I've never really liked My Fair Lady. Sure, I loved Audrey & Rex in the movie, but I've seen SOOOO many poor productions over the years, I just cringe somewhat when it's mentioned.
Given that, Fred had more of a hurdle to cross in getting me to do the lights for SVCAC's production than he might have known. But he had the deck stacked in his favor: I love working at Simi and have worked before with most of the cast; I wanted to familiarize myself with the SVCAC lighting setup (controls and instruments); and I needed a part-time job. The one problem Fred had was that he gave me less than two weeks to design, hang, and program it.
The first task was to assess the house hang and weed out the circuits that I couldn't touch. It took me two days to get that ironed out, peppered with input from both Jackson Miller and Lacey Stewart. After that, I had to determine the roster of scenes that had to be achieved. Half of the scenes take place in Higgins' study, at various times of day. One quarter of the scenes take place outside on London streets, both night and day. And the final quarter of scenes take place in more rural locations, like Ascot Park or in Mrs. Higgins' garden.
One thing mentioned was the need to get "up under" the brims of many of the hats used by the costumer. To accomplish this, we used a set of six Par 16 units mounted at the apron, using a green gel for "bounce light" from the grass.
All scenes were mapped quickly, and I had developed a fairly "deep" set of cues, but the minimalist set design required that I help further establish the local. To do this, I used the intelligent fixtures with a window gobo, positioned at various times of the day (and with different gel colors) to suggest different sun/moon positions. In fact, in one long scene (where Higgins & Pickering convince Eliza to agree to the project), I have the window light slowly creep down the wall over the course of ten minutes.
I'd have liked use of the second intel, but it still has overheating issues. Hopefully, it will be fixed before West Side Story, as it will undoubtedly be needed there.
I can't wait to see the finished product in front of an audience this coming weekend.