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Dept. of Theatre & Drama and
University Productions!
! Photo Above: Tyler Dean as Titania & Allison Brown as Bottom
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A Midsummer Night’s Lights
By Christianne Myers, Costume Designer
“If we shadows have offended!”
The costume design for the University of Michigan’s December 2012 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at
the 1400-seat Power Center for Performing Arts was mostly modern. The two-story wooden set was half of a wall of
death and light conceptually played a role in defining the fairy world. An ensemble of eight, dressed as a motorcycle
gang, played on-stage musicians, voyeurs and fairies. They held or wore small clip-on lights to create movement
and project shadows to read “fairy.” Puck, next up on the chain of command, wore his light effects; fiber optics
were built into his Mohawk, and LEDs and glow paint served as trim for his costume. The lights for Oberon and
Titania, as king & queen, were imbedded into their being. Oberon wore a nude, tattooed body suit with the illusion
that the lights were part of his skin. Titania’s lights grew out of her hair and were imbedded into her skirt & opera
length gloves. The degree to which lights were integrated into the costumes characterized the hierarchy in the fairy
world.!
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The Ensemble
As the design developed for our production, we discovered this was going
to be a raw, gritty world evocative of carnival culture, modern gypsies and
the Burning Man festival. There was one point that was clear from director
Malcolm Tulip - our fairies were not going to be pretty, there would be no
fantasy make-up and there would be no wings.
We brainstormed ways to define the fairy world including rigging lights to
umbrella frames, using LED helicopters, or finding a way to project
shadows.
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The performers developed their own shadow puppets & the prop
department provided circular screens to present the images. Four of the
ensemble members provided light sources to the puppets, wearing
headlamps & holding flashlights. !
The result was a magical, dark effect in
constant flitting movement that framed
Titania’s bower. They were only used
during that scene, when the Fairies are
called by name.
Once the idea of “light equals fairy” was
established, it became clear that lights
needed to be incorporated into the
costumes of Oberon, Titania & Puck.!
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Process
Questions We Posed:
Do the lights in the costumes need to talk to the light board?
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Not necessarily. DMX convertors were available, but it was decided that the bulk of the equipment would inhibit movement
and affect the silhouette. The flexibility of the lighting was not as important as the ability for the performers to be
unencumbered.
Can/should the performers control their on/off switches?
Once it was established that the batteries held enough power for the long term, the reason to turn lights off was solely an
artistic choice. The world onstage was highly theatrical, peopled with observers and commentators, and during tech we
decided that there was never a time needed for these three characters to be unlit while they were onstage. Additionally, there
were no sightline issues when the characters were offstage. Therefore, the switch placement was hidden, but made
accessible to the performer and the wardrobe crew. The crew’s main job was to simply make sure the lights were on when
they needed to be before a performer entered the playing space.
Can we get each look down to one battery pack and/or switch box?
In some cases, we could. For the LED fairy lights (yes, they are called “fairy lights” and we actually used them on fairies),
several strings were wired together to one pack & switch box. When we tried to mix media, particularly on Puck, connections
were too complicated – with loose wires and the intensity difficult to control. At one point Puck had five battery packs, plus a
mic pack, before we started editing.
How much time did we have to research and develop different options?
Not enough. A lot of our R&D time was compressed into tech and dress rehearsals. We certainly couldn't have accomplished
these effects without the electrics department. The ALD provided specs on actual products, and an electrician camped out in
the craft room soldering for two days. In hindsight, both the production manager and lighting designer acknowledged the
cramped learning curve, and wished that the time which our department had requested to test everything much earlier in the
process had been made available. It made me realize that in a ten-show academic season, and sometimes at the regional
level as well, we are tethered to a production template with a firm timeline that is dictated by what precedes it and what is
coming around the bend. What ended up on stage for opening night was fine for a four-show run, but not if it had been a
longer run. There are some things we would have done differently. No one was to blame; the result was spectacular, and we
were all proud of what turned out to be a very special experience and production.
We brainstormed and researched the ever-evolving e-textiles available.
Lilypad e-textile systems- more than we needed
http://mods-n-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/embed-lights-into-fabric-and-clothes-with-lilypad-276389/
http://shop.kineteka.com/e-textiles
EL wire & tape- Ambient stage light was too bright for the stripes to read.
http://shop.el-w.com/Stock-EL-Tape-Stock-EL-Tape.htm
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/neon.html
Fiber optics- successful effect on Puck because the wire resembled the texture of the porcupine in his mohawk.
