When the lone actor takes centre stage in the in-the-round configuration, he is lit with a sharp beam of light from another VL1000 fixture. At that moment, a video begins on a 360° video screen that surrounds the audience. "It's a total immersion experience for the audience," explained production coordinator Kai Brothers. "By adding light, patterns and images directly onto the audience with the VL1000 fixtures, they become part of the show."
The design, created by scenic and lighting designer Jerome Sirlin, also includes a 30ft tall, five-sided projection scrim system (14ft in diameter), which drops into the space, encapsulating the performer. Sirlin selected Vari*Lite fixtures for the specific needs of the presentation, as they offered rotating gobo wheel, colour-mixing system, mechanical iris, automated four-blade shutter system, 19-36° zoom range (plus 70° super zoom capability) and a 1000W tungsten source.
"It was determined during the early stages of the project that the only fixture that could meet the requirements of the design team was the VL1000 ERS," said systems integrator Thomas Casazza of Barbizon, the company that provided the lighting package. "The choice was cemented by the Vari*Lite product name."
A total of 15 VL1000 fixtures, a combination of iris and shutter units, were installed at the centre's 350-seat Kimmel Theater. Brothers and Casazza worked closely with Sirlin to help define the way the lighting system would integrate with show control. Soon after the lighting selection was made, Sirlin and the Donna Lawrence Productions team determined that the VL1000 units could be used effectively as a high-resolution projector, as well as either a spot or wash luminaire. This choice allowed for the removal of several single-purpose projectors.
"This was an option that turned out to be extremely cost-effective," Casazza said. "This probably isn't a task that the VL1000 units were specifically designed for, but their multi-tasking capabilities is phenomenal. This has actually put the VL1000 fixture up against a projector for certain types of images."
For Freedom Rising, Sirlin wanted to have a large number of special effects, patterns and gobos at his disposal. Of the 75 gobo slots (15 units, each with five slots, plus open) around 50 contain custom designed gobos designed by Sirlin, and made by Vari-Lite specifically for the program. The remaining slots are filled with standard gobo patterns. About one-third of the total gobo allocation is used as images projected onto the audience or the stage floor. "The color mixing and the wide beam shape was another plus because we have to illuminate the actor on center stage and also pick him up as he walks through the audience," Brothers said. "The floor is covered with a broadcast quality floor surface. With the sharp colors and various images and patterns, the lighting of the floor looks absolutely fantastic."
(Lee Baldock)
