PLSN: Why did you start up your design firm?
Jeanette Farmer: Okay, I say this bit tongue in cheek because, as we all know, the path you set out on is not always the one you follow. I started out as — and have always planned on being — an independent designer, but Las Vegas production shows got in the way!
As a theatre systems consultant and production/lighting designer, I have always both worked for large entertainment companies while maintaining my independent design practice. For example, for much of the 1990s through 2008 in Las Vegas I worked for MGM/Mirage Resorts and simultaneously freelance designed and consulted for Cirque du Soleil for their permanent mega theatres.
I got sucked into the amazing vortex of Las Vegas mega-spectacles in the 1990s and 2000s and realized there were so many more things I wanted to do that were not all encompassed by production design. So I set new goals and, once I had accomplished my “bucket list” of theatrical production brass rings, I decided I could go back to my independence of the late 1980s.
The bucket list read something like this: work on the first of a new breed of Vegas mega-spectacle (Siegfried & Roy), do a water show (O), design the world’s largest lighting network (at the time, KA), lead a design/build automation project (FTSI’s Shanghai Spheres kinetic sculpture for the 2010 World Expo), be a designer/creator for a Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas production (Criss Angel Believe), team author a software suite for theatre operations management (Timetracker and Theatrical Operating System with Martin Crawford) and, best of all, be recognized by organizations I thoroughly admire, such as USITT, ESTA, THEA and University of Nevada at Las Vegas this past year (Farmer was one of five inductees in UNLV’s Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2013).
So, now I feel like I have the width and breadth of experiences to be able to ensure success in every aspect of my client’s new productions both big and small. Bring it on, and let’s make amazing theatre!
How many people do you have on your staff?
I have the usual array of office administration, accounting and contracting support team on staff as well as an amazing group of contract players and independents for 3D design and drafting, specification writing, mechanical design and lighting design assistants and programmers. JFTD’s strength is in our network of entertainment professionals with a background in the world’s most spectacular theatre products to date.
What projects are you working on?
JFTD is currently working on a few different projects around the globe. The largest project that I am a principal on is a project in Wuhan, China for Franco Dragone Entertainment Group. I serve as the lighting system expert consultant as well as the lighting design associate to the incredibly talented lighting designer Alain Lortie. Franco and his team are continuing to do what Franco has always done: move the bar higher and higher for the genre of spectacle theatre. The theatre will be amazing, the show breath taking and it will undoubtedly make waves in China the way Franco did in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil in the 1990s.
We at JFTD also have a fantastic project in Honolulu, Hawaii for RAE Entertainment Group, the San Diego ultra cool nightclub team. This project is “theatre and circus meets nightclub” for a breathtaking ménage a trois, a sassy atmosphere for amazing physical feats so close you can feel the artist’s breath — really fun visual and sensory experiences.
Other current projects include lighting design for a new touring show for illusionist Criss Angel, where he will showcase many amazing illusionists in an exciting and dynamic production that will be like a Lollapalooza rock concert of incredible magic, coming to a major city near you in 2014!
Tell us more about Criss Angel’s Show.
I do still do new design work and frequently update the illusions and the show content for his show at the Luxor. Criss is an amazing creative force and has taken that show so far beyond its original platform. It is so awesome to get to work with him and the amazing Cirque du Soleil and Luxor team at Believe on a consistent basis. A shout out to lighting director Patrick Teich and the awesome Believe lighting crew — you guys are fantastic!
Vickie Claiborne Books It
Programmer Vickie Claiborne has ventured beyond her columnist duties at PLSN to become a book author. Her first tome, Media Servers for Lighting Programmers: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Digital Lighting, published by Focal Press, launches at USITT in March 2014. “I saw a need,” she says. “LDs are being forced into situations — it’s a new market that we’re in. It’s two different jobs — lighting and video programming, but the approaches to both are similar. Video mapping is being more requested, and lighting programmers have to be able to implement it.”
Claiborne explains that the reference book is geared for lighting programmers who have little to no experience or knowledge of video terminology or equipment. “The book begins with the most common video equipment a lighting programmer might encounter when using a media server, including terminology and descriptions, and continues with more advanced topics including patching a media server on a lighting console, setting up the console for use with a media server and accessing the features of the media server with a lighting console. The book also takes a look at the newest type of digital lighting servers and products.”
