duncan, the programmer for Winnie the Opera at the State Theatre.

Jesus Christ Superstar Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson and Grand MA Programmer Glenn Duncan are illuminated by the bright lights of the ascension scene.

Part of the alure of this design is that it is primarily a moving light rig. There are very few conventional instruments in the plan. I was curious how Denis would get the dramatic moments to be different from the rock and roll moments. His biggest challenge was to create a lighting design that the original lighting designer did not disagree with yet was on a small enough rig for touring and fitting into arenas and smaller venues. Denis' design in this Montecasino Johannesburg incarnation is largely his own, with the cues and the looks the way HE wanted them. I believe the introduction of moving lights to this vintage musical does change and make the look more fluid and crisp.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the highly balanced geometry of the moving lights as their beams are revealed by the haze in the air.

Glenn likes to organize a palette of movers (moving lights - in this case ALL Vari-*Lites) in such a way that he can call up a variety of groups and operate them in absolutely any manner a designer could wish for. Glenn stated that he wished this palette could be arranged alphabetically after the icons are made. I believe that would make his fingers flash even faster. He and Denis managed to move the whole design off a Hog II onto the Grand MA. Denis was able to call for individual instruments or specific systems and Glenn would have them up and moving before Denis had finished his sentence. Amazing.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see that in addition to the moving lights, specific characters were picked out of the crowd my two followspots, in this case, two human operators up from Cape Town were running the followspots: two new Juliet folowspots that were so bright and beautiful Denis considered taking them down a peg with gel.

The set was painted completely photo grey. The set had absolutely no colour in it, and the environment's colour came only from the lighting. Quite a bold choice and very excellent decision because the cripsness and clarity of each environment was paramount.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the back wall of the set - the stonework - is completely grey. It's colours come from the lighting. This is the scene where Caesar is trying to talk to J.C.

In this rehearsal photo of Jesus Christ Superstar (Sets by Keith Anderson, Lighting by Denis Hutchinson, Photos by Heidi Hoffer) you can see the hazers are working well to create long beams of light over the audience's heads in this ascencion scene.

The MontecasinoTeatro is the theatre that was built specifically to house The Lion King. It has limited wing space and is very cramped backstage. A black theatre drape upstage hid the dressing rooms and also hid the Carbon Dioxide fog machine with its huge tank. The design team were especially happy with the low lying fog they could get with the machine. In addition to that, they had hazers in the air to facilitate the look of the ascension. The beams of light reached out into the audience.

The Learned Ladies South African Style

2011-06-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

In reality, doing a play by Moliere in any language is a _mouthwrappedaroundallofthewords_challenge.

For the University of Pretoria, I decided to keep things simple yet Baroquely fluffy by streamlining the designs to dancewear, camping clothes, pantaloons, tights and jeans with jackets and overskirts of any period flavour. Imagine, if you will, Cirque du Soleil meets Seattle Goth and you've got an idea of our inspiration. Not everything was 50/50 but the character's stock personalities (archetypical stock characters for the 18th century) came out well.

Alise is the doddering sister of Chrysalus....we did change the gender on this one.

And Belise is the romantically confused sister of Chrysalus.

Pretoria's Magnificent Aula Theatre: In the Middle of Rennovation

2011-05-14T01:53:00.005-05:00

The Aula Theatre at the University of Pretoria

The Aula Theatre was designed by Karel Joost in 1951, and built between the years of 1956 and 1958. It has 1012 seats and was the major opera venue in Gauteng until the State Theatre was built in the early 1980’s.

Photo source: http://repository.up.ac.za/upspace/handle/2263/6795

Leon Pienaar did a sketchup model of the theatre based on Joost’s plans in 2008. One can find it on Goodgle 3D Warehouse along with other University of Pretoria buildings.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=e9264075e30cccbbf1e3e89aa55457a5&ct=mdcc&start=48

You can see the fly tower is huge, and the glass fronted lobby brings a lot of natural light.

Currently the Aula is going through some massive upgrades so much so that I was able to hold a lighting workshop with their brand new ETC Sensor dimmers in March before anyone could use them. The renovation continues with the lighting bars being installed on motorized winches, and a new roof and lobby upgrades. I encourage you to click on the photos below to enlarge them in order to appreciate the detail.

A lighting designer sitting in the house seats would look house left to see a rather large Reiger pipe organ that takes up prime lighting location real estate. I have been told the organ gets played once a year. It is getting a computer assisted something or other to make it even better.

The photo shows the house left side of the Aula theatre auditorium featuring the Reiger organ. The theatre’s designer was not concerned about lighting angles or positions. If you look above the audience seats at the ceiling, you see the spines or fins that support the roof but also get in the way of angles for lighting positions.

The stage is completely empty now because they have been working on the rigging. This theatre used to house operas until the Pretoria State Theatre was built. It looks huge, doesn't it? The front view of the stage shows how magnificent the space is. It is certainly not a dark theatre. The lighting desk in the blond wooden box dead center because the designers and technicians abandoned the original lighting control room for the better viewing angle.

The close-up of the Reiger organ shows how huge it is. I would really love to play it! (I got to play the organ at the Masonic Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma…)

The Aula Theatre runs its lights from an ETC lighting desk. Johnnie Heinemann, Facilities Manager, is looking into upgrading to an ION or an EOS. It was very nice to find ETC equipment at the University of Pretoria.

In fact, the Aula theatre has brand new ETC Sensor dimmers! Pictured here are the old dimmers, and pictured below are the new ETC Sensor dimmers which take up a lot less space.

The view of the Aula theatre’s auditorium from the stage gives you a fair idea of what more than 1000 seats looks like. You can see the FOH lighting positions are just rectangular slots in the ceiling. Trust me when I say they are scary to get to, and even worse to work with. This access is something that is addressed in the Aula’s renovation.

The fly gallery photo shows four operating levels. Handlines are on one level up, and the motorized lighting bar winches are on an upper level. The lighting bars have been lowered to proscenium height in this photo.

In this photo of the rope locks for the linesets, you can appreciate how tight the flyspace is from upstage to downstage. Below are great details of a rope lock and the take-up sheaves.

Rope lock at the Aula Theatre

Take-up sheaves at the Aula Theatre

Just looking at the hemp control rope made me look around for gloves…

The electric winches are used for the electric bars and run from this unit on the flyrail level. The winches themselves are up above on another level and look like this:

And below 1is a close-up of one of the winches with the aircraft cable wrapped around its drum.

This photo above is the view of the Aula stage from the middle fly gallery position.I was standing above the proscemium but below the top fly height looking stage right when I took this picture.

And you get to the various fly galleries by climbing up this long ladder. This photo is from the bottom of the ladder.

I’ll close this blog post with a photo of the Aula team and myself. From left to right: Mark White of ETC Europe, Johnnie Heinemann, Heine Grobler, Heidi Hoffer, Hein Zentgraf of T&A Lighting/Prosound, Boy Magnussen of T&A Lighting/Prosound, and Ian Blair the General Manager of T&A Lighting/Prosound. I really appreciated being able to interview the team members, and be shown around the Aula Theatre in the middle of its renovation. Photo was taken by Phuti.

Dead Computer

2011-04-17T04:38:00.000-05:00

Hello World by Design blog readers,

Did you know computers are very expensive here in South Africa? I had the opportunity to find out when my tried and true Sony Vaio laptop expired. Shame. To sum it up, I spent hundreds of Rand trying to revive it, and it is a total loss. This accounts for the hiatus in my blogging. I am shopping for a replacement computer.

I just loved the electrical engineer's collection of computer parts and work tables in the offices where I tried to have my computer revived. The fellow in the picture managed to save the information from my hard drive.

I have been extremely busy with teaching two design classes at the University of Pretoria and traveling to Cape Town to interview stage managers, production managers and directors from the Artscape Theatre to the Spier Winery amphitheatre. Photos and reports should come soon. But in the meantime I am also designing a show at the University of the Witwatersrand, assisting on the lighting ( and doing some scene painting, too) for Winnie the Opera--at the Pretoria State Theatre, doing a scenic art workshop at the Market Theatre centered around sculptural destruction and ageing...and designing two shows for University of Pretoria.

The 1,155 seat open-air Spier Amphitheatre in Stellenbosch near Cape Town was the site of a fine evening of Afrikaans Cabaret. The performance was In Villiers de Villiers and Amanda Strydom with Music Director Janine Neethling. This outdoor venue has become a sought-after venue for productions ranging from opera to drama since its inception some years ago. It is also the primary venue for Spier's annual Summer Festival, which runs from November to March. This musical evening was part of the Woordfees Festival week. I specifically interviewed Spier Amphitheatre's world-class Stage Manager Ronel Jordaan whose stage management skills have taken her on Broadway shows through most of Asia and the UK as well as South Africa.

Wednesday, March 16th I took nearly 30 UP students,UPArts staff and faculty to the Cirque Du Soleil's venue in Johannesburg for a much sought after backstage tour. A full report will follow in another blogpost but here's a teaser.

Backstage Tour of Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco in Johannesburg at the Coca-Cola Dome.

Saturday, March 26th I provided a huge all-day lighting workshop at University of Pretoria courtesy of Johnny Heinemann and his UPArts colleagues and Ian Blair of Prosound, the company that provided all of the ETC lighting equipment and EOS and ION lighting boards. We had nearly 50 participants including professional designers, faculty and students.We also had two professional Tango dancers who brought the rhythms of the dance into our bodies so we could design and light two Tangoes in the afternoon.

Prosound (http://www.prosound.co.za/) provided ETC lighting equipment for a huge lighting workshop at the University of Pretoria March 26. Heidi Hoffer directed the participants through many hands-on lighting applications including accessories, lens sizes and lighting two competitive Tangoes.

