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Drawing on Childhood Memories for a 2022 Tour

“I grew up listening to Tears for Fears. I have vivid memories of looking out the back window of my Mom’s Plymouth Horizon while ‘Seeds of Love’ played on the cassette deck,” recalls Kerstin L. Hovland, Screens Producer & Video Designer for the band’s 2022 “The Tipping Point” tour. For this tour, Hovland’s mother Annette, a collage artist, was able to play a key role in the visuals, including those for “Seeds of Love.” “There was something beautifully circular about animating my mother’s artwork for a band she played for me,” Kerstin notes.

Some Good News with Arts Funding

The Shubert Foundation recently announced a record $37.6 million in grants for not-for-profit theater and dance companies along with $2 million for two HBCU colleges. Another bright spot on the horizon: Ruth Arts, created on behalf of the late arts philanthropist Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, has plans for a wide array of grants totaling more than $17 million annually.

The Pros and Cons of Life on the Road

Chris Lose notes the four times he’s taken the exit ramp from a life on the road, only to have once again hit the highway for another tour. As such, he can speak about the pros and cons with the voice of experience. On the up-side: ego gratification and world travel. On the down-side: Being away from family, the 24/7 busy-ness of it all, and eating too much junk food.

When Staging Musical Extravaganzas, Collaboration is Key

Composer, producer and “rock star of film music” Hans Zimmer traveled through Europe this spring with his 19-piece band and an orchestra. Lightswitch LD John Featherstone and his team worked with an all-Robe moving light rig, with Satis & Fy supplying 250 Robe fixtures for the first European leg. “Hans is a master at putting collaborators together,” said Featherstone, noting how the design process originally started back in 2019/2020 with Zimmer putting together a creative “dream team” that included, along with Featherstone as LD, Broadway set and scenic designer Derek McLane, video designer Peter Nigrini and choreographer Barry Lather.

Collaborating on Looks for Jack White’s Shows

Each night, whether he’s performing in a theater, arena or amphitheater, Jack White treats his fans to a one-of-a-kind musical experience, with no fixed song list and plenty of improvisations within songs as well. As such, Michelle Sarrat and David Leonard serve up unique lighting and video looks each night as well, flowing with Jack White’s musical lead. But to help keep lighting, video content, live cameras and automation in synch, Luz Studio’s Matthieu Larivée notes the creation of “aesthetic blocs” that Sarrat and Leonard can discuss and opt for to guard against creative chaos. And with the palette limited to blue and white, the colors never clash.

3G Productions’ Strategy for Post-Pandemic Growth

PLSN caught up with Keith Conrad, CEO of 3G Productions, to discuss how the company, which completed a recapitalization in 2021, has been gearing up for post-pandemic growth. And despite all that’s happened, the growth strategy is still pretty simple: offer the customers great gear and service.

Illuminating Psychology for ‘A Strange Loop’

In the Broadway musical, ‘A Strange Loop,’ when a doorway lights up, it represents the activation of the voice, or Thought, in the main character’s head. “The lighting has to nimbly transform as Usher confronts his six Thoughts as they emerge from the darkness and retreat—so the lighting is playing along with that head space,” explained LD Jen Schriever. Even though A Strange Loop is a minimalist show, “there was never a time I felt I couldn’t beautifully reveal the actors,” Schreiver adds. “I am always playing on that edge of popping actors into a bright showstopping number and then popping them back in the dark subliminal space.”

Still Rolling with the Stones, and Still Dodging Covid

Woodroffe Bassett Design created a new design for The Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary tour, Sixty, now rolling through Europe and the UK. Asking the WBD team about what to expect, Patrick Woodroffe told PLSN, “As with every other band going out on tour after two years’ absence, the challenges facing the Rolling Stones as they gear up to their return to Europe are manifold. Huge rise in all construction costs, difficulty in finding crew, very hard to book trucks and stages, [and] ongoing Covid-19 protocols that have to be adhered to when it feels like the rest of the world has stopped doing so.”

Color Affects Preferences

Without the napalm orange artificial coloring of Cheetos, their actual manufactured color is gray. The gray color is so unappealing that they would be almost impossible to market. Even though the cheesy dust stains everything an obnoxious orange, people tolerate the color because it is appealing to their eyes. When choosing a color for a song, the same can be true. People can respond to the color selection long before the chorus starts.

Rule #1: Stay Calm

Asked what advice he would give to someone in the early stage of their career, Programmer and Lighting Designer Rob Koenig says his “biggest advice is to stay calm. It’s very difficult to learn to stay calm. You’re in an environment with upwards of 50,000 people. Something goes wrong in the middle of the show—the first thing you cannot do is panic. You’ve got to chill out. I always tell them, ‘You are calm as a coma.’ No matter what happens, you need to delegate what needs to happen, and start fixing what needs to happen immediately—without panicking—and without drawing attention to it either.”

Know Before You Go

Here are the eight questions PLSN’s LD-at-Large columnist Chris Lose wishes he always asked before embarking on a tour:

What’s the rate?
What are the politics?
What is the vibe?
How much is per diem?
Will I share a room?
What are my days off?
Is there a dress code?
Can I offer free tickets?

Favorite Billie Eilish Moments

During Debi Moen’s interview with the LD and Lighting Director for Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever world tour, she asked about favorite moments. LD Ben Dalgleish noted the back-and-forth dynamic between the large diamond-shaped lighting rig and Moment Factory’s LED screen content during the song, “Lost Cause.” For Lighting Director Tony Caporale, it’s the “low automation move we do with the vertical towers out in the house for the song, ‘Oxytocin.’”