Parrotheads & Parsnips
Video director Carol Dodds is in her fifth year with Jimmy Buffett. Her final date of this year is in the non-tropical latitude of St. Paul, MN in December. “I figure that’s ‘Frozen Margaritaville,’” she jokes. While the tour ends in Hawaii Dec. 15, Dodds won’t be on that island, as it’s a small show, she says. Meanwhile, just before her stint as a Parnelli Awards show presenter at LDI, she harvested “a ton of parsnips” from her garden — a new crop started because of the freeze of last year’s fruits. We predict new frozen concoctions of the vegetable variety to appear on next year’s Buffett tour bus.
40 Years of Air Supply
Despite their song lyrics, Air Supply is not “all out of love.” They’re celebrating their 40th anniversary as a group with 2014-2015 dates. The band’s lighting designer/director Troy Stubby will end 2013 with international dates Nov. 27-Dec. 21 in Australia, New Zealand, China, Philippines, Japan and South Korea. “I use existing light rigs and have my own plot when I can get it!” he says.
Fallon for Nashville
After finishing Boz Scaggs’ tour, LD Steve Fallon took on the role as lighting director for the live performances in the ABC TV show Nashville. Fallon says, “A full touring rig is installed in a warehouse/soundstage here in Nashville with 120 moving lights and assorted sets for the different artists in the show.” At the same time, Fallon is touring as lighting designer/director with Michael McDonald on his holiday show, This Christmas: An Evening of Holiday & Hits.
Fransen Comes Alive
Visualist, LD and programmer Tony Fransen has been tag teaming with production designer Marc Brickman for the past year working on projects such as the dynamic LED light show at the Empire State Building featuring Alicia Keys in late November 2012, CeeLo Green is Loberace, Live in Vegas! (during his spring 2013 residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas) and The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream on Broadway. “On the side, I have been lighting Sara Bareilles and Scotty McCreery, so it has been a busy year to say the least,” Fransen says.
“Marc is great — one of the greats. I’m such a fan, and it has been quite a ride working with him. The cool thing about Marc is that he has really allowed me to run with the shows we have been doing.
“Sara has been a real blast — I did all her 2011-2012 stuff, and I am back now, working on her December run.” Although he had to “step away for a bit” due to an injury, “I am back, full speed ahead now.”
Fransen had been prepping a second series of Broadway shows featuring the Rascals with Brickman that were set for a three-week run Dec. 15-Jan. 6 at the Marquis Theater but they were canceled as production co-producer/co-director Steven Van Zandt juggled commitments with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and the Netflix TV series, Lillyhammer. Even so, Fransen has relished the chance to help bring rock ‘n’ roll looks to the Great White Way. “I come from a rock ‘n’ roll background, so doing rock ‘n’ roll on Broadway has been a crazy change, but a ton of fun.”
IALD Chases the Dark
The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) recently underwent a worldwide series of guerilla lighting installations called Chase the Dark. The project demonstrated the power of light in urban communities on the designated date of Nov. 14. The event was locally hosted and organized by chapters of the IALD, and architectural LDs from eight counties spanning eight time zones took part.
Each host city invited participants to shape an urban environment with light, creating several miniature lit scenarios over several hours. These displays were installed for just a matter of moments — the images of each light project captured permanently on camera and shared on Twitter.
“IALD’s Chase the Dark is an opportunity for lighting enthusiasts around the world to share their creativity with the public,” said Kevin Theobald, IALD president. “It’s also a chance for us to unite IALD’s many local communities around the globe in one activity that emphasizes and champions the power of light in human life.”
Amsterdam Celebrates Light
Amsterdam celebrated light in all its forms during December’s Amsterdam Light Festival. On Dec. 6, the event opened with a boat route to experience the lighting of the Water Colors, which transformed Netherland’s cultural city into a city of light. The Illuminade walking route opened Dec. 12. Work started over the past few months, with artists creating impressive artworks corresponding to this year’s theme, “Building with Light.” Programs ranged from the concerts of the Grachtenfestival Winter special to an interactive artwork in the bicycle tunnel of Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt and other well-known artists.
Happy holidays! Email Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com to share your festive project news.
