The Lifespan of a Fact
by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell 3/5/21 - 3/7/21
This was my first production as a lighting designer. It was staged in a small blackbox classroom with a grid containing 20 incandescent Source Four Jr Zooms performed to two film cameras for online streaming. Space was one of the biggest obstacles. Fortunately, it was a small production so there weren’t too many actors or set areas that required specific lighting. I learned a lot about color balance working with incandescent light to create indoor office and home lighting as well as controlling light spread when lighting multiple areas in close proximity.
Since the production was streamed, I had to adapt to designing for film rather than for stage. Because of this, I couldn’t get away with subtle lighting changes like I could with in person audiences, the camera just wouldn’t pick it up. I also struggled with the cameras each night because during blackouts, they would attempt to refocus and rebalance in the low light. During each run I had to manually edit each lighting cue depending on how it was translating to the camera which was an interesting challenge for it being my first time as a lighting designer, but it definitely strengthened my confidence in my abilities.
Due to the small space and the fact that it was streamed, the stage manager and I had to be in the blackbox and couldn’t use a headset to call cues. Fortunately, as I was both the designer and the board operator, it allowed me to execute light cues dynamically responding to each performance live.
Production Team
Director: Kayla Jarry Stage Manager: Emily Kane Costume Design: Nicole Gibson
Set Design: Ryan Vaitkus
Lighting Design: Abigail Nasworthy
Camera Operator: Tyler Toledo
Props Master: Erica Pajonas
FourthWall President: Nick Fetherston
FourthWall Vice President: Julia Brignano
FourthWall Secretary: Abigail Nasworthy
FourthWall Treasurer: Kaitlyn Fisher
FourthWall Publicity Coordinator: Erica Pajonas
Faculty Designer: Abigail Copeland
Faculty Technical Director/Building Manager: Rosalie Bochansky
Quinnipiac University Department Head: Kevin Daly
Cast
Kaitlyn Kelly Emily Penrose
Nick Fetherston Jim Fingal
Nico Vazquez John D’Agata
