Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001 - 58

surgery-you've got to have a life. Mind you, if my wife were here
now, she would say that I don't always practice what I preach.
However, I do have a little house in Scotland where I try to go for
two weeks each year. It's the most peaceful spot in the world. I can
sit in some dirty theatre at three o'clock in the morning while everyone else is dreaming and can remember this bubble of peace
for myself. Get a life...and don't take it too seriously...but, love it!
KB: You can't light a sunset unless you've seen a few of them. I personally have to go off and do other things. Turning the lights on and
off is only a part of what I do as a lighting designer. I love working
on new productions. Creating with the playwright, a new director,
working with all these people on something that has never been
done before. We are all artists. I'm not the "lighting guy" or a technician in any way, shape or form. We are creating. One of the
things I'm not terribly interested in doing is going to a regional
theatre and lighting another Hedda Gabler-everyone has done
Hedda Gabler...it's been figured out.
BW: How do stage managers have an impact on you and your
designs?
RP: The stage manager sits at the center of a show and on a long running show the job can become quite tedious. Some of the more
important jobs they have to deal with are keeping the director
from going insane, difficult casts and keeping everything moving
along both together and on schedule. Quality control becomes
their most important role.
KB: The stage manager is the artistic person who keeps the show running. The director directs, the designers design, the props guy
props the show and the musical director
waves a baton. The one person who has to
hold it all together is the stage manager. When
I go back to see a show that I designed a year
or so ago I want to see the exact same thing
that I left there. I don't want someone as stage
manager to take artistic license and make
decisions on my behalf. On the more immediate front, when you're putting a show into a
theatre it's about schedule, its about organization, its about being able to call the cues. If
you can't call the cues you're in big trouble. A
bump on the button at the end of a musical
number has got to be on the money-one
beat later doesn't cut it. You've got to have a
sense of timing because you're the center of
the show. A stage manager is the lighting
designer's most important player in the show.

credits. Design for free. If you have a friend who is doing a show,
go work for your friend. Align yourself with a director that you like
and who you'll follow anywhere. They might not be able to pay you
a fee but you might be able to get them to cover your expenses. By
doing this you can gain both experience and a reputation as a designer. When it comes to your resume, put your design experience
at the top and shift the technical experience down to the bottom,
even if it's more recent. People need to see you as a designer.
When you agree to do a small show...yeah, you can hang and
focus your own lights, but when it comes time to "light the show,"
make sure that you're sitting at that design table and that someone
else is functioning as the electrician and running the board. You
don't want people to get the idea that you'll hang and focus the
show, cue it and then run it every night for a two week run. If you

USITT Web page;
PMS 185; p/u fall00 p. 47;
drop rules

BW: How do you break out of being recognized as a master electrician when
you want to be regarded as a designer?
KB: It is hard. There is nothing wrong with being a
master electrician, it's often a way of paying
the rent. However, it has to have an end. At
some point you have to become known as a
designer. Wait tables, work in the box office,
do anything but get away from working as an
electrician. Find ways to build your design
TD & T

W I N T E R

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001