At first blush, it seemed like a really good idea — get all the busiest lighting designers of 2007 to contribute a quote or two about their recent work. What were we thinking? Stealing the smallest bit of time from one of these designers — which part of busy did we not understand? — is challenging enough, but to get mul-tiple busy designers to respond was close to impossible. Fortunately, we at PLSN are used to dealing with the impossible — our editor, for starters, is impossible to deal with [You’re skating on thin ice. – ed.] — and despite their busy schedules, many of them came through. Although it’s not a complete list of the busiest designers of 2007, this is a good sampling of them.
Abigail Rosen Holmes
Holmes’ recent projects include: The Cure; Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Tour; the taping of the Martina McBride tour for PBS Great Performances (to be aired this year); and a 3-D film of the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus show (scheduled to be in movie theaters early this year).
Of the design for Martina McBride, Holmes had this to say: “The set has a clean, finished look. It seemed really important that all the lighting posi-tions be integrated into it, that they be a part of the set rather than extraneous trusses with lighting slapped on. It works great for Martina; she has such strong stage presence and is such a great live performer. With some other performers, you would have to be very careful that a set like this didn’t take your attention away from the artist, but with Martina we were really able to take full advantage of it.”
Butch Allen
Allen’s recent work includes: lighting design for Metallica; set design for Christina Aguilera; lighting design for Gwen Stefani; lighting and set de-sign for Van Halen; set design for Dancing with the Stars — the Tour; set design for Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony; and lighting design for AOL Sessions.
In addition to being a prolific designer, Allen shows promise as a philosopher. “You can design, build and plan for months, even years,” he says, “but it all comes down to what happens at production rehearsals. Fusion, harmony, the convergence of everyone’s efforts to date happens at the fi-nal assembly point in the touring production line.”
Seth Jackson
Recent Parnelli Award recipient (Set/Scenic Designer of the Year 2007 with Elizabeth O’Keefe) Seth Jackson has been keeping busy designing shows for: Toby Keith; Barry Manilow (Music & Passion in Las Vegas as well as An Evening of Music & Passion, the road show version); Hilary Duff (Dignity World Tour); Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban (Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride).
Jackson attributes much of his success to collaboration. “I’m not the lone warrior out there anymore. I have a great creative partner back in St. Louis, Elizabeth O’Keefe, who always brings a fresh eye to whatever I’m working on. We can pass stuff back and forth all day long at the office and come out so much farther ahead than when we started. Likewise, I get to work with some great lighting directors and programmers these days; guys like Eddie Connell and Fuji Covertino have really helped open up the style and look of what I do.”
He says his philosophy of design is simple: “It’s people driven. My decision-making is rarely about the type of light I want to use, but so much more about the crew and service I get. This business is difficult and somewhat ridiculous, but the payoff is the team you work with. I use Syncro-lites because of Jimmy and Jack and their crew; yes, the lights are great, but if the people weren’t, I would find something else. The same story can be told over and over with every lighting vendor, video vendor and set construction company I work with. The same holds true with the artists and their management. If it isn’t fun, there are far easier ways to make a living.”
Patrick Woodroffe
Most designers would consider it a successful year if they only designed tours for The Police and Genesis. For 2007 Parnelli Lighting Designer of the Year Patrick Woodroffe, that’s just a warm-up. His other recent projects were in the areas of opera, architecture, theatre and dance (can you say High School Musical?) and private events.
For Woodroffe, much of his inspiration is derived from diversity. “No project is ever really the same — it involves different people, different ex-pectations, different degrees of participation from the artists,” he said. “I try to make it as organic a process as I can, but based on quite a practical and disciplined way of working.”
As an artist, he also recognizes the importance of technology. “This is a golden time for lighting designers with so many choices of bright, reliable automated fixtures with interesting features.”
