Entertainment Design Tutorials
How I Did That: Building A Turntable And Sets For A High School Production Of Les Misérables
Late in 2007, drama teacher and director Mike Chappell asked me to design an April 2008 production of Les Misérables School Edition at the Huntsville High School...
How I Did That: Body Of Work
Check out all the stories that made the cover of Live Design in 2008. From theatre to concerts, from Broadway to Paris, here is one of our cover newsmakers of the past year.When I was asked a few years ago to create something for a program called School House Roxx at New York City's Performance Space 122 (PS 122), the possibilities......
Problem/Solution: Naked City
Problem No curtain. No scenery. So begins Our Town. When director David Cromer began work on the show for the Hypocrites Theatre Company in Chicago, he...
Problem/Solution: Suspension of Disbelief
Problem Kate Robin's Intrigue with Faye is the story of a therapist and a documentary filmmaker who try mending their troubled relationship with videotape....
Problem/Solution: Projection To The Rescue
San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse (LJP) thinks of itself as a research and development lab for new American plays headed for Broadway. Shows have to be big,...
How We Did That: At Your Servers
Back in December 2007, Kris Murray, TMB server superstar, gave my contact info to Richard Willis of bandit lights, who asked if I would be interested...
How We Did That: Wine & Spirits
I was pleased when longtime client Christopher Allen, executive producer of HKM productions, asked me to join the design team for E&J Gallo Winery's 75th...
Problem/Solution: Everything To Everyone
Problem If you haven't seen one of Terry Gipson's production designs lately, chances are your kids have. Rhinebeck, NY-based Gipson Design Group has done...
How I Did That: In Your Dreams
I have been working with the Forum in Charlotte for two and a half years. The venue always allows me the creative freedom to explore different and sometimes...
How I Did That: Go Ask Alice
Student performers from three universities—University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Bradley University in Illinois, and University of Waterloo in Canada—leapt from stage to stage in a digital-age version of Lewis Carroll’s classic that achieves the latest breakthroughs in distance theatre technology...
Problem/Solution: Seaside Setting
Problem Michael Yeargan's design for the Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific is more presentational than realistic, with a tropical bamboo surround...
Sound System Design and Alignment
Tutorial from chapter 2 of 'Sound Systems: Design and Optimization' by Bob McCarthy. ...
Problem/Solution: Working The Floor
Problem There are surprises in the Guthrie Theatre's Peer Gynt. Some are in Ibsen's fantastical story. Some are in Tim Carroll's production of Robert...
Big River, Small Stage
Problem The University of Michigan Department of Musical Theatre has launched some notable Broadway careers. Students graduate knowing how to sing, act,...
Problem/Solution: Spatial Relations At NYU's Skirball Center
Problem The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University gives student designers and actors a chance to work in a huge space. Director...
How I Did That: Sweet Sixteen Lighting Fantasies
I love designing house parties. Much like skiing on fresh powder, homes are virgin landscapes, the designing of which results in high praise from the...
Problem/Solution: A Disappearing Design
Problem: Each year, the Huntington Theatre strikes a show early in its run, stores it, sets up a ceremony, and then restores the show all in 38 hours,...
How I Did That: Giving New Power To An Old Story
Western Michigan University puts on a high-tech production of "Doctor Faustus"...
Problem/Solution: Creating A Bloody Mess
The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre recreates a slaying for "Henry IV, Part I"...
How I Did That: The Heaven And Hell Of Show Construction
In the Beginning Several years ago (1981), I presented my lighting design for the upcoming Diary of a Madman tour to Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne in my tiny...
How I Did That: Science! A DIY Video For Thomas Dolby
She Blinded Me With Video Production Imagine my surprise when I received a call out of the blue from Thomas Dolby (http://thomasdolby.com). The Thomas...
How I Did That: The Great Screen Of China
In Beijing's central business district, a huge LED screen was constructed as the main attraction for The Place, a new 700,000-sq-ft. development area...
Problem/Solution: Perfectly Frank
Problem: When director Tina Landau and scenic designer Richard Hoover began work on the Steppenwolf production of The Diary of Anne Frank, they wanted...
How I Did That: A Lens-Less Solution
Our client, Evangelical Free Church of Naperville, IL, built an Easter set and was doing a dramatic resurrection reenactment from the onstage tomb. In...
Problem/Solution: Test Tubing
For at least a year, lighting designer Bob Dickinson has been experimenting with low resolution LED technology, upping his inventory of Element Labs Versa...