The Market Theatre, Johannesburg

2011-02-01T06:10:00.011-06:00

The Market Theatre is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s most famous theatres, largely because its directors have been unafraid to produce work that directly reflects and ignites the thoughts and actions of South Africa’s past present and most importantly future cultural history. Their mission statement is “To create an authentic South African cultural experience committed to providing the highest level of artistic excellence in all aspects of the performing and visual arts in which the education and development of a diverse community of artists, audiences and technicians is assured.”

The Market Theatre Website

Did you notice they actually have the word “technician” in their mission statement? That alone puts them above many others.

Nomvula Molepo is the Market Theatre’s resident lighting designer.

I visited with the Market Theatre’s resident lighting designer, Nomvula Molepo. Her experience with the Market Theatre is from the ground up. As a young woman, she attended a Market Theatre production but found herself very interested in the lighting and what made those electrifying moments. (pun intended). She joined the lucky few who were apprenticed to the Market Theatre’s production team, and found herself investing extra hours with the lighting control boards, the lighting instruments, and generally bugging the lighting guys to tell her why this worked that way and so on. In the end, they found she had a flair for designing lights and organizing crews. She’d found her calling. Today, Nomvula is an international designer whose work has taken her to Sweden, Austria and Birmingham. In Johannesburg at the Market Theatre, though, is where she hopes to bring more young women into the technical fold.

The lobby of the Market Theatre exudes a cosmopolitan flavour. The feeling of living history comes from the regionally identifiable red floor tiles in the lobby. The feeling is both welcoming and rich.

Just off the lobby is a bar that caters drinks and food to an extremely diverse clientele before, in-between, and after shows. The bar has a more modern, Art – Deco style to it. There is seating upstairs, too, which you can see in the photo.

The entrance to The Main Theatre is very unassuming, and truly looks more like a forgotten corner of a museum. This unassuming entrance actually contrasts nicely with the exceedingly professional work done inside. Vestiges of the old fruit and vegetable market days are preserved as well as the tastefully done plaques honoring theatre patrons. I particularly liked the vintage fire fighting equipment. Tidbits of the past inluding the wall of historical photos reminds the audience member that the Market Theatre has been a driving force in the cultural direction of South Africa for a long time.

My tour with Nomvula included the large thrust theatre called The Main Theatre. It has a brand new Grand MA Ultra Lite lighting console. They worked with DWR Distribution for its purchase and their training. Nomvula says they are very happy with it. Here’s a link to DWR’s story about their new Grand MA.

DWR Distribution, The Market Theatre, and their GrandMA

The Main Theatre is a thrust with balcony seating. It seats 387 people. The sound operator sits house left (our right in the photo) just under the balcony. The sound operator’s table is just visible to the right of the center right column in the photo.

The lighting rig for the thrust theatre includes both conventional lighting instruments as well as moving lights. Instruments can be reached by catwalks. You can see the speakers hanging left and right just in front of the proscenium near the South African flags.

The setting on the stage is for the powerful “Songs of Migration” written and directed by James Ngcobo. The setting and costumes were designed by Noluthando Lobese and the lighting was designed by Wesley Francis. I saw this performance Sunday January 16, and it was an excellent capture of the music that travels with and develops because of physical relocations many South Africans and other workers from nearby countries have experienced. I have since tried to look up every CD the featured performers Hugh Masakela, Sibongile Khumal and Gloria Bosman have done.

Walking up the stairs to the Barney Simon Theatre lobby provides another elegant pathway into the past. You can see the eclectic mixture of industrial air handlers, the Art Deco arched windows and the wrought iron canopy over the stairs. The stair risers are set for easy stepping, with lower than normal height. Someone walking on them would just look elegant.

The upstairs lobby entrance to the Barney Simon Theatre boasts the iconic arched windows, indicative of much of the Market Theatre’s architecture. It really used to be the old Indian Fruit Market. Future plans include making the Market theatre and its environs more “green” to include a rooftop green-space where herbs and some food can be grown for the restaurant. This would bring the Market theatre almost full circle, closer to its Indian Fruit Market heritage.

In the Barney Simon Theatre looking up you can see the fixed battens or pipes but also you can see the wooden curved arches that support the high cathedral ceiling, almost like what you’d see in a big European barn.

This view from the balcony where the sound designer and operators have their equipment shows the ceiling full of instruments and also the plugging strips into which lights get plugged.

This view shows the full room—almost. The arched supports support the roof, and the lighting instruments and their pipes are above these for better lighting angles. The Barney Simon Theatre seats 120 people.

The patch panel for the Barney Simon theatre is located through a door from the lighting designer’s office. When an instrument gets hung on a batten or pipe, it gets plugged into a numbered circuit. At the other end of the circuit is a plug-end that can get plugged into any available dimmer on this panel.

Their small 120 seat theatre which is called the Laager Theatre is like a high-ceilinged classroom, with no backstage space. The seats are bleachers with cushions.

The lighting grid over the audience and over the playing area is a gridwork of pipes, reached by an extension ladder. Here, the production Manager Carl Johnson is assisting an apprentice technician in getting he floor prepared for an upcoming performance of “Sizwe Banzi is Dead”.

Sizwe Banzi is Dead
I had the opportunity to see “Sizwe Banzi is Dead”. Onthatile Matshidiso’s set design used the space very well. It put the visual concentration where it needed to be for the actors to finish filling the environment and the visual stimulation ranged outwards using black and white photographs of Style’s work. The lighting designer Michael Maxwell masterfully directed our attention to the interior and exterior scenes using specific areas and colors of lighting. The centrally situated monologues got a delicate treatment of light around them, so in the end the visual looked like an old time photograph, very suitable for Sizwe’s last words. The costume coordinator, Noluthando Lobese did a great job assisting Omphile Molusi play the different roles of Styles and Buntu. The rakishly large hat on Styles, plus the actor’s physical characteristic of swishy elegance all contained in a rather typical looking lab coat really masked well the more down to earth character of Buntu. Buntu wore earth colours with knit textures that made him different than Styles. The decision to put Arthur Molepo, who played Sizwe Banzi, in an earth-clay coloured double-breasted suit was a stroke of genius. Arthur wore that outfit at times like a ceremonial robe, and at times like a rag. That little bit of extra material really helped expand his character’s depth. But I veer from the visual tour…

These photos are views of the lighting rig over the audience and over the playing space in the Laager Theatre. You can see the bleacher seating, and understand just how intimate this theatre space is.

Behind the seating of The Main Theatre is the wardrobe facility, complete with windows. Their Wardrobe Manager, Nunu Moloi, likes the windows of course, but wishes for more space. Adjoining rooms include the laundry and dye facilities, and minimal storage. At this stage, the Market theatre is experiencing growing pains and needs larger and better workrooms, and much more storage for supplies and stock.

The Market Theatre’s rehearsal halls are actually off-site in a cluster of buildings with little alleyways connecting them.

The storage and workshop rooms, which were in the process of being cleaned and reorganized, are near the rehearsal rooms.

I saw this neat little still-life arrangement on my way to one of the rehearsal rooms.

I think Nomvula was saving the best for the last when she took me across the street from the Market Theatre’s Market Photo Workshop and Gallery to the Unity Gallery in The Bus Factory #3, where other shops, offices and the Ramolao Makhene Theatre are located.

During my visit, and small festival was being held in this laboratory theatre. Interestingly enough, this theatre runs its lights on an ETC lighting board.

The Unity Gallery has great natural light coming from skylights, and the hallways are used as gallery space for local artwork, including beaded plants and animals arranged in a gardenlike gallery display.

My favourite section of the gallery was the beaded plants and animals, especially this group of sheep.

The Market Theatre , Johannesburg South Africa Part 1

2011-01-13T10:37:00.000-06:00

The Market Theatre is VIBRANT! http://markettheatre.co.za/

This is a section of the ceiling in their Barney Simon Theatre. ( They have several venues.)
The curved architecture is indicative of most of the lighting areas. The Market Theatre is in the old Johannesburg’s Indian Fruit Market. Lofty ceilings, cruved wooden trusses, and fabulous but strange lighting positions. And that's just a small part of my upcoming report!

University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 4

2010-12-12T04:16:00.002-06:00

Stage Lighting Positions and Work Areas
Theatre technicians get to work in the most interesting nooks and crannies of theatres. This theatre is no exception, however, the physical space requried for a technician to perform his or her work has been considered, and working in this theatre would be a pleasure.

The lighting trees have rear wheels with a cantilevered post for weights and coiled cables.

Lighting ladders are widely used for high sidelighting positions. A close up view of this image will show you that safety cables are being used to insure the security of the instruments on the ladder.

The lighting pipes have been flown in for a close trim to the set. The setting is for the TV show PROESSTRAAT.

In this image you can see the three basic Front of House (FOH) lighting positions. The curved balcony lighting pipe is somewhat difficult to reach due to the glass railing. Not recommended.

This is a view from the corner of the last FOH position. Notice the ceiling just above the instruments and the acoustical squares across the way on the opposite wall of the theatre.

This apron cove lighting position is reached from the ladder up to the fly gallery. There is a small platform for the technician to stand on while working on the lighting instruments.

Continuing up the ladder to the fly gallery you come to the first level above the stage. Across the way you can see the dimmers and above the dimmers on the left you can see the slatted exhaust panel. Above that you can see the ceiling of the grid with its underhung sheaves.

Here is a close-up of the sheaves taken from the 3rd level or loading platform. The sheaves have easy and safe catwalk access for maintenance and repair.

In the trap room we found the lighting and sound desks. Normally these controls would be located in the booth, but for the TV show, the director wanted control from under the stage. The trap room includes underneath the orchestra pit. There's enough height down here to include a future lift system for the apron.

The University of Johannesburg runs it's theatre lighting system from a GrandMA lighting console.

University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 3

2010-12-12T04:13:00.000-06:00

Backstage Areas
Continuing with our exploration of the University of Johannesburg Theatre's facilities, we visit the backstage areas.

