Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996 - 30

up late or miss rehearsals, or develop a reputation for being argumentative you will probably not do as many shows and your career may become more limited. People (a director, a producer, or a fellow
designer) \rill say that its just not worth the effort.··

TECHNOLOGY
Billington sees the primary difference between mounting a Broadway
shO\r today. compared to shO\rs he worked on fifteen or twenty years
ago. as being the anlOunt of time it takes. Productions are bigger nO\r
and much more technologically complex. This sophistication requires
more load-in and tech time. "You don't do a musical with 250 to 300
lights all)lllOre-you do it \ritll a 1000 lights. It takes more time to put
a thOUSalld clalnps on a pipe ".run a thousand pieces of cable ".and
then turn on a thousand lights." Twenty yeal's ago a musical would loadin on a Sunday and be ready for its first performal1Ce on Friday night.
Today, a typical Broadway production requires several weeks of load-in
and tech time.
Computer control has been the major technological change during
Billington's career. It has changed the way designers think about cues,
and it has led to equipment challges such as color scrollers alld moving
lights. He first used scrollers in 1981. Scrollers are now a regulal' element in nearly all Broad\ray designs while many productions have gone
further and embraced mo\~ng lights alld intelligent fixmres. Billington
states that, "Technology has made the tools better because the equipment is much more efficient now. It makes production happen more efficiently alld perhaps the shO\rs look better now." In a recelll
production of Tbe Prisoner ofZenda at the Paper Mill Playhouse he
was required to light eight or nine full-stage sets. There was no way to
work sidelight into tile hang because of the scenery. There also \rasn't
enough room to hallg all the conventional units tilat he normally \\'Quld
use to light the show. His solution \ras to use Vari':'lite VL-5s.
Because Billington has a reputation for embracing new technologies he is often approached by mallllfacmres to test new products dUI~
ing their development. But he never uses a new fixnlre just because it's
new. He says, "A show cannot be toy driven, a show must be artistically
driven ... The audience doesn't necessarily know what technology is ...a
producer once said to me that having a million dollars worth of computers in the basement is no good if it doesn't make the show work on
stage. To the audience that doesn't know what's in the basemelll, it's still
magic."

COLLABORATION
Billington likes to schedule meetings between designers as tlley are
needed. As he puts it, meetings happen "when things have to be seen."
Depending on the production alld the \\'Qrk habits of the designers,
Billington may end up seeing the scenic designer every day (as he did
when working with Da\id Mitchell on Annie 2 and Foxfire). or only
three or four times before tech rehearsal. Regardless of the number alld
type of meetings the saine issues and discussions evennlally take place.
He particularly values meetings early on, and doesn't think twice about
taking the sub\ray dowlllO\rn, or even fl)ing to California for a two hour
production meeting.
Tbe process needs 10 be a lolal collabomlive effort and / bm'e 10
be involvedfrom tbe beginning. !I's nollbat / demand conlrol
but Ibal / want to be involved in solVing Ibe problems because /
canlben do m)' besl. Tbere's 100 mucb mane)' al slake ... mone)'
nol just in bolV mucb tbings cosl bUI in Ibe aclual cosl ofpUlling on a production. Slagebands are e.\pensive, equipment
28

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renlals are e.\pensive, actors and direclors are e.\pensh·e, tbealre renlals are e.\pensive ...and final()', Ibere is a finite lime
fmme. A shall' will load-in on tbis da)' and gil'e a peljorm{//Ice
on Ibal da)'. Tbe lime in bel/l'een is finite and 10 cancel a performancefor Il'balel'er reason is £'8/:J' e.\pensil'e. Jel. afirsl performance sbould rej/ecl a slick proftssional sbo/l'. B)' bm1ing all
Ibe meelings up fronl. Ibe problems are soh'ed ear()' on. A meeling beld in December n/{l)' sal'e Ibree drl)'s /l'orlb of /l'ork in
April and a 101 of money El'en ij)'ou find jusl one Ibing Ibal
could impacl on Ibe enlire sboll' Ibe trip bas been a bargain. ..
Billington is very interested in working \\ith a director to develop
the lighting for a production. HO\rever, he doesn't feel that it is appropriate for directors to ask for specific challOels and percentages in a
cueing session. For that reason he generally doesn't run tile chal1l1els
for a director during the cue-in. In fact, he often finds that he doesn't
do a run of the challOels for himself for many productions that he lights.
He feels that if directors start asking specifically for given lights during a
scene that they may never see the way that he intends to get to the finished image. He states, "Asking for specific dimming information like
bringing dimmer one to fifty percent is not the directors job. After all, I
don't tell a director where to block the actors." He is also quick to add
that this has rarely happened in his career-in fact, he doesn't recall it
ever happening on Broad\ray. He goes on to state that there is nothing
wrong with a director making requests or asking for a designer to try
something that he may Wall! to see. Running cues \\ith various counts is
allOther importallt area in which the director needs to be active during
the lighting process. He sums it up with, "It is a collaborative process
alld we work togetller to produce the final image."
\%en asked if he feels tilat he is doing too much or that tllere are
too many projects, he states tllat he has been able to determine what he
Call halldIe, what duties he Call trust to his assistants, alld how much
time he has to spend with a specific aspect of lll1y design. It also depends on the scale of the projects that he may be working on at ally
given time. Alarge Broadway musical will require that he take on fewer
additional projects. He also believes that he has been able to keep a
staff of assistants alld associates who he characterizes as fabulous designers in themselves. Although he relies hea\~ly on his assistants and
associates for fulfiIIing various production needs he also makes a point
of only assigning all assistant to one major production at a time. In this
way, if he has more than one show going up at a given time he can stiLl
have a member of his staff present at all times tllat a project is being
completed. One of Billington's secrets lies in his ability to quickly focus
on the specific issues of a project as required.
"Yesterda,J' Ill)' focus I/'{IS on Call Call excepl for Ibe lillIe sideIrip / made 10 Ibe Colonial Tbealre in BasIon. /'m vel:)' good
aboul being able 10 focus in on a problem Il'!Jen someone
cOllles 10 lIle wilb queslions relaling 10 a specific project. if
Ibe)' come wilb a queslion and /'m 100 inl'Olmd Il'ilb anolber
projecl 1'/1 sa,J' ll'ben / can get back to Ibem. Il'betber it's in a
balf bour or 10mOl'l'O/I' moming. 7bda,J' nz)' focus is jusl on
/l'orking oul Ibe front -ofbouse for .I/oon Over Buffalo in Boston. "
\\~lile Billington has maintained all interest in designing light for a
wide rallge of shows he has developed a reputation for designing largevenue productions. Known primarily for his work in musical theatre, variety acts, music;~ revues, alld opera he continues to design lighting for
plays, restaurants, and video. He remains 10 this day a prominent inclividul~ who's portfolio reflects a rallge of projects that are characteristic
of a total lighting designer.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996