As part of the tech packet released to the individual productions. I was asked to included an introductory statement. It’s posted below for those interested….

The release of this technical information packet represents my first opportunity to introduce myself to most of you. As lighting designer for the Crown Point Festival I am responsible for creating a comprehensive lighting design that will work within production parameters but also serve the needs of the eight individual plays. It is my goal to create a design for each play that will make it at once distinct, but also a curated part of the larger festival.

It‘s no secret that collaboration is the key to good theatre. Consider this the opening of lines of communication between each play and myself. Alli Housworth, our theatrical producer, will be scheduling meetings in accordance with the larger production schedule. These meetings will give us a chance to talk about your play, the proposed scenic design, my thoughts and ideas on creating the world of the play, and of course your vision of the piece.

While Alli is very gracious to do this advance work for us, please do not limit yourself to only these meetings. I welcome you all to contact me. The earlier each play has some shape the more I can accomplish on the design side. When working within the confines of a festival design decisions are necessarily affected by shared resources. The sooner I can solidify my plans the sooner I can figure out how best to accomplish our collaborated vision of the work.

The production team of Crown Point will generate a rehearsal schedule that allows times for me to watch at least one run thru of each piece. While I am open to watching more rehearsals and some plays will inherently need more attention, scheduling can become very difficult. We will create a framework that should satisfy necessity, but your input is crucial to the creation of a professional production.

I am truly excited to have this chance to collaborate with so many talented writers, directors, designers, and actors in a great venue. We have assembled a fantastic technical and production staff. Thank you for sharing this chance with me. I can‘t wait to get to work.

The Crown Point festival is all about collaboration. Our tech packet has been distributed, so now individual productions will come back to me and our technical director Pete Fry with requests and ideas. I have to get my package in to bid my September 15th for bidding purposes. My main concern at the moment is not only getting a hold of the needs of each play for myself as a designer but gathering the 8 directors’ ideas and trying to bring together a cohesive lighting plot.

One of the things that separates the Crown Point Festival from other arts festivals in New York is that it is not simply a collection of plays. It is a well organized, seamless month-long event. The mission isn’t simply to link various projects under one banner, but to artistically unify them–to allow each play, film, and musical act to have its own identity while existing within a larger artistic whole. One way we are looking to accomplish that mission is through the use of an extensive environmental design.

When the festival first debuted in 2004, we aspired to create this environment, but were unable to fully realize our vision for a myriad of reasons. Environmental design, however, is an element we always felt had great potential to unify the festival, to give it a feeling of wholeness and to make the theatre a home for the audience. This way an audience member that came to see one night’s lineup might come to see a totally different collection of works the next week, but can still feel comfortable with the environment they are entering.

Determined not to let this year’s festival fall short of the goal of comprehensive environmental design, our Executive Producer, Kelly Markus, set out to hire an environmental design team early in the process. Joel Lawerence is our Environmental Designer and Producer for the festival and Lex Liang is his TD this year. Together, they have designed a system that is at once elegant and simple, but also presents several lighting challenges.

We are going to take the Henry Street Settlement, a beautifully restored, small opera house built in the the 1910’s and create a canopied space; a safe environment for the audience to escape from the noise and chaos of New York, a place where they can enter a field of color, images and sound. Attached are some photos of the space as it exists. In my next entry I will go into detail on how the canopy is going to work, and what my tentative plans are to light it….

Above these seats will be a grand drape that obscures the stage and ceiling from view. We will light and project into it creating a womb-like environment. A safe place for the audience to take part in the festival.