Off of the Greenroom is the entrance to the scenery storage hall. The laundry room is just to the right from the middle of this hall. This storage hall features natural light coming from the recessed skylights up left.

This is a better view of the skylight. The height of this storage hall can accomodate opera-sized scenery storage.

The loading door into the storage hall may look small, but it is larger than the opening of a truck, and that's all that matters.

Denis Hutchinson (Theatre Consultant, Lighting and Scene Designer) points out some of the details required in a single-purchase fly system.

This is a close-up of the type of rope-lock typically installed in theatres. This theatre uses real hemp rope. The humidity factor is not so large here to consider using a synthetic rope.

This is a close-up of the weights in a fly arbor. The weights are safely locked into position using the thumbscrew sets. The weights are also cast with the initials of the University of Johannesburg Arts Center on them. (UJAC). Notice how they dovetail into each other on each of the stacks.

Backstage is the usual accumulation of theater materials, including this bright yellow spiral staircase. Beyond the yellow staircase are the ropes of the fly system.

The ladder to the fly gallery's loading rail has a stop at the first and second floors. This stop shows how well-lit with blue running lights the technician access areas are.

The middle level catwalk of the fly gallery shows both the working (white) and the runing lights (blue) being used. The loading rail is one more flight up.

The previous post covers the public, administrative and performer areas. The next post will cover the lighting areas. The UJ Theatre architectural tour was very thorough.

University of Johannesburg's Fanstastic Theatre Part 2

2010-12-12T03:02:00.000-06:00

Public, Rehearsal and Greenroom Areas

The administrative offices have a small lobby with good natural light, and a swish decor. Notice the black and white Nguni skin rug on the floor compliments the art deco style furniture and the black and white photographs on the wall.

Just off the office lobby, employees have a great office kitchen area.

Here's a better view of the countertop with sink and good storage.

The greenroom is central to all of the stage entrances, the private dressing rooms, and the chorus dressing rooms. It features natural light from the skylight up left in the photo.

This is one of the chorus dressing rooms. It has good air ventilation, good counterspace, and two sinks and a shower.

This is the other chorus dressing room as viewed through the doorway. It also has sinks and a shower.

On the mirror above the sinks I saw this poster. These are the 5 golden rles for the performers in the TV show being filmed on the U. J. stage: PROESSTRAAT. Translated from the Afrikaans, here's the rules:
1. Accept other actor's offerings and develop it by responding.
2. Help with story ideas by actively listening. Look for one another especially in words and do not draw double focus problems.
3. Re-incorporate earlier ideas themselves.
4. Justify everything you do and say.
5. Play fair and have fun.

The University of Johannesburg choir rehearsal room.

This is one of the two dance rehearsal rooms. Both rooms feature one wall of windows and natural light coming from a skylight on the inner wall.

This is the second dance rehearsal room. Both rooms have extra long mirrors to accomodate viewing of high body lifts and jumps. Aesthetically, the mirrors are the same height as the windows.

The dance barre that runs along the windows would be a great place to dream of wonderful choreography. The bottom windows open for ventillation. The exterior overhang prevents direct sunlight from drying out the dance floor.

Look for the next post which will describe the backstage areas, and the post after that which will describe the lighting areas.

University of Johannesburg's Fantastic Theatre Part 1

2010-12-09T02:27:00.010-06:00

The 436 seat proscenium theatre at the University of Johannesburg's Kingsway Campus theatre also features a recent lighting console upgrade to a GrandMA Ultra-Light. More and more theatres and lighting designers in South Africa are specifying this GrandMA console for their venues.

     South African Theatre constulant, Scenic and Lighting Designer Denis Hutchinson made it possible for me to tour the University of Johannesburg Theatre with his architects and clients for a future project of his. We were looking at architectural elements specific to a venue complex the new project might use.
     As I am involved in my own discussions with architects for the new performing arts center at Oklahoma State University, I found this hands-on examination very successful and very useful.
          The UJ Theatre boasts a full balcony rail for a low FOH position, and two higher FOH positions as well. There is a full height platform at the last position with a removable railing specifically designed to accomodate the long snout of two followspots.

In this photo you can see one of the followspots pointed down at the stage. The lighting pipe has been removed so as to not interfere with the arc of the followspot nor the light beam. It is a clear straight shot to the stage. The flat balcony floor on which its rests has good head clearance, and room for technicians to safely move around one another.

The two FOH positions are very electrician - friendly. ( I pretended to adjust the focus and shutters on one conventional to see how easy that would be from the catwalk position) The instruments are on pipes right at your feet or your waist, and there is another lighting pipe available right at your head height.
The UJ Theatre also has a pipe over the apron for sound equipment, and another pipe over the apron for lighting equipment. Both of these are on winches. The remainder of the fly system is a traditional single-purchase fly system.

Here's the tour group full of clients, architects, consultant and the UJ technician.

More information about this theatre will be in an upcoming blogpost.

The Cairo Job Part 2

2010-12-06T14:05:00.000-06:00

Production Photo Just in From Cairo!

The Three Sisters Act 1 produced by the American University in Cairo.
Photo by Carolyn Forrester courtesy of Stancil Campbell.

Director- Frank Bradley
Scenery - Bill Forrester
Costumes - Jeanne Arnold and Nadeen Lotayef
Lighting - Stancil Campbell
Master Electrician Samy Shawky
Technical Director- David Wlodarski
Master Carpenter - Kamal Ali Hussein
Charge Artist - Heidi Hoffer
Scenic Artist - Nic Mayer
Scenic Artist and Carpenter - Abd'elNabi
And many, many AUC staff and students.

Abd'elNabi did a nice job on the floor, hey!

15 South African Scenic Artists Experience Rosco Supersats

2010-12-03T12:20:00.000-06:00

Scene Painting Workshop Held at Wits Theatre

The task:

This images shows the step by step process of painting stage draperies.

The results:

Everyone's painting was fantastic.

It was important for everyone in the workshop to experience paints from the international leader in scenic paint for the entertainment industry. They deserved to experience the best. I worked with Oliver Hauser from Congo Blue of Johannesburg, Ron Knell of Rosco UK, Jenny Knott of Rosco

USA

and the Nic Mayer from the Wits Theatre and Jenni-Lee Crewe from the Wits Drama Department to produce a professional Scene Painting workshop featuring Rosco Off Broadway and Rosco Supersaturated paints.

The Fulbright experience works both directions; 15 South African scenic artists got to experience the pleasure of Rosco brand paints. I got to share with them my knowledge of using these special paints. I use Rosco products in my work at Oklahoma State University as well as in my professional work.

The first step is the shadows. Here I have shown the use of Payne's Grey and Van Dyke Brown as effective shadow colours.

Barati experiences the success of darker shadows.

Rosco Supersats are meant to be greatly diluted. This was the main learning curve for everyone involved. (That, and learning to paint with your brush tied to the end of an extension stick!)

Courtney is ready to apply colour.

Rosco paints are water-based acrylic paints. The participants were amazed that the paints diluted so nicely (great color even at 10 water to 1 paint). They were pleased that this represents a significant savings, too.

Adriano kneels to get a bit of fine detail accomplished.

The participants first laid in water creating the shape of their shadow area. They made sure the water’s edge was sharp where the shadow needed to be sharp, and abundant where the shadow needed to be soft. Then they brushed in washes of shadow using Payne’s Grey Rosco Off Broadway paint.

Abie begins to add the blue colour

We ate lunch whie the shadow layer dried, and when we returned, we layered on the diluted blue or red and proceded with the paper pounce of the rope and tassels next. The bottom fringe was an exercise in dots for highlights.

Wilhelm adds detail to the bottom fringe.

From front to back, Jenni-Lee, Wilhelm and Klara deepen their red drapery.

Roger pauses to let his red drapery dry.

Oliver of Congo Blue provided Roger's Door prize win - a case of Rosco Vivid FX Ultraviolet reactive paint.

The Cairo Job

2010-11-26T03:30:00.006-06:00

Taking the Fulbright to Egypt for 10 days

Chekov’s Three Sisters: Recreating Russian Birch Trees in the Desert

As a Fulbrighter, I realized that persons from Oklahoma State University, The University of the Witwatersrand, and the American University in Cairo were joining together in producing this piece of theatre.

The Three Sisters Play poster shows how important birch trees are to the environment of the play

I was able to extend the reach of my Fulbright experience into Egypt when I invited Nic Mayer, the Technical Director from Wits Theatre to participate in the production process of the American University in Cairo’s production of Chekov’s Three Sisters designed by Bill Forrester. This would allow a South African theatre professional to experience a somewhat American theatre organization in a totally different country. AUC, while it has an American TD and several other Americans on their faculty, is distinctly non-American in the scene shop and costume shop and lighting area. The product is still the same, though, same as it is here at Wits: a show. Nic will take the knowledge and experience he has gained back to his students at Wits and disseminate it for years to come.

Dave Wlodarski, AUC’s Technical Director, forwarded me by email all of Bill’s paint elevations and Photoshop models of each act, including some of the early versions so I could understand the design team’s concept. Several days before our departure we began making tests with materials and experimenting with painting techniques for the birch trees and the wooden floors. The wallpapered walls, with spatter and ageing would happen once we landed in Cairo.

I photographed the results of our tests and sent them the design team by email. I also Skyped the American designer Bill Forrester and the AUC Technical Director Dave Wlodarski in order to discuss the techniques and establish a timeline consensus. My position was that of Charge Artist for the production.

http://mysteve.com/images/2005/05/Birch%20Trees%2020050524%20009.jpg

Bill Forrester sent several images of birch tree forests so we could see how skinny and pole-like the trees were. We noticed, too, the bushy undergrowth which would also need to be reproduced.

This is a Photoshopped model Bill Forrester did of his ideas for Act 4 of the Three Sisters.

