Directed by Gayle Smith, Setting by Sonny Martin,
Lighting Design by Charles R. Kaiser
Eastern New Mexico University Theatre - Portales, New Mexico
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Tally's Folly is one of my very early designs. It remains one of my favourites. This design was the first one that I did on a memory board. The show consisted of about 100 seperate looks that were linked together to run as one long cue from early evening to almost dark over the course of the performance.
Directed by Bob Leonard, Setting by Randy Ward,
Lighting Design by Charles R. Kaiser
Playhouse 460 - Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, Virginia
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The following text is taken from the original Lighting Designer's Concept Notes as presented to the director of Quilters during the early stages of production meetings.
Original Quilters Concept Notes:
The plains of Eastern New Mexico and West Texas are forbidding places. This is true even now. Go back in time one hundred years or so and they become even more of a forbidding scene. What was it that would prompt som many brave people to try to scratch out a living on these plains? Whatever the reason, it was done and the children of these first settlers are still living on those plains to carry on with the stories and the quilting.
The plains are indeed forbidding, but the people that lived and live on them still are able to find beauty there. Like the colorful patches of a quilt, the lighting should highlight the little beautiful things that are brought out in the story. The lights should fit together like the peices of a quilt and help to move the story forward.
Some special notes:
The "Dugout" (Block 2) is a hole dug in ground with a partial cabin built atop it. They were not known for being the warmest places during a storm. However, it should be a place of safety, and the outside sould not creep in.
The "River"?
The "Fire" (Block 15 - Crosses and Losses) is constant motion and confusion. A fire on the plains sweeps over the landscape with a roar that sounds very much like a living thing. Nothing not of stone can stand in its way and survive. The smoke from a fire darkens the sky almost to pitch even during the brightest day. Panic and feelings of heat.