Fun Home
Lyric Theatre at Illinois
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Tryon Festival Theatre
Nov, 4-6, 2021
Music Director Dr. Julie Jordan Gunn
Staging Director Sarah Wigley
Scenic Designer Jose Díaz-Soto
Costume Designer Colin Grice
Lighting Designer Megan Coffel
Media Designer M Ospina-Lopez
The Drafting Table
For Fun Home I was charged with electrifying a drafting table that included an RGB light box and a practical lamp. The properties department got us the table and I used an RC4 wireless dimmer to connect everything to our lighting network. With the added magic of a little LED tape, 12v light bulbs, and some soldering, we had a fully mobile, fully dimmable, light up drafting table in no time.
The Coffin
During “Come to the Fun Home” we had our child actors dancing in front of a large coffin which they would open. The LD told me they wanted a rainbow effect on the lid of the coffin during the number. After discussing our options we decided on using self addressing RGB pixels to do the job. This allowed the LD to project a rainbow as well as run various different rolling color effects.
The Great Taildown
For added visual impact in several musical numbers, the LD wanted to fly in a lineset with a PAR array. After discussing the needs and the fly space, the LD and I had initially decided on just two taildowns with four PAR’s a piece. However, as the production process went on we both realized we needed more, and more, and more of an impact. This project eventually ballooned to six R40 strips hung in tandem, and two taildowns, each with eight PAR’s. We just barely had enough circuits and weight capacity at the arbor. However, by the end we were all delighted with how far we pushed this show element and we remember it fondly as “the array.”
More photos of Fun Home
Photos by: Darrell Hoemann & Conner J. Jones