The environment for Three Sisters is usually surrounded by a birch tree forest. The designer sent several images of a birch tree forest such as the one above. We needed to examine what actually made the dark marks on the white bark, and how the peeling bark cast shadows. The set designer and lighting designer (Stancil Campbell) both wanted trees with texture so lighting could change to quality of light in the forest. I found several more images which helped explain how the bark works.

Peelng bark and dark "spatter and drag" on a real tree. Both photos are from this website

Another example of bark curls on a real birch tree.

This picture shows the stronger horizontal patterns created by failed branches. This image is from here. It is picture #52.

One of our experiments was to make samples of the trees before arriving in Cairo. Using a cut-out trunk shape of thin plywood or masonite, we settled on a wrinkled newspaper method after experimenting with several other materials including cheesecloth, burlap or hessian, and lightweight muslin or calico.

The newspaper sample was the clear winner. The burlap was too soft and fuzzy, the cheesecloth was too limpid and flat, and the calico didn’t create sharp enough bark peelings. Below is our second newspaper birch tree sample, which everyone liked.

This is the second sample we did of the newspaper birch trees. There is black tule in between the trunks which will act as a projection surface for autumn leaves.

These images above show the process of pinching a pleat into the newspaper to become one of the horizontal bark elements then another layer of paint is put on to keep the pleats stiff and to blot out the headlines on the newsprint.

When we arrived we had 56, 7 meter tall birch trees to make. The AUC students helped quite a bit. They learned the process including using paint as the glue for the wrinkled newspaper, applying highlight and shadow, and spatter and drag.

Here’s most of the birch trees laid out in the AUC parking lot, with a few trees in the middle having had their first spatter and drag pass and a few knotholes enhanced. Several AUC students helped texture and paint the trees.

For the wooden floors, I determined the viewing distance and the viewing angle to help me decide how bold the floor boards needed to be. During the experiments, we fine-tuned the paint to water ratios, and determined whether the spatter and drag step should be done with a warm or a cold color.

Here’s our samples, which the designer felt could go even darker.

This sample is done on a sheet of already many-times-painted Masonite. It includes several wood-grain styles. My favourite it the top left which shows the saw marks. And my next favourite is the heartwood on the bottom and second one up. We were thinking of pine floors, not having any particular direction in that area.

This curved wagon above is just a small portion of all of the wood-grained rolling units we did. The overall value is darker, and the wood color is slightly warmer. It has a blue spatter on top to aid in the cool-toned scenes.

This image shows one of the settings nearly completed. Although there is rehearsal furniture on it, you can see the darker tones in the wood floor. Notice, too, the ageing applied to the columns and cornice header. The striped wallpaper and stencil work on the upstage wall is all paint.

Below is one of Bill Forrester's paint elevations for the upstage wall. Basically, once we got to Cairo, Bill said make everything darker than the elevations. Pitiful pale prints were what I had to work with until I could get my hands on the originals, and subsequent research information encouraged Bill to take everything darker and richer.

Bill Forrester's paint elevation for the Three Sisters Act 1 upstage wall.

Above is the stencil pattern used on the upstage wall. We painted the green stripe first, then laid the stencil down and painted back the wall color. The entire wall was spattered in 3 colors, so the lighting designer could warm or cool the scene at will. One student in particular helped do the stencil on these walls. The reverse side of the upstage wall gets a dark aged wood clapboarding – all in paint.

This exterior dark wood above is missing its secondary highlight for the curved part of this unusual wooden siding. It almost looks like chinked logs in the research. Bill decided it was a shiplap of some sort. It is also missing its spatter and drag, and its silver blue color wash to tone down the highlights and grey-out whatever warm there is in the base.

This detail of the exterior siding has its final paint: spatter and drag, secondary highlight, and blue wash.

One of the pictures from the English Russian Wooden House website we used for reference.

This is a close-up of the cornice and pillars. AUC carpenters are famous for their attention to detail.

Above is a section of the wallpaper, largely done by Bill Forrester himself, for the bedrooms. We first painted the background stripes, the striped those with a contrasting softer stripe, then Bill applied the stencils ( a labor of love) and then we streaked a bit of watery Van Dyke Brown age on top. This photo is just before streaking the VDB.

This photo shows the wainscot getting scumbled in and aged.

This image below shows the scene shop complete with dust collectors for each power tool. Very nice.

AUC's Scene Shop. Kamal, Abd'el Nabi and other wonderful technicians work there!

And since there’s no final view of the finished set yet, this image below should let you know what the stage space is like; the seating is steeply raked, and the apron has a dedicated lighting pipe over it! How lucky.

The Malak Gabr Arts Theatre at the American University in Cairo with some of the Three Sisters scenery on it.

Trees, Birds, Lizard, Dogs, Cat and Horse

2010-11-04T02:35:00.003-05:00

Johannesburg is a city full of trees, and right now many of them are purple. The Jacaranda are not indigenous, as they are imports from South America. They are beautiful but thirsty trees.

Jacaranda Trees line many Johannesburg streets.

Garden cats abound, are great hunters, and lend an air of elegance to many environments.

Garden cat in his leafy cathedral.

Grey Loeries are learning to forage right about now. I counted 5 fledglings. They are learning their "Go Away" calls.

These young Grey Loeries look sleepy.

The weaver bird continues to rebuild nests his mate tears apart. I do wonder which nest has the fledglings. In this picture the weaver bird is inside, weaving and tying knots.

Male Masked Weaver bird is inside this new nest, rotating himself around as he weaves and ties knots. If you blow it up you can see his black beak!

Above the Witpoortje waterfall in the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens I saw this lizard on the rocks.

Lizard

Everyone seems to have a dog or two. Some even have horses...I got to visit the Honeypines Stables.

Micky

Taz

Flapping sacking barriers sometime spook horses, but not this one!

A "Sangoma" tree. Named so because in resembles a Sangoma collecting herbs.

Many more creatures abound such as insects and cool creepy crawlies, but I'll save those for later. Flowers, by the way, are simply gorgeous right now.

More Lighting Instruments Found at Wits

2010-10-31T12:04:00.001-05:00

An old floodlight found at the Wits Theatre

Every theatre needs to have an instrument that looks so old it is older than Yoda, right? Here's a floodlight that fits the description.
And here is the view from the front:

Looking at the front end of the floodlight showing the pebbled aluminum reflector.

And, to contrast that old instrument with modernity, here are two favourites: the Source Four Zoom and the Martin 300.

The Source Four Zoom continues the trend of South African lighting designers prefering zoom instruments over fixed angle instruments.

The Martin 300

And at the cyc are these quad cyclights:

A Quad Cyclight.

And the sidelighting work horse of this theatre is the Par Can, pictured below.

Par Can

Promoting the snazzy city feeling in the lobbies, the directional signs are done in neon lights.

Directional signs in the Wits Theatre complex are done in neon lighting. It makes the theatre look trendy!

Stage Lighting Instruments Used in The Wits Theatres

2010-10-23T02:11:00.000-05:00

Most of the theatre lighting technology at Wits is from Europe, with a small number of ETC Source Four Zooms from the United States. The lighting consoles include a Strand series 200 (manual, 24 Channel, 2-Preset) and a Strand series 300 (programmable). The software for these has been discontinued, so as they fail they must be replaced.
Julian, the head of lighting here has been trying out an ETC ION and a Grand MA. ETC unfortunately as yet does not have the support back-up necessary to really land a sale, yet, but I know the groundwork is being made with certain vendors here. The Grand MA Ultra, seems to be the current choice of replacement console for the main theatre. Most everyone here relies upon Strand equipment.

(The theatre on the education campus has a Strand MX with 48 channels. This theatre, called the “Space Frame” is certainly an interesting reconfigurable theatre which I will address in another blogpost.)

Theatre Lighting at Wits…

To begin, while the stage pin connector is a standard 2P&G, it is rated for 16 amps at 250 volts, and looks triangular.

http://clifguy.com/2008/01/20/how-to-make-your-electrical-stuff-work-in-south-africa/

There is a great safety item in all modern household circuits here as well as on all of the circuits you’d plug stage instruments into: each circuit has its own switch!

Circuit # 102 has its own 2 pin and ground outlet, complete with rocker switch to turn the circuit on or off. It also has a masking tape label for what gets circuited when the plot is restored to the standard plot.

In the above picture you can see the end of one of the stage electrics, with its top batten, electrical raceway, and bottom hanging batten. If the instrument doesn’t work after you’ve hung and circuited it for show, part of the trouble-shooting includes seeing if the damned switch was turned on!! ALL circuits have this safety item whether they are standard wall outlets or stage circuits.

This is a Harmony Profile 22/40 Zoom

One of the well-used instruments here is the Harmony 22/40 degree beam angle zoom and it’s narrower brother, the Harmony 15/22 degree beam angle zoom. These were manufactured by Strand in 1981, and have been steadfast performers. They are an ellipsoidal spotlight, shutterable, accept gobos, and work very well at hard focus or soft focus. Here is a link to the historic Rank Strand instrument archive featuring these babies: http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/documents/harmony2240data1.jpg

This is a Harmony PC instrument.

The Harmony PC is the most interesting instrument because it is not shutterable and it’s beam quality lies somewhere between that of an ellipsoidal and a Fresnel. It has a single adjustment (knob is featured in the picture below) for a diffused beam variable from a very tight spot, similar to a beamlight, to a wide angle flood. The beam edge quality, which is free from colouration, is similar to a soft-focused ellipsoidal spot, but much tighter than that of a Fresnel.

The underside of a Harmony PC.

In the above picture showing the bottom of the Harmony PC you can see the round black knob that you loosen to slide the lamp/reflector sled assembly forwards or backwards in the slot. This particular instrument has the lamp/reflector close to the lens for a wide beam. (Instrument is pointing downwards to the stage floor) Here is the link to the historic document from the Strand Archives about the Harmony PC: http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/documents/harmonypcdata1.jpg

Checking the circuit to a Quattro Pro.

