Despite the fact that each actor, designer and production crew member is in physical isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is working to create a sense of shared space and intimacy through lighting. This spring, the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) is harnessing innovative lighting technologies developed by a faculty and alumni duo for a fully digital production of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists,” a raucous comedy juxtaposed against the somber background of the French Revolution that touches on themes of feminism and activism. But when that storytelling occurs in a Zoom room, designers face the challenge of lighting a play in a way that radiates a broad palette of human emotion into people’s homes.
In visual performance, light and shadow are used to convey emotional complexity. It surprised me how emotional and moving a virtual play could be.įriday night showed me that theater can still bring joy and hope amid a pandemic - this is an opportunity to get creative, even with art.With storytelling occuring in a virtual Zoom room instead of a shared theater space, UMD lighting designers get creative to convey emotion to audiences watching from their homes.īy Kate Spanos ’16 Ph.D. The play discussed life and divorce, and even featured some intense monologues. The last play performed, “Cepheus,” written by Dastin-van Rijn, was quite impressive - the stage manager adjusted the backgrounds of two actors, connecting them to look like one cohesive scene. The plays were short, which kept my attention, but at times it became hard to follow because it moved quickly from each play to the next.
It was amusing and sounded like a fight some couples might currently be having. In one of the standout plays of the night, “A Peach For My Peach?,” a boyfriend and girlfriend fought about spending time together amid the pandemic. “We are hoping we can try and find a way to make a difference that way through theater,” Dastin-van Rijn said.
One donor even agreed to triple any contributions made on the group’s GoFundMe page. The production was free for viewers, but the group encouraged donations to raise money for Empower DC, a nonprofit advocating for racial, economic and environmental justice for low-income communities in Washington, D.C. While watching people act over Zoom was awkward at times, it added to the overall charm of the performance. In this play, a fantasy romance story, characters dueled by punching near the camera on their computer.Īnd the actors didn’t let technology get in the way of their performance - they all got into character. Actors used backdrops and areas of their houses to create scenes. The second play performed, “Destiny Loves Peaches,” illustrated just how creative you can get over Zoom.
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