Scenic elements for the sake of art or spectacle

Well, we have come across another great question! Are we making choices in our art that are developed out of the art form, out of the subject, out of the text, OR are they a result of a desired effect, an audience response, because it looks cool...Here are some questions we are asking about light boxes in our set...are they justified...are they a part of the world of the main character or are they here for a neat effect?

I have been putting a lot of thought into these light boxes over the past few hours, and I have some great questions that have developed from working with our mock up light box, talking with Rob, and talking with Thad. I hope you will take these questions and embrace them with more questions, answers, or thoughts.

To get the technical question out of the way...How much of the cost for the light boxes is coming out of the scenic budget, and how much is coming out of the lighting budget? I think this is a great question, because I would assume that it is coming out of both, but I do not have any idea as to how much it would cost to light the various surfaces that we are planning to light. How much would it cost for gel, lamp fixtures, fire proofing, etc...?

Also, is the light box that we set-up today even close to what we might be actually using? What we used today revealed some great images, but I doubt it was anything like what we will be using. We used a Parnel down the opening of the box where the light hit both the white background and the painted image, but will this be the same intensity if we use incandescent lights, are there OSHA regulations with lighting instruments that we have to abide by?

Now on to the more artistic and dramatic questions...

Are we forcing this effect onto the production because we liked it at one point, had a reason for it at one point, yet we have not discussed it at all since the beginning...so, is it really a developed part of the play, or is it merely an effect that we want to use?

If we can't communicate clearly to our faculty why we want to use these boxes, how we will use these boxes, and when we will use these boxes, then how are we going to convince an audience that these are integral to the production, and not merely a nice effect?

If we wait to the end of the play to reveal the light boxes during the fake death scenes, then we will detract from the actors performance, so that the audience is watching the boxes rather than the action. It will be such a powerful effect that the audience will not embrace both the acting and the scenic elements.

Personally, when I first imagined the light boxes being used in this space, I imagined them coming on at various points in the play, and never turning off. I never imagined them only coming on at the end of the play. I imagine them coming on whenever we have a breath of fresh air (when a window is opened, an entrance made, a door opened). I imagine the air in the house slowly becoming more and more breathable. We start stuffy, claustrophobic, and stale; then as the various characters enter and exit we begin to smell there different aromas, but as the play progresses the aromas of Angelique, Toinette, Cleante, and even Argan overwhelm and infuse the area with a freshness that no bad scent can extinguish. If we can embrace the light boxes as an element in the play, as part of the world of the play, then they may be justified, but if we are only using them for a moment, cued by a line, then they are merely spectacle and have no place in Argan's world.

There are more questions to be asked, more thoughts to be heard. I hope that we can embrace the use of the e-mail to help facilitate a conversation outside of meetings to help us develop how these light boxes are used, why they are used, and when they are used.

I love Theatre!!!!