In this photo above, the student lighting technician is turning on the circuit to a Strand Quattro PM Fixed Angle profile (650w)... and apparently held together by black gaffer tape, as identified by Julian. Behind her head is one of the Harmony Fresnels. Here's the link to the Harmony Fresnel: http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/documents/harmonyfdata1.jpg

The beautiful tin ceiling of this theatre has been painted black, of course. This picture was taken in The Nunnery Theatre at Wits during the lighting design class final exam.

More lighting instrument stories are planned...including dimmable fluorescents and Fresnels that look like metal eggs!

Christo style Design Project

2010-10-17T06:25:00.000-05:00

The third year design class, led by faculty designer Jenni-Lee, demonstrated their understading of wrapping objects to create works of art the other day in our office. The works of the wrapping artists Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude were their inspiration, and they chose two fellow classmates to cover completely in torn newspaper.

Hubs and Jenni Lee are nearly done with covering Jade in a tailcoat and four-in-hand tie of newspapers.

Allison is hard at work covering Jo in a newspaper dress and leggings.

All 5 are creating wrapped art!

A detail of Jade's hand, artfully wrapped by Hubs.

We opened the office door, and released the art into the hallway.

Since these were the same student designers who studied lighting design with me, they thought they'd try to tango without tearing their newspaper carapaces.

A stunning portrait of the artwork posing against a red wall.

Of course the artworks had to go into the ladies' bathroom to check their reflections in the mirror.

Jo extricates herself from the wrapping.

Jade extricates herself from her wrapping, with Jenni-Lee looking at the accumulation of post artwork on the floor.

And finally, all that remains is the litter and memories of the live wrapping journey. Thanks for the inspiration, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Here's a weblink to a site that explains a bit about the artists Christo and Jeann-Claude, including the fact that the were born on the same day. http://www.kettererkunst.com/bio/Christo-1935.shtml

Moving Light Workshop at Wits

2010-10-11T02:16:00.000-05:00

Unoiversity of The Witwatersrand Students, staff, and highschool visitors and their teacher pay attention to Nick Britz pf DWR Distribution as he demonstrates a high-tech moving light using the GrandMA console

I have a dream that my students, whether they be in America or South Africa, will be able to compete on a global scale for jobs in the entertainment industry. I deeply believe that students need to be globally prepared in order to adapt through exposure to other cultures’ methods and madness of getting a show up on the boards. This new global student needs to be technically savvy; She needs to know the basic tools of the trade well-enough to adapt to permutations of the same found in other countries, or even just other venues. I believe most strongly that people like us who work in the entertainment industry are well-placed to continually update their knowledge base at the drop of a hat or, rather, at the first challenge a director or designer may place before us.

Today, we have some of the highest-ranking technology on the Wits Main Theatre stage. It is no surprise that DWR distribution, a company that answered a need for major cutting edge lighting technology during the FIFA World Cup is here today. They want to share the VARI-LITE, the ROBE and other fantastic technology with us. DWR believes that the technology they bring to the industry needs the talents and skills of all of us, especially our students. Thanks to their generosity, we are looking forward to a significant hands-on experience.

The professional lighting designers and technicians with us today are keen to share with each other and their future colleagues what they wished they learned in school, and where the future of lighting design is headed. These are the folks who actively use all kinds of lighting technology every day. These are the people who pilot the ship of our industry. We will hear their wise words and concerns about the future of our profession.

We are merging technology, art and education when we finalize the programming for our highly technical light show at the end of the day. We are facilitating the acquisition of knowledge for the future pilots of our industry. We are all adept and able learners, being made so because our industry has the most imaginative issues that require problem-solving. Fortunately, like the 15th Century Galileo, our technology stands ready to be tested, retested, and refined.

Welcome to the first DWR Distribution / Wits Theatre lighting workshop.

DWR Distribution's equipment on the Wits Main Theatre's stage for the Moving Light Workshop.

A Few Performance Art Installations

2010-09-26T01:14:00.004-05:00

Signatures was curated by Wits scenographer Jenni-Lee Crewe. Her students were the artists, and each had to create a piece involving their take on what performance art is today. I provided most of the lighting - there was one piece that defied lighting as it's performance was all smell and tactile work. One piece used large maps of differing translucencies and a ceiling of ever-changing map projections and post-it-notes to locate memories. My photos of that unfortunately did not come out. Three of the pieces were on the amphitheatre stage which shared the same setting, including a rectangle of glossy black on the floor. In one case it was a duck pond, and in another it was a barrier for the performance.

This piece involves heavy metal safes, white gloves, ear phones, and things inside the safes that you could look at and consider. The safes were presented on white pedestals with white fabric leading down to them from the ceiling.

There were seven of these safes, all presented as if they were in a gallery. Very audience-friendly.

Across the room from the safes was this cut-out tree with all the good and bad terms for "woman" painted on it. A woman in yellow sat underneath with a huge pile of lemons, eating lemons like they were going out of style.

At the end of the room was a room-sized box of paper with a doorway and a window and a moveable lighting instrument. Participants could draw or paint the outlines of their shadows. In some cases, outlines were enhanced with paint after being drawn in pencil. This could be viewed from above, through the door or window, and through the walls from outside since the walls were just thin paper.

Here is the artist outlining a particpant's shadow onto one of the walls as seen from the outside of the box.

One of the performances in the Amphitheatre used masks, and sound effects came from the actors. The glossy black rectangle was a fishing pond with ducks in it for this one.

One of the Amphitheatre performances used only the glossy back rectangle, with dance-like movements contained tightly by the rectangle. Notice, too, the rectangular mirrors in the upper right reflecting the activity.

In this third Amphitheatre performance art piece, the actor's movements were directed over a loudspeaker by someone in the lighting booth, who changed the procedure every performance.

In the final installation, the audience was invited to go outdoors to watch and hear the boys in blue commune with a blue-wrapped tree against the sodium vapour lights of the city.

I should add that if and when I can get other people's photos of the smells and the maps installations, I would love to post them here as well. I would also love to get a close-up of the masks used in the duck-pond performance. They were papier-mache masks, very lightweight.

South Africa's Natural Heritage

2010-09-18T02:21:00.001-05:00

Photo by Heidi Hoffer.
Took a break and visited this Lilac Breasted Roller. Fortunately this lovely bird sat rock-still so I could get a nice photo of it. I used a 17-85 lens, and blew the image up like mad to get this. Not too bad, eh?

Animals are a part of South Africa's Natural Heritage. I have been able to see up close several mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. I recommend the following blog for really nice photos and commentary on this diverse topic: South African Photographs The author's blog contains links to other blogs of a similar nature, too.

Wits Theatre Facility Tour Part 2

2010-09-11T02:07:00.002-05:00

So far, I’ve shown you pictures of main theatre lobby and loading bay. Now, we’re off to the scene shop, costume shop and more! More parts of the tour will follow. If you're interested in a specific area, let me know and I will seek permission to photograph it to show you how things are done here. It is really interesting that the flow of the architecture for the purpose of making theatre is similar to everywhere else I've been. I mean, a light booth is a light booth is a light booth. The basic functions remain the same yet the chain of command can be different.

The workshop is full of natural light, and is quite large. The TD and the ME’s offices are in one corner of the shop, with the PM’s office right above theirs.

The paint area functions as a catch-all for the several shows that are produced by the workshop. Once a show buys paint, it is difficult to keep that paint in stock because every last drop is used on another show and so on with very little waste.

The workshop has your typical arc welder, oxyacetylene rig, and band-saw and other power tools.

Here is the arc welder.

And here is flat storage.

Here is the Greenroom for the Wits Main Theatre.

The dressingrooms are light and airy and have lockers for street-clothes.

Upstairs in the hallway off the costume workshop, there are windows into the scene shop which allow natural light into the hallway, and a great view to the construction areas below.

Here’s another picture of the hallway showing how big the windows are that overlook the workshop.

The costume shop is a bright and cheerful place to work. It is small like many other costume shops I’ve been in, and this one has the added duty of supervising the small properties such as liquor bottles and telephones.

Storage for notions and jewelry-making etc. are near the offices of the Costumer/Shop Manager and her staff.

This is a view of the costume shop looking toward the offices. Notice the Juki!!

The laundry room.

The shoe room.

The small props room.

One row of the costume storage room.

Some of the colorful costumes in storage.

The students, staff and patrons get to grab a drink or a snack from the café in the lobby, and come outside onto a terrace for some sunshine.

One of the other venues managed by the Wits Theatre complex is The Nunnery, actually part of an old Catholic church.

The Drama Department is in a different building from the Wits Main Theatre. It is across the road in what used to be a dental school. This is the lobby of the Wits School of the Arts in which you'll find the Drama Department. The school houses all of the arts, and actually several buildings are used to contain rehearsal rooms, offices, studios, workshops, practice rooms, sound labs, and so on.

Wild Performance Art Installation

2010-09-02T08:49:00.001-05:00

"Signatures" opens tonight on Wits campus. It is the 9 event performance art piece I designed the lights for. Some events have more supportive lighting than others, as the piece demanded. Here is just one picture of the wildest event. The two young men and the tree. They were making animal and other environmental sounds and they moved with the tree. Fascinating.

Ika (center) and fellow student commune with a blue wrapped tree. At times in their performance I swear the tree moved instead of them.

Click here for Facebook Event description of Signatures!

Wits Theatre Facility Tour Part One

2010-08-29T11:00:00.008-05:00

Lobby, Loading Bay, and Wits Proscenium Theatre
I have to confess.I got lost a few times going from venue to venue and office to office in my first days at the Wits Theatre. What follows is a photo journey of the theatre complex.

The Wits theatre lobby services 3 theatre spaces and the workshops. There’s a coffee shop/bar, candy and snack counter, and a home-cooked breakfast lunch or dinner counter with your basic roadhouse toasts and fries.

