Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2005 - 18

The Banquo's Ghost scene is a good example of the way multimedia was an integral part of
this production of Macbeth. The actor playing Banquo stood in the pit (visible to the audience) and
spoke his lines while a live video image of him was projected onto the large screen up center. The
other actors in the scene reacted to his ghostly, projected image. "The audience could see everything going on," said Czaja, "the wires and everything." Masterson added, "This was a design decision early on. We didn't want to hide the technology; we wanted the audience to see everything
because that was part of the thematic idea."

Gathering Inspiration
Some of the ideas that found their ways into Macbeth had been developed in a workshop with
Squonk Opera in Pittsburgh and in the intensive workshop in Louisville. "We had played with the
idea of using a video projector as a follow spot," said Masterson, "projecting both recorded images
and live images." When the rehearsals with the actors began, several effects had been developed.
"For instance," Masterson continued, "I knew that in the soliloquies I wanted a live close-up of the
actor's face projected on his torso."

The Glass Menagerie (2004) made
extensive use of projections to amplify
and expand the thematic messages
Williams envisioned as appearing on a
little screen on Tom's fire escape.
Pictured are Karron Graves and Randy
Danson as Laura and Amanda Wingfield
looking at Tom's yearbook (above left);
Karron Graves and Michael Tisdale in a
scene between Tom and his sister
(center); and Michael Tisdale with
photo of Tom's father looming large
behind him (right). (Photos by Harlan
Taylor)

Tony Oursler is a video artist who animates non-living objects with the use of projectors.
Masterson had seen an Oursler installation where he projected a face on a blank doll head. This
idea was incorporated into the way Macduff's children were portrayed. Another artist who influenced Masterson was Bill Viola, who uses contemporary images-"the same world that my eyes
see" he says-to reveal their latent metaphoric and symbolic state (Viola 2002). Masterson said
that Viola's work, especially a retrospective exhibit he saw at the Whitney Museum in New York,
opened his eyes to the way video art "was not in a box. It could be in a theatrical space and could
create an environment in many different ways."
Fuchs said that in her work, the video image, which is animated, not still like a painted scene,
changes the object onto which it is projected. It gives the object a spirit, or a spiritual quality.

Rhythm and Color
The animated quality of video can be a problem for directors though because it draws attention to
itself. Masterson acknowledged that when you add new technology to a theatre production, it's difficult to
keep the focus on the story. "It's easy," he said, "for the event to be all about the technology." "You need
discipline to keep it about the actors and the audience. The technology should always serve the story."
"The main thing about video," Masterson continued, "is rhythm. It brings movement to the
theatrical space. Lighting control is also about movement, but video really expands that element."
For a production of Betrayal at ATL in January of 2005, a very large abstract image was projected
on the upstage wall (a rear-projection screen). Throughout the play, during the scene changes, the
image slowly morphed. The abstract shapes and colors changed. By the end of the play, the projected image had morphed into a recognizable photograph of a little girl. It was Robert and
Emma's daughter being tossed into the air. The video technology made it possible for a scenic
backdrop composed of abstract colors and shapes to also participate, symbolically, in the
storytelling.
This video image was central to the scenography of the play. The colors in the costumes and
lighting were keyed to the colors in the image. However, video color is different from the colors
produced by using gels with stage luminaires. Some of the colors in the projected image could not
have been reproduced with traditional lighting.
TD & T

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2005