Sarah Sidman
Lighting A five Hour Production
"The Lily's Revenge tells the story of a flower who goes on a quest to become a man, in order to wed its beloved bride. Act I is a world of faded nostalgia that's supposedly a proscenium space, though the Magic Theatre, where the play appeared, is 3/4 thrust. The lamps frame the "proscenium" in old vaudeville style and I used a lot of dated fixtures, like R40 strip lights.

The primary color was R38 (Light Rose), which suggested that the theater where the Lily's show transpires had its moment of glory many years ago. The palette was not so much one of saturation but one of pale tones and shades of CTB working in tandem with or opposition to one another. The shifting styles and audience configuration led to color choices that would work well as front light in one act and back light in another, and which could layer upon one another to highlight and sculpt the action as it moved throughout the entire theatre."

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Roscolux
#38
Light Rose

"In the third act dream ballet, the director wanted the brightness and tone of the lights to keep pace with the hysteria and the movement-it's definitely an unsettling dream ballet. The upstage panels were placed at the downstage edge of the Act I layout, and as the audience was constantly shifting it was important that the color chosen for the overall piece be able to be used from different angles for each act.

The dominant colors here were primarily color correction; our strongest front light was R367 (Slate Blue) and the backlights were mostly half CTB. Rosco gobos provided soft breakups on the canvas-like wallpaper, behind which were Joseph Cornell-styled boxes also used in the show. The evolving performance space led me to work aggressively with a variety of diffusions (R119, R132, and R104) to blur the edges and allow for more flexibility as we worked toward the climax, which crystallized everything into a moment of purity and possibility."

Roscolux #367
Slate Blue
Biography: Sarah Sidman
Sarah Sidman designs throughout the U.S. and internationally for theater, opera, dance, magic and circus. International designs have ranged from projects on London's West End to Moscow's Taganka Theater and the Sydney Opera House. Selected U.S. credits include the Dallas Theater Center, Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, along with new works at the Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Women's Project, New Georges, Foundry, and multiple premieres with LAByrinth Theater Company (LAByrinth member since 1999). Her collaborations with San Francisco's Magic Theatre include: "Why We Have a Body," "The Lily's Revenge," "What We're Up Against," "The Brothers Size" (co-scenic and lighting designs), "Oedipus el Rey" and "Mauritius" (nominated for the San Francisco Critic's Choice Award for Best Lighting Design 2009). Touring includes the Big Apple Circus, Pig Iron Theatre Company, the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, and both original and classical operas in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She is Associate Lighting Director for "Live With Regis and Kelly." For more information: www.sarahsidman.com