From the lobby you can get into the main proscenium theatre’s lighting grid through these locked doors. You can also get out to the rooftop terraces, often used for small performances and outdoor banquets.

From the lobby you can go through the “Authorized Personnel Only” door into the backstage area of the Wits Main Theatre, the Downstairs Theatre, scenery storage, loading bay, and workshop. There is even space for the theatre’s bakkie. (All pick-up trucks whether farm style of flatbed are called bakkies.)

The loading doors accommodate larger trucks, too. A human-sized entry door helps to keep out the weather.

Rostrum (platform) and stair storage is in several locations throughout the building, but the main storage is in this wing of the loading bay.

The large sound doors are the loading entrance into the Main Wits Theatre from the Workshop (Sceneshop is what Americans call the Workshop) The proscenium theatre’s upstage cross-over is through the greenroom. The cherry picker in front of the loading doors is not used very much in the theatre, but often used to change out lamps in the workshop.

The Wits Main theatre is a proscenium with 370 seats. It has a large apron extension that makes it a bit more of a thrust theatre, and the seating is great for the thrust portion. The thrust is on a hydraulic lift so an orchestra pit or lower forestage configuration can be had.

Prompt side (Stage Left) is the Assistant Stage Manager’s area – the Stage Manager runs shows from the booth The fly operations are on the opposite side. in a gallery above the wing.

Just upstairs from the Prompt Side is the patch bay. It contains the neatest patch panel I have seen in a long while.

"Saturday Night at The Palace" Opens!

2010-08-14T10:51:00.008-05:00

First South African Production Opens!

(And we have a South African breakable glass recipe after many experiments!)

The cast and crew of "Saturday Night at the Palace".

“Fulbright Scholar Heidi Hoffer has designed the scenery, lighting and costumes for the Wits Theatre production of “Saturday Night at the Palace”. The play, directed by Wits School of the Arts lecturer Greg Homann, is part of Wits’ South African Season. Performances continue Thursday August 12th at 3:00pm, and 7:30pm, and Friday August 13 at 7:30 pm.
The play was written by South African playwright Paul Slabolepszy, who first staged it in 1982, appearing in the role of “Vince”. The play is a disturbing reminder of how a system can turn the most harmless of men into monsters. The playwright attended the opening night performance, and was highly complimentary of Hoffer’s stage design in particular, as well as the excellent performances of the Wits student actors.”

Forsie, played by Jeremy Richards and September, played by Thabo Kunetu, discuss smoking.

Well, now! It was absolutely fabulous for me (and of course the director, cast and crew) to meet playwright Paul Slabolepszy. It was very good to hear about the details he looks for, and he regaled us with his experiments in how to break the glass window in the door. Throughout the week before opening, many veteran South African theatergoers told me about seeing him in the role of “Vince” in the ‘80’s. "He was terribly convincing and even caused one audience member to leave the theatre throwing up."

September asks for the return of his keys to the Palace. Vince, played by James Reynolds, refuses.

September has been left handcuffed to the bike, with Vince dead, and Forsie gone.

Our evening audiences reacted to the racial slurs, the hatred, the ignorance, and the turnabout at the end with mostly a very educated understanding of its historic implications. The high-school matinee audience, however, were very amazed, very vocal, and nearly very angry with the treatment the character of “September” received at the hands of “Vince” and “Forsie”.

Marta

Simon

The Wits students who worked on the production were primarily “First-Years” supervised by two design assistants who are a “Third-Year" and a “Fourth-Year”. We worked evenings painting and building and making tray after tray of fake glass, trying to get the right brittleness. The design assistants provided necessary transport and financial and geographical acumen for finding props and supplies cheaply, as well as making the production fun to work on.

Here is our final recipe for breakable glass. (In the play, the character of Vince smashes the window with September's knobkerrie.) We molded it in a cookie sheet that was about the size of an A-4 piece of paper. Please read directions before attempting this yourself. Firmed up sugar glass CAN cut your skin. Boiling sugar CAN splatter and severely burn your skin.

South African Breakable Glass

Old heavy-bottomed sauce pan or pot.

Cooking spray to use as a mold release

Cookie sheet or foil the size of the glass you need.

Waxed paper for cookie sheet (optional)

½ cup water

1.75 cups sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

1 tablespoon liquid glucose*

Directions: Boil the water and then add the other ingredients. Continuously stir. The boiling point is 220 degrees F. Continue to boil until it reaches about 300 degrees, or boils so furiously the bubbles appear to be more like foam. This should take another 10 minutes. Let boil without stirring for 5 – 15 more minutes. When the mixture feels thicker as you stir, pour into the prepared mold. The sugar mixture will seem to yellow as it thickens.

Drip a bit of sugar onto a plate to see if it gets firm as it cools. If the sugar mixture starts to get dark, it is past ready. Stir again, and pour immediately into the cooking sprayed cookie sheet. Let cool. We even put one in the freezer. Unmold by gently flexing the cookie sheet. You may also put down wax paper first before pouring and spray that with cooking oil, too

Bringing the sugar mixture to a boil.

(*Americans tend to use Thurston James’ recipe which involves white corn syrup. This syrup is difficult to find here in Jo’burg. When we used the same measurement of readily available golden syrup or glucose syrup, the “glass” was bendable and not firm.)

Arriving in Jo'burg!

2010-07-31T11:52:00.039-05:00

Bathroom scale to make
sure suitcase weight
is under 50 lbs.

Preparing for departure involves much more than attending the Fulbright Pre-Departure Orientation. At that, they take care of your head. They prepare you for state department policies, they let you know how the embassies and consulates will work with you, and they talk about the countries’ good and bad habits. After that orientation meeting, preparing for departure is all about the heart, with the exception of your luggage which is a judgment mixture of sentimentality and necessity.

Teaching at SILV.

I traveled just a few days after I was in Las Vegas teaching with a few friends for the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas. Of course I was busy up to the last minute.

The flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was absolutely packed. We had a choice of about 50 movies to watch, TV, documentaries and so on all for free—so I did a bit of movie watching, including “Invictus”, they story about President Mandela’s pulling the country together using the Springbok rugby team. Morgan Freeman played Mandela. He sure looked the part.

OR TAMBO - Johannesburg airport was beautiful and very organized. On the way out to greet whoever was picking me up, I saw the famous Vodacom phone booth and decided against stopping to get a cell phone. The line was about 60 feet long with lots of shouting people crowding the harried Vodacom employees. I continued through, and found the school had hired a driver in a Macdonald’s emblazoned taxi to pick me up. He held a card with my name on it and I hopped into his McDonald’s (Yes, the Golden Arches!) Cab and we were off. (Along with 3 suitcases…)

One of the gates for pedestrians who have an
electronic strip on their campus ID card which
they swipe in front of a laser reader
to unlock the turnstyle.

The housing is behind manned gates for vehicles, and everyone snaps to when a car drives up. Warren (Head of Drama at Wits School of the Arts) even seemed impressed with the security. And, since the university is in one of the largest cities in the world, the environment is noisy. I did see a cat slink up the front steps of the building, so either someone has a pet or we have feral cats.

I spent a bit of time unpacking. The apartment is really pretty sterile. This university apartment comes basically furnished, but no bath towels or shower curtain. I figured I would buy those things after I arrived and in the mean time, I could dry off with a t-shirt. I certainly did not want to pack towels. The flat is extremely similar to what Roger and I stayed in when he was doing research in France at Nanterre.

Nicely labeled hazardous materials area.

I walked around a bit and came across this fantastic door complete with hazardous materials signs. It is a great study for scenic artists. I also see new and interesting birds, like this pair of Hadeda Ibis (Pronounced "haw-de-daw." )

Hadeda Ibis near Girton Hall on the Education Campus
of Witwatersrand.

I am learning by leaps and bounds where and what things are, and all of that. I’ve been toured through the theatres by the heads of the technical departments, and met my design counterparts after they arrived from working at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. At this point, school had not yet begun. The most unexpected bit of advice and help came from one of the international volunteers at the Drama for Life center, Inzzi. Inzzi is a gentle and outgoing dreadlocked woman who seems to know everyone. She volunteered to walk with me the few blocks down the road to the Pick ‘N Pay grocery store. We shared a sorrowful laugh over the cheese selection which was not European. I bought the cheddar, and it was awful.

The Department of Drama's senior designer, Sarah, designed costumes for Shaka Zulu the musical. She invited me to go with her and her design students to see it and have a tour backstage. It was fantastic. We were able to spend some time comparing design notes regarding how we work, too. Below is an image from the playbill designed by Propaganda Studios which I hope captures the total Zulu essence Sarah captured in her costumes.

Sarah Roberts designed the costumes for the musical
Shaka Zulu currently on at Pretoria's State Theatre.

And for something outdoorsy, I went with Carrie (the Operations and Production Manager) and her dogs to a dogpark. It was nice to get out into the air a bit, and stretch my legs. The dogs were hugely funny. Someone with a remote controlled toy truck was buzzing them. For Nelson Mandela's birthday, I joined Carrie and her friends in a city park clean-up since Mr. Mandela asked everyone to do a bit of community service.

Alice is greeted by a joyous bigger dog, and both are
about the be suprised by the toy truck.

On a serious note, we in the Drama Department at Wits are embarking on a South African Season with nine apartheid plays in two weeks. Important people like Ariel Dorfman the Chilean-American author and human rights activist have come to the Wits Theatre to speak about the impetus and spirit of that time in history. I'll tell you about the South African Season in a few days....have to dress rehearse the shows first!

Fulbright to South Africa

2010-06-01T17:30:00.001-05:00

This blog is not an official Department of State website, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State.

The fact that last November I named this blog “World by Design” was far-seeing. Nearly a year ago, I worked hard on writing a Fulbright project proposal. On August 3rd I submitted it using WiFi from the porch of The Silver Plume, a general store in the little mountain town of Pitkin, Colorado. I urged my references, who had a few days more time, to get their portion submitted, as kindly as I could. I waited.

