The Tempest

Lighting design and electrics for The Tempest: glowing bottles, a lit ship, a living ocean.

Year: 2015
Role: Lighting design
With: Tom Mula (director), Jessica Howe (scenic), Chloe Cappachelli (costumes), Emma Gullo (puppets), Andy Rubino (master electrician), Grant Sabin (props)
Shown at: Columbia College Chicago

A large part of the design for The Tempest revolved around the correct execution of many wiring and soldering projects. As a member of the Electrics Department at Columbia College, I was responsible for the build, and in this case design, of the projects below. Many of them needed to be quickly and accurately realized early in the production process in order to effectively communicate their purpose to the director (Tom Mula) and the rest of the design team.

The dynamic water effect was a centerpiece scenic element of the play. As lighting designer, my goal was to make the ocean drop feel alive and pulsing with the rest of the play. I chose to use a flowing mylar material and LED lights to create the effect. The LED lights allowed me to cater the tone of the ocean to fit each scene specifically.

The Scenic Designer (Jesse Howe) wanted to cover the tree of the island in glowing colored bottles. The execution of this project was left up to myself and the Master Electrician (Andy Rubino). These
Due to constraints on the size of the necks of the bottles, and the translucence of the glass, the LED lights placed inside where not as bright as desired. In order to emphasize the light that was ava
The lights were placed in the air by the electrics crew, and wired together into a decoder. Each of the three color types was independently controllable, allowing for a glittering effect during the sh
This ship, discovered by our Props Designer (Grant Sabin), needed to be lit for the first moment of the play. Prospera carried the boat onto the stage, lit only by the light of the ship, as the storm
I soldered and wired LED tape along the back of the ship, hiding the light source from the audience and working as a portable source of uplight for Prospera.
I placed a battery pack that powered the LED tape inside the hull of the ship. A switch on the back of the ship, controllable by the actor, turned the LED lights on and off.
Abigail Phelps (Prospera) holding the finished ship in the first moment of the play.