Lighting Design
name


Back to the 80's
by Neil Gooding

Portage High School
Portage, WI
March 2011
Scenic and Lighting Design by Patrick Strain
Costume Design by Donna Schmit
 Directed by Mike Powers


 
I-1
Act 1, Scene 1 - Jitterbug
Notice how the Rubik's cube begin. 

I-2
Act 1, scene 2 - Kids in America

I-3
Act 1, Scene 3 - Boys hanging out.
Another side of the SR cube.

I-3
Act 1, Scene 3 - Girls talking with Michael.
Another side of the SL cube.

I-4
Act 1, Scene 4 - Video Killed the Radio Star

I-
Act 1, Scene 5 - Boys bedroom (folded out from DR Rubik's Cube).

 

I-5
Act 1, Scene 5 - End of Believe it or Not

I-6
Act 1, Scene 6 - Last side of the SR cube
Above the chalkboard is computer feeder paper with dot matrix printout of Pi.

I-7
Act 1, Scene 7 - 500 Miles
A good close up of the Sony walkman platform and stacks of cassettes.

II-1
Act II, Scene 1 - Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now

II-5
Act II, Scene 5 - Walking on Sunshine.
Practical lockers built into SL cube.

II-6
Act II, Scene 6 - Get Outta My Dreams
Who doesn't love a functional (semi- anyway) car on stage.

II-13
Act II, Scene 6 - The Time of My Life
Please note how the Rubik's cube ended.
 

Production Notes:

What can I say about this Jukebox musical? The scenery had to move pretty fast to keep people from thinking about the thinness of the plot.
Naturally, when you think music in the 1980's you think of cassettes. Now as a teen in the 80's myself, I was an LP man, but when I got my first walkman and car, I dubbed all those albums to cassettes.
The Sony Walkman allowed, for the first time, people to bring their music with them everywhere, and so the "life soundtrack" began. Therein lies the central design theme. The evocation of the large boombox (complete with lights that pulsed to the music - no biggie for Broadway, but no small feat for our small budget and technical crew) was the background (and served as the garage for the car). Out front our platforms (mobile, all) was the Sony Walkman itself, with accompanying stacks of cassettes.

The Rubik's cube allowed us to have numerous "side grounds" (if not backgrounds) for the various scenes and we kept the show literally spinning. Notice the evolution of the Rubik's cube as the plot comes to completion by the end, and the rope lighting on the speakers for the finale (gotta save something for the end, right?)

Again, this is a HS production - fairly limited budget (I know - many HSs would kill to be able to spend a couple thousand dollars) - and fairly small crew.

More photos of this and other PHS shows can be found at the PHS Picasaweb page.