First Approval

In October, my Fulbright buddy Allen Scott received notice that his Fulbright proposal has been officially recommended by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Peer Review Committee for the award. Now his papers would be forwarded to the Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy in Poland for further consideration. My notice of good news or bad news had not come yet. I was concerned, but I got the mail the next day, and was thrilled to learn that my proposal, too, had been selected to move forward. My Fulbright buddy and I shook hands. My husband started to worry and believe that I could really be chosen to do a Fulbright in South Africa!

My overused phrase during the next months was, “Has the mail arrived?” The waiting for the final assessment is excruciating! After the host Embassy looks at your proposal, it recommends it or not for final review by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. I must say, that all of this very intense scrutiny made me nervous. I was sure I had spelled everything correctly, and that my sentences said what I thought they said, and that I used no slang or unwarranted lingo…

Being Selected

My Fulbright buddy received his selection notification first, by email. I earnestly congratulated him of course. I figured that my notice of good news or bad news would come later as it did before. Unbeknown to me, mine had actually been delivered to my rural mailbox where it sat through a terrific rainstorm. The next day, my husband brought in the mail and was certain that the CIES envelope contained a rejection, since it was slim, and not an email as my Fulbright buddy’s had been.

I gently opened the envelope, and my husband turned away as I read it, ready to turn back and comfort me if I was too disappointed. I read the letter. I sat down hard on the nearest chair with my mouth open in an “O”. I was selected for a Fulbright. I was astonished. My husband rushed over, thinking to comfort me after reading a rejection but I said, “I got the Fulbright.” He was amazed and not altogether happy but extremely pleased and proud. He read the letter through several times, and let out a loud “Whoop!” and gave me the best hug ever. We made dinner, then, but I can’t remember what it was.

Fulbright Buddy and Family Readers

I’d like to say a word about having a Fulbright buddy. We are from the same university, the same college, but different departments. We were ruthless, and often politely shook our friendship to the core making sure that each other’s wording was exactly what we thought it meant, and that we had covered exactly everything our project proposals demanded. We proofread, and suggested alternative sentences to help the word-count. His style was very different from mine, as it should be, but beyond that we were very critical readers of each other’s proposals. I had others read the proposal beforehand as well, but to share the writing with someone who wants the same outcome as you, well, that is precious.

It is a good idea to use other readers. I naturally chose my husband. He asked the hard questions, double checked that I had hit every required topic, and also proofread my proposal. His efforts did two things. First, we knew together that the proposal represented a possible future, and what an 11 month Fulbright would mean to us. Second, my husband is a mathematician, and stoutly aware of grant writing procedures. He double checked that what I wanted to do was clearly explained and supported.

Approval of the Medical Report

The process of being selected, by the way, is only a small part of actually being a Fulbright grantee. There is a plethora of paperwork, a maze of tasks, and a lot of worrying.

The medical report was the biggest log-jam until May. It was sent in late April to CIES who turned it over to their doctor who reviews the status of my health in comparison to the tasks I am likely to perform in South Africa. Of course I am a healthy individual, but there I was, waiting again. The CIES doctor is extremely busy right now, with nearly 300 medical reports to look at in a matter of weeks. I wouldn’t want that job. Without medical approval, the Fulbright stops dead in its tracks. Scary thought. I was extremely anxious about getting the medical paperwork cleared, because that is so important to becoming an actual Fulbright grantee. Medical clearance arrived, and I next waited on the financial statement needed for the treaty permit visa.

In a Nutshell

I have always loved the ways in which all cultures design expression of their values and issues and how their stories are told in live performances. Now I have been given the opportunity to spend nearly a year really getting to know the current world of South Africa as expressed by its theatre.

Doors and Their Purpose

2010-03-23T19:23:00.004-05:00

Doors have reasons for existing. A door leads somewhere. It opens from somewhere. Doors onstage typically frame entrance and exit lines and action. Doors invite. You wonder, don’t you, what’s beyond that door? If you walked through that door, would your life change?

It is in their use where you feel a door’s purpose.

The wonderful entrance by the spirit in Blithe Spirit is a good example of a magnificent framing designed to totally take over the scene. In the first place, the onstage scene is warm and what you see through the doors is cool. Secondly, the door is centrally located, and thirdly, it opens twice as wide as a human body. The act of the door opening and the cool silhouetted and back-lit figure is like the pupil of your eye narrowing down to the focus point.

Blithe Spirit, Designed by Frank Ludwig.

The cool colored foggy entrance of these characters behind an outdoor gate in Romeo and Juliet lets you immediately know they probably shouldn’t be there. It is night, and the place they want to go has warm colored lighting, indicating that is it probably indoors and offers some comfort.

Romeo and Juliet. Designed my Michael Riha.

In this photo, the human sized door, color, painting and surrounding say a lot about who goes into the room onstage through it. The door is of the institutional variety, belonging to a building which houses, among things, a radio station. The green of the door is much brighter green than a real institutional door, enhancing the comedic probabilities in the show. The sound effects door, seen in the lower left of the photo is a very fun true-to-life sound effects props many theatres keep on hand. It is used often but rarely seen. It is comic to see a teeny tiny door but hear its “slam” which invariably sounds bigger than the door looks.

Chaps. Designed by Chris Sousa-Wynn.

In Largo Desoloto the whole room is leaning inwards, and the door seem like to spill its framed entrant inward. Curiously, there is a barrier of a chair between the brightly lit outside and the brightly white island of a sofa with its darkly clad occupant. It is almost as if the chair makes another entranceway.

Largo Desoloto. Designed by David M. Barber.

In Lady Windemere’s Fan, the very tall walls have ornate door frame shapes on top of ornate door frame shapes. Each framed entry is completely separate from the next one creating little proscenium framed stages within each one. This suggests that the arguments before and after entrances and exits are extremely important and benefit from being so famously framed. For a farce, this is a useful and proactive design choice.

Lady Windermere’s Fan. Designed by Chris Sousa-Wynn.

In the green-lit picture of Dracula, we see a very unique do-it-yourself kind of entrance. Just rip you way right through the wall to get at what you want! Very powerful moment of theatre!

Dracula. Designed by Chris Sousa-Wynn.

In summary, it is the door or doorway’s shape and surroundings that promise what is to come. Then, when the doors are used as suggested or even contrary to the normal to slam home a reason, then you’ve done a good job figuring out the purpose of a door.

Doors: The Shutter Part

2010-02-01T10:33:00.008-06:00

Doors for the positive-minded open into other places, some of which are desirable and some of which are not. For the negative-minded, however, they are closures, barriers - preventative structures imposed on the freedom of the individual. Designers are very careful about their doors. Doorways will be in another post!

Door Inventory
Photo by Andrew Fox

AutoCAD Door
By Heidi Hoffer

A collection of doors by themselves, all lined up like books on a shelf as part of a theatre’s inventory seems lifeless and undemanding. Most doors are even missing knobs because those are another design choice to be made. When drafted in AutoCAD or Vectorworks, doors look very clinical and have no personality. (Plates of hand drafting have the draftsperson’s personality but the door still has no personality.)

A designer has an image in his/her head, usually in 3 dimensions, about the door. You consider how tall, how wide, how many hinges, whether or not it is wood or metal and so on. You take in to consideration whether or not both sides of the doors are seen. You consider the swing arc of the door and whether or not the door is slammed once or repeatedly. You consider the door in relation to the actual materials of the walls (which can be cloth covered or hard covered) to decide if the door needs to be a dependent or independent unit, or if it is painted or glued onto the walls.

Pencil Sketch of Door for "Moon Over Buffalo" by Heidi Hoffer

Painter's Elevation of Door for "Moliere" by Heidi Hoffer

A pencil sketch of a door starts to have some personality. The door is sketched with a purpose in mind for a particular play for a particular manner of use. The styles of the sketch and the things on or surrounding the door start to tell us more about the door by context.

When painter’s elevations are made of the door, color is dictated along with shadows, decay, age, dirt, and texture. This is different than a portion of a set sketch involving the door because surrounding props and furniture are removed so you look at just the door and its wall.

Throughout all of this, we keep in mind the reason the door is there. It leads somewhere. It opens from somewhere. Doors onstage typically frame entrance and exit lines and action. Doors invite. You wonder, don’t you, what’s beyond that door?

It is in their use where you learn a door’s purpose.

Practice Makes Perfect

2010-01-28T17:19:00.019-06:00

There is a perception out there that if one practices a thing; one will get good at it.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Playing the Piano photo purchased from http://www.dreamstime.com Photographer is © Jason Hawkins
I noticed this wonderful photo in Dana T's sheet music website: www.music-for-music-teachers.com and purchased permssion to post it in my blog as well.

I accepted those words when my music teacher told me them. I’d heard them before from my father and mother, grandmother and grandfather. I practiced for 30 minutes each day. My father turned on the stove timer to make sure. Soon, I practiced 1 hour each day. Later, it was for 3 to 4 hours each day and sometimes 6 hours each day. But in between childhood and adulthood, there was a dark period when I hated practicing.

Of course the practice sessions were for music, both piano and bassoon. I practiced in music classes, orchestra rehearsals, recital rehearsals, and again at home where the dog would howl in accompaniment. (I once turned in an audition tape not knowing my Old English Sheep dog was singing along in the background, and got the scholarship anyway!).

The music became dog-eared, graphite and eraser-colored. I collected more: solos, duets, blue ribbons, red ribbons, and gold medallions, marble and silver trophies. More music, yellowed with age, came from my teachers. Reed making materials came from a long ways away. Competitions were stiff. I lived in a world of music, almost.

Practice, practice, practice.

