Dove

  • Ken Ellis, Scenic Designer
  • Swine Palace, Producer
  • Venue: The LSU Studio Theatre
  • Baton Rouge, LA
  • November 2013

This show was designed in a 96 dimmer studio theatre using an ETC Express 24/48. This was a world premiere of an Estonian play. While researching some Estonian lighting styles, I noticed lots of saturated colors and dramatic shadows caused by lack of fill or a fill of contrasting colors. To incorporate some of this Estonian style I used my complementary front light as my fill and a saturated magenta, green and blue as my down/back light. The show takes place back stage at a struggling theatre and so I decided to leave the cables a little messy.

Wide view of the stage for Dove during a performance. It is the back stage of a theatre with an entrance up center and a stage on both sides of the space. We see dressing room mirrors and storage. The actor playing the stage manager holds a lighter in the air as though threatening to burn the theatre down. The space is dimly lit and the actor is lit by cool, high front light. The director enters from up center to meet the actors. The actors are relaxing back stage. An actor moves in slow motion in a fit of rage. They are lit in a saturate magenta back light to emphasize the heightened mood. Actors are in their own specials in various parts of the space. The rest of the space is dimly lit with blue back light. A cloeser view of two actors from the previous image. The dirctor is working with one of the actors. They are lit by warm front light and dim blue back light. Two actors stand in the dressing area of the backstage space for the show Dove. A close up of an actress. She is wearing a white dress. She is sulpted by warm light on one side and a cool fill light from the opposite side. A wider view of the previous image. The actress in a white dress is scuplted by warm front light from one side and a cool fill from the other. The stage manager sits on a love seat in semidarkness. A close view of an actress, the producer, and the director from the play Dove. An older actor contemplates how he will die on stage. He is scuplted by warm front light from one side and a cool fill from the other. His surroundings are dimly lit pulling the focus to him. Sevral actors/musicians stand in a line with a look of shock as a dead dove falls to the ground. The lighting groundplan and sections. There is a key legend and magic sheet in the bottom left corner.

Photo credit: Alice Stout