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SET + ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN + PERFORMANCE WORK
More information about performance design can be found at the websites for individual projects.
Playing the Rapture 2008
I was the set and video designer for this performance work, which featured use of projected machinima videos on floor and wall in order to immerse the performers in their game world (here visible under their feet). In many scenes, the video projections also served as the primary theatrical lighting. It premiered at the Baltimore Theatre Project in March 2008.
Project website.
Demotic 2004/06
I was the set co-designer (with director Robert Allen) and telematics designer for this mixed-reality performance work. The design focused on maximizing the audio elements of the piece, which included spatialized, realtime text-to-speech synthesis, vocal improvisation, voice processing, sound improvisation, live music, and sound sampling.
The piece included 5 local and 5 remote performers. Premiere at the Beall Center for Art + Technology (Irvine, CA). Demotic was subsequently re-imagined with much new material for a 2006 production at the Baltimore Theatre Projection.
Larger image: set.
Larger image: telematics.
Project website.
The Roman Forum Project 2003
I was the environmental set co-designer (with director Robert Allen) for this mixed-reality performance work. The design featured several widely spaced, raised platforms for the performers (yellow areas), 1 rear-projection screen, and 3 front-projection screens of various sizes. The violet areas indicate 'backstage tech' of the kind that is normally hidden from the audience. The main tech controls (audio, video, internet) were placed dead center in the space, while the dreassing room was in a corner. A live-video green-screen area was also visible to the audience, which circulated throughout the space as the piece progressed.
Premiere at the Beall Center for Art + Technology (Irvine, CA).
Larger image.
Project website.
Reading Frankenstein 2003
I worked with director Annie Loui and lighting designer Lonnie Alcaraz on the set design for this multimedia performance work, which used data projectors to provide most of the stage illumination. Altogether there were 5 projection screens/areas and 3 tv monitors, for which I created projections and videos. Premiere at the Beall Center for Art + Technology (Irvine, CA).
Project website.
Le Ménage 1998
Projection co-designer for this play by Aida Croal. The projections visually told the story of events at a picnic. The images were shot in high-contrast black-and-white. Director: Robert Allen. Premiere at LaMama E.T.C. (New York).
Cattle Calls & Other Long-Distance Tails 1991
My environmental elements for this dance theater work included 7-foot fire columns and mixed-media sculptures. Choreographer: Heidi Duckler, Collage Dance Theater. Premiere: Powerhouse Theater, Santa Monica.
Trojan Waltz 1991
Set design for dance theater duet included slide projections designed to create an effect of movement using still images. Choreographer: Robert Allen. Premiere at Schoenberg Hall (Los Angeles).
Roaring 1991
Set designer and writer for this interdisciplinary theater work. The piece incorporated dance, live musicians, a singer, a shadow play, and a monologue. Choreographer: Robert Allen. Premiere at Schoenberg Hall (Los Angeles).
The Dadashop Quartet 1991
Composed and performed in this a capella work for four voices that melded original material with text from Rabelais, Shakespeare, and a letter from Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse. Premiere at Schoenberg Hall (Los Angeles).
This site-specific work by Heidi Duckler + Collage Dance Theater was performed in and around a reflecting pool at Loyola Marymount University, L.A. My set design included floating letters and reconfigured fishing equipment.
Set design for work by Gary Palmer Dance Company included fantastically reconstructed automobile parts. Premiere: Theater Artaud, San Francisco.
Performer in short video by Lorie Erikson.
Set design for dance theater duet included abstract wooden armature and fish. Choreographer: Robert Allen. Premiere at the Los Angeles Open Festival, 1990; repeated at Schoenberg Hall in 1991.
The Opposites, On Ascent and Descent, and the Fool Sought After 1988
Set design for work by Gary Palmer Dance Company included a hanging rope ladder and a moveable folding screen that also served as a dance platform. Premiere: Bay Area Dance Series, Laney College, Oakland, CA.
Performer in collaborative work by choreographer Ellen Webb and artist Sandy Walker. Premiere at Cal Performances/On Stage Zellerbach series (Berkeley, CA), 1988. Repeated at the Oakland (CA) Museum, 1989.