I did not believe those same words spoken by my father and mother, grandmother and grandfather. I drew pictures because I could. I already knew how. They all knew how and they all drew and they all played music so of course I just knew how. I drew because I loved it. I wanted the days to be longer so I could draw later into the night. I groaned when I was still drawing and the dawn birds were telling me I had not yet been to bed. But in between childhood and adulthood there was a dark period when I hated drawing.

There came a time when I wasn’t good enough, when I couldn’t draw exactly what I saw or play that lick as sweetly and dynamically as I wanted. I wanted to quit.

I met an old woman, who made friends easily and had the care of seven cats. Her home was crowded with memories, and she moved through the piles of her memories saying “Excuse me!” “Let’s see,

© David Calicchio | Dreamstime.com
where should I put this?” or “Oh! So, that’s where you’ve been hiding”. I talked to her about my sadness.

She invited me in for tea, sweeping cats, magazines, and cookie crumbs off the table and wiping out a milk-filled mug for me to use. Her cats assembled all around me, judging me; their tails curled around their feet tightly. One cat, the old one, left his post and jumped into my lap, sniffing my tea mug. It was his milk mug. He looked at me, meowed and settled into my lap, purring. The old woman looked at me through the corner of her eyes. She told me he liked artists, was I an artist? Did I make music and draw pictures? I looked at the cat, comfortable in my lap. I took a deep breath and said “Yes.”

Re-purposing architectural and industrial elements for the musical “Ragtime”.

2010-01-17T18:00:00.017-06:00

The design for PCPA Theaterfest’s Ragtime was huge. A small but influential part of the concept or inspiration was the use of bits of architectural and industrial elements. You can see some of these on the back wall in the picture below.

Ragtime designed by Heidi Hoffer. The back wall upstage of the boys catching the baseball shows the concept in effect. Lighting Design by "Z" Jen Zornow and Costume Design by Misti Bradford.

The Musical Director was Callum Morris, Technical Director was Steve Henson (currently analyzing truss at Yale!), and the director of the show was Mark Booher.

We were interested in re-purposing elements for their texture, shape, and archetypal memory triggers. Every part of the scenery had a dash of this concept in its execution on stage. The industrial artifacts idea allowed certain (industrial-looking!) scene shifting devices to be seen and accepted as part of the overall design.

Displaced materials normally recycled and considered trash allowed the use of things like recycled plastic drink lids to become clapboard siding and fluorescent tube packing crate cardboard to become architectural molding on several of the units.

Artists responsible for building the scenery, painting the scenery, and budgeting for the scenery all need information about these elements from the designer.

Typesetter's lead type case. Courtesy of http://wapedia.mobi/en/Movable_type?t=3

This included the original inspiration images of a typesetter’s lead type case, the Sky Cathedral by artist Louise Nevelson, the designer’s inspiration sketch, the AutoCAD drafting of elements, painter’s elevations of elements, etc. some of which are pictured below. Since the musical Ragtime occurs during the industrial age, it was fitting the design recycle old icons for use in setting the musical for today’s audiences.

Louise Nevelson's Sky Cathedral courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art website http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=34071

The designer's inspiration sketch shows the architectural rolling units all grouped together center stage.

The central back wall is really six tall rolling walls, all clumped together in this photo. In the baseball scene photo earlier in this post, the walls are opened up across the back of the stage.

The AutoCAD front view of the expanded back wall. Blank boxes were filled by the theatre artists at PCPA following the "concept" with architectural and industrial elements.

The designer's paint elevation of one of the walls.

As I indicated in the first paragraph, this ecclectic typesetter's box collection of elements was just a small part of what the whole design covered. But it was the springboard and the inspiration from which we evolved our production. The world created was colorful (It's a musical!), elastic (Wide range of locations and moods!), and richly textured (Lights, projected patterns, choreography, and costume textiles really added!).

Colored Money: An Element of Culture

2010-01-10T13:00:00.001-06:00

Mixtures or cross-cultural authentication occur when one culture uses elements of another culture’s such as dress. One culture uses elements of another culture’s dress, but does not wholesale start wearing the other’s dress per se. Usually the original is changed to reflect the second culture’s values etc. The user has inadvertently “authenticated” the foreign mode of dress by selecting it or part of it for transfer to their culture. Take a look in the book, The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture, and Society by Joanne B. Eischer, Sandra Lee Evenson, and Hazel A. Lutz, or the book, Survey of Historic Costume by Phyllis G. Tortora and Keith Eubank.

This “authentication” through use holds true for all history of décor, dress, architecture and more. For example, the United States now uses colored paper money.

The $20.00 has green and peach on both sides of President Jackson’s portrait. Where the United States used to be well known for its single color bills (green-backs), our $5, $10, $20, and $50 notes now have color. Which countries influenced our monetary icon’s change? China? Egypt? France? What about the Euro? Although the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing made the color changes part of many other security changes to prevent forgeries, the colors alone are cultural authentication of other cultures that use colorful money. Perhaps in this case the designers have not used only one culture’s element of design but several. For a really good look at the paper bills of the United States, go to http://www.newmoney.gov/newmoney/. You'll see that the paper money of the United States is still very sedate compared to the colored money of other countries. The calm colors reflect our values.

And to tie it all together in the realm of fashion, Christian Francis Roth (who provided the money dress image) wrote about several money dresses in his blog http://francisnewyork.com/blog/ on August 12 http://francisnewyork.com/blog/2009/08/vintage-cfr-dresses-are-not-a-dime-a-dozen/ In this, he also refers to the money dresses blogged by blogger Couture Carrie. http://couturecarrie.blogspot.com/2009/07/bet-your-bottom-dollar.html . Both are interesting blogs!

Puppet World inside a Play

2009-12-17T18:19:00.004-06:00

A world inhabited by both puppets and humans worked well in a play called The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht. The title refers a little boy whose care is being disputed by two women. He is placed in a circle and the two women are asked to grab his arms and pull him out of the circle. The woman who pulls him out is …well, perhaps not the best mother. Of course the woman who loves Michael cannot harm him, and the woman who wants him for power and status is willing to rip him apart. Azdak, the judge, gives Michael to the loving woman.
The play is about many other things concerning judgment, and the ugly world created is no place for children. The director and designers decided to have all of the children in the play be ¾ sized puppets controlled by actors. By separating the human qualities of real children from the tasks they had to perform onstage, the poignant issues surrounding the children, especially Michael, become pretty clear and strong. Michael’s emotions depicted through his operator’s work were heart-rending. This puppet idea was inspired by the Bunraku puppets of Japan. Michael’s puppeteer was
going through the same emotions in order to transmit them to her puppet. At the top of this entry is a picture of the wooden armature for the Michael puppet made with scrap wood and a Styrofoam wig block, and left is a picture of the Michael puppet in the famous chalk circle. Part of designing this world included several pencil sketches, one of which is pictured on the right. The audience, when asked about the puppets responded, “What puppets?”

The Artist's Creation Space

2009-12-13T12:40:00.000-06:00

The Prague Quadrennial, or “Quadriennale” as the international world says it, is a place for sharing the scenography of visual and performing arts. In the 1988 exhibit from America, the exhibit designers John Conklin, Douglas Schmidt, John Lee Beatty, Carrie Robins, and Jennifer Tipton, chose studio spaces as their theme for the background of the artwork, including video, being displayed. The staff and students at the North Carolina School of the Arts executed the design.

This was a most effective creation of a world by design. It was even more than that. It was a world within a world for the display of yet even other worlds. "It was in part a gentle parody of official exhibits of official design," explained Conklin in American Theatre. It was also "an attempt to show design as process, not an end in itself." (Arnold, Aronson. “PQ 87: Stimuli and Responses,” TD&T: Theatre Design & Technology 23:4 Winter, (1988) p. 17.)

The creation of this world was so believable that attendees actually took designer's research books off the shelves of the exhibit, sat in the designer’s chairs or stools in the exhibit and read them. They obviously felt right at home. Indeed, most of the research books “were stolen over the course of the PQ by information hungry viewers from Eastern-bloc countries.” (ibid: p. 16.) Clearly the created and the real worlds collided through the exhibit.

The website of the 2010 PQ exhibit is http://www.pq.cz/en/. It is a dense and exciting website available in several other languages. The photo of the exhibit above was supplied courtesy of TD&T, Winter 1988, photographer unknown.

conscious environments

2009-12-08T21:26:00.001-06:00

Welcome to the blog in which I explore designing and recognizing new worlds. All artists/creators help give one a vision of another world besides one's own. I am a stage designer--a scenographer-- and really familiar with designing the environment for a theatre piece. What intrigues me, though, is the conscious work involved in creating environments for other realities: some made-up and totally not realistic, and some so real it touches you in your heart. Environments are about the inhabiting people. Sometimes the environment is more real than real. Have you ever turned your eyes onto a moment at just the right time to catch power behind it? Have you ever said, " Wow! Did you see that?" Well, when someone creates a moment like that on purpose, they've designed a new world for you to experience. Sometimes it happens when you see a play, and sometimes it happens when you read a book or listen to music. You willingly disbelieve you are sitting in a dark auditorium and believe you are in the new world in front of you. You enter into the presented world. You cry, laugh, dance and in general carry on until the story ends. The theory is, that you have been changed in some way by the experience.

Opportunity

2009-11-23T23:54:00.000-06:00

I relish the opportunity to understand and make settings or environments easier and more enjoyable for others to understand. I illustrate plausible worlds, some of which have strange laws. I do this in 2D and 3D and am learning more and more about representing new worlds.

Everyone unconsciously creates their "place". When others see it, they form a thought about it. Artists and creators create this sense of place on purpose.

In this blog I show and discuss other worlds as encountered or presented by their creators. I entertain thoughts and reactions to selected environments.

In the image above, I see carved wooden lattice work and other antiques. It is from a Chinese antiques factory. Now, is it really old or made to look old? You have the opportunity to consider this, and decide if it makes a difference. By the way, the light in the workroom was fabulous; just what an artist wants.