Lighting Package: Rigoletto at CMU: Independent Study Project
During COVID shutdowns at CMU, I worked alongside director Eunbi Cho and scenic designer Sanghwa Shin on a very inspiring paper-project design. Sanhgwa’s set highlighted a raked turntable with a maze of two-way mirror hallways, stairs, and alleys, using the mirror’s qualities to suggest Rigoletto’s two-sided nature: both villain and victim, doting father and cause of strife. My designs supported the emotional intensity in the opera (as well as an abstracted form of time of day) using intensely directional beams of sun and moonlight to tell time, and large pushes of sculpting light from the heavily-laden boom positions to shape the body and convey tension. Crafty placement of moving lights, effects units, and a system of set-mounted fixtures allowed for flexibility in a tight hanging space, and many options for creatively lighting the complex transparencies of the spinning two-way mirror set.
Lighting Package: “Desdemona’s Child,” CMU Graduate Thesis Production
Included is the full Light Plot and Magic Sheet package for my Graduate Thesis production, the emotionally intense “Desdemona’s Child.” Our set, with tall chain-link walls, massive beams, and floating ceilings, provided both amazing opportunities for lighting treatments and plenty of challenging obstructions to fit the ambitious design into. The solutions collaboratively devised by the creative team—from concealing trusses throughout the air to achieve our key images, to the numerous set-mounted fixtures—lead to a cohesive, immersive, and intricately detailed production design.
Renderings by lighting programmer Ying Huo.
JPEG versions of paperwork provided as a sample only. High-resolution Vectorworks or PDF files available upon request.
Lighting Package: San Francisco Opera Repertory Light Plot: Independent Study Project
When the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to most of our traditional learning experiences at CMU, I chose to take on an Independent Study project to grow my skills in design and drafting for large-scale repertory opera productions. Under the close mentorship of SF Opera Lighting Director Justin Partier, I de-archived SFO’s productions of La Boheme and The Makropulos Case, and transposed the 5+ year old designs into their newly upgraded 2020 Repertory Light Plot. An intricate VW Classing system is used to quickly change fixture’s graphical attributes and labeling in response to the unit’s usage in a production, keeping these rather dense plots easy to understand, update, and implement in a fast-paced repertory situation.
JPEG versions of paperwork provided as a sample only. High-resolution Vectorworks or PDF files available upon request.
Architectural Lighting Concepts: South Bank Centre Expansion and Revitalization
As a project for my Architectural Lighting Design course, I worked in close collaboration with three architecture students to create intriguing original lighting designs for a new performance space. Each of the three buildings shared a similar goal: invigorating London’s South Bank Centre with a world-class, flexible-use performance venue and multi-use community spaces.
For architect Claire Koh, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream inspired a whimsical “magical garden” pathway to her main theater, complete with outdoor performance venues. Custom glass sculptures in the shape of fantastical flora glow with uplighting, and together with glimmering fairy lights, lend a “storybook” atmosphere year-round. Additionally, the neighboring Royal Festival Hall can now utilize full-facade projections to feature simulcasts of shows-in-progress, works by local media artists, and projected scenery for outdoor performances. This modern touch keeps the vivacious energy of the community spaces abuzz, and provides unique new programming opportunities for the South Bank Centre.
Perhaps the most subtly elegant of the designs, Cathy Dong’s space encapsulates the new and existing buildings in the arts center under a massive, contiguous glass canopy. These “vitrine trees” create an indoor-outdoor circulation space that promotes increased year-round use of the Center. As the preexisting lobbies were merged into an outdoor shared space, finding an artful way to encourage and direct audience flow to the many existing performance spaces became paramount. Past the glowing, smoothly chasing lightbox stairway, the lobby uses hundreds of “dancing bubbles.” These individually dimmable glass lanterns, which smoothly ebb and flow in intensity, create a tide-like progression that calmly directs guests towards venue entrances.
Daniel Noh’s structure emphasized form, linearity, and an ultra-modern sleek aesthetic. Fittingly, the lighting choices serve to accent and emphasize linear elements of the design. Linear washes douse the building in a brilliant, energetic yellow, recalling the iconic paint job of the South Bank Centre’s spiral staircases, and create a “floating” effect for the cantilevered performance space. Cutting across this wash are the angular handrails, a custom construction of internally lit frosted acrylic that glows deep blue, contrasting beautifully against that famous yellow tone. Together, these elements create a space that is full of implied motion, and a strong, nearly-neon color statement shouts that this is a building for cutting-edge performance.
Magic Sheet Examples: "Cabaret", at CMU’s Chosky Theater
As Alex Gibson’s 1st Assistant Lighting Designer, I built these Magic Sheets with the goal of being able to quickly recall any of the over 500 channels used in the complex rig to light the expansive performance space. The first example laid out the static systems used for area lighting, and the second was made specifically to organize a view of the many practicals hanging over the set, with grouping by position, instrument type, and color made easily visible. Other portions of the Magic Sheet dealt with our moving light package, as well as scenic washes and specials.