Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001 - 54

Rehearsal periods are woefully inadequate-due mostly to the fact
that the principles cannot perform or rehearse two days in a row.
KB: I light a great deal of opera. You have to work fast-sixteen hours
is the average amount of time that you have the stage from first
tech through final dress. You get four hours for blocking act one,
four hours for act two, a piano dress, an orchestra dress and you
open. Opera can be very problematic-in fact, it can be a great
way to learn how not to do it!
BW: How has the use of the computer influenced the way
that you work? What type of software and computers do
you use?
In response to the second question both Billington and Pilbrow
voiced a preference for Macs while Fiorentino joked that he never really uses computers-others do it for him.
KB: We use Mini-CAD [now VectorWorks] for drafting, and we use
Photoshop all the time for creating template designs. We also have
the capability to e-mail drawing files to clients all over the world. I
don't think that the computer has helped me any in the actual art.
It does help with efficiency in the office. These are still only
tools-just because you use Mini-CAD doesn't mean that you are a
great draftsman. If you are a good hand draftsman you will be a
good computer draftsman. On the other hand, if you are a lousy
hand draftsman you will most likely be a lousy CAD draftsman...it
may be neater, but it will still be lousy.
Pilbrow likes visualization programs. Programs such as Michael
Ramseur's Argus or John McKernon's Beamwright allow you to chart
beam spreads and hanging positions or angles. He likes manners of
simulating the lighting so that you can instantly see the effects of the
lighting. Even when he was fourteen he had his model theatre where
he could explore a number of issues relating to lighting design. He
credits some of his early success to the fact that he could invite
people to his office to actually see the effects of lighting through the
use of his small laboratory theatre. In fact, this probably contributed
to his success as much as his practice of undercutting Strand's
prices. "I'm also very interested in three-dimensional visualization
and modeling software like WYSIWYG," he said. Very soon, Pilbrow
feels, we will use computer simulation programs to facilitate discussions with directors about the lighting that we want to produce.
IF: In the early days of computers I worked on a production which had
around 400 cues for a one-and-a-half-hour show. The show had
previously been done using several electricians running piano boards
and we were now switching it over to a computer. Everything went
great during rehearsals. Many of the cues that previously were too
difficult or impossible to complete manually were easy to accomplish
on the computer. When we were ready to begin final dress rehearsal,
the electrician said that he wasn't ready and we asked, "Why?" His
response informed us that the board had dumped all the cues. Initially
this didn't seem like much of a problem because we had been faithful
about running a backup disk. However, we soon learned that in trying
to restore the memory, the backup had also been erased. With only
three hours before the house opened, we were sitting with a cue-less
show! In this kind of situation you have to get back to the basics. The
only thing that got me through was my ability to use my brain-to
remember and see in my mind all that had been created previously for
the production. We cleared the stage and rebuilt 400 light cues
before the house opened-using only the brain.

Jennifer Tipton
Paul Taylor Dance Company (1965).
Twyla Tharp Dance (1965).
The Tempest, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream:
Ed Berkeley, NY Shakespeare Festival, Newhouse Theatre,
NYC (1974).
The Cherry Orchard: Andrei Serban, NY Shakespeare Festival,
Beaumont Theatre, NYC (1977).
The Landscape of the Body by John Guare: John Pasquin,
Academy Festival Theatre, Lake Forrest, Illinois; NY
Shakespeare Festival, Newman Theatre (1977).
Falstaff by Verdi: Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles; Royal Opera
House, London (1982).
In Memory Of...: Jerome Robbins, NY City Ballet (1985).
Alcestis: Robert Wilson, Amerian Repertory Theatre,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Tannhauser: Sellars, Chicago Lyric Opera (1988).
Jerome Robbins' Broadway: Imperial Theatre, NYC (1989).
Brace Up: Wooster Group, Elizabeth LeCompte, NYC (1991).
Snow on the Mesa: Robert Wilson/Martha Graham,
Washington, D.C. (1995).
The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky: Jonathan Miller,
Metropolitan Opera, NYC (1997).
Don Giovanni: Graham Vick, Glyndebourne Opera House,
Sussex, England (2000).
TD & T

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001