The effect was completely lost and clumpy in the longer hairstyles.
http://www.lightsforalloccasions.com/p-954-glowbys-light-up-fiber-optic-hair-barrette.aspx
LEDs in various lengths, colors and spacing
http://www.lightsforalloccasions.com/p-2310-fairy-lights-60-leds-20-foot-wire-timer-battery-cool-white.aspx
Potentiometer-I play with fabric, who knew such a tiny, but powerful thing, existed? Wish I had back in November...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3064080
Glow paint & Glow fabric
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/13907149-AA.shtml
http://glorope.com/shop/glow-fabric-remnants/
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Puck
The Plan: Fiber optics in his mohawk, EL tape down the stripes of his pants, and multicolored EL wire lining the
stripes of his shirt, and wrapping up his arm bands .
The Reality: Fiber optics in his mohawk, glow in the dark paint on his stripes & blue LED fairy
lights wrapping his arms, dimmed with a potentiometer.
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In Hindsight: More fiber optics in the mohawk, possibly at different lengths. The lighting
designer thinks we could have switched to all LEDs w/ a potentiometer, but the director
and I embraced the unpredictability of the glow paint.!
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Derek Tran as Puck!
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Five fiber optic barrettes
were mounted into the
Mohawk. The overall
length was trimmed to
blend into the shape of the
hairpiece and plastic mesh
was sewn in to splay the
fibers. In order to change
the batteries easily, male
Velcro was glued to the
bottom edge of the barrette.
The female Velcro was
installed in the core of the
Mohawk.
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Puck proved to be the most challenging character to light up. Once we determined that the initial choice of EL wire &
tape weren't going to read brightly enough on stage, we decided on LEDs to outline his stripes. Electrics spent a lot of
time soldering various strands of lights; the whole thing was a bit cobbled together. The moment we saw him onstage,
everything was visually too hot and bright, plus he was flickering a bit with all the joints. His costume was constructed
from a compression suit and wire does not stretch!
Desperate for a solution, I snagged some glow tape from the ASM and started pinning it to his shirt. The follow spot
charged him, and then he would glow a bit. The director & I shared an “ah-ha!” look and we had a new plan in place. A
quick trip to Michaels for glow-in-the-dark fabric paint, and we were set. The paint was applied to smooth elastic that
was sewn on as trim.
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Left photo shows natural glow paint applied to elastic and elastic zigzagged to edges of applied
green stripes.
Right photo shows result on stage. Between the follow spot and the wardrobe crew’s
flashlights, he stayed dimly charged during the whole show.
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Below left, dime sized potentiometer soldered to wires at
Battery pack used to dim the LED lights on his armbands.
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Oberon
The Plan: LED fairy lights for his nude tattooed body suit and fiber optics in his hair.
The Reality: He had 2- 20' strings (60 lights each) wired to 1 pack. Several lights were blacked out with nail polish. Black tinsel
was used in his wig.
In Hindsight: Oberon, played by a petite woman, had too many lights on her small frame. Placement was off; I wanted to have a
light or two continuing up the neck of her bodysuit, but it broke the illusion and spilled too much light under her chin. I would have
used fewer lights to begin with, or rice lights (smaller bulb), or used a potentiometer
to dim her overall. The hair needed more bling.
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The turtleneck leotard base had two layers. The LED wire
slipped between the layers and was secured to the under
layer. Small holes were cut in the outer layer allowing
individual bulbs to poke through. Small stiches through and
through all layers secured the bulbs to the fashion side.
When we discovered they were too bright, we applied black
nail polish to some and released the stitching of some others
to allow the outer layer to temper the brightness of the bulbs.
With more time another potentiometer would have been
wired in.
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Titania
The Plan: LED fairy lights for the gloves & skirt, & fiber optic barrettes in hair.
The Reality: The skirt used 3-20' strings (60 lights each), wired together on one battery pack. Each glove was wired
separately, 20 lights each, with its own battery pack. Gold tinsel was added to her wig.
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In Hindsight: She was spot on. A man played this character, and the scale
of the lights on his figure worked well.
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During our first tech rehearsal, I suggested that something
reflective be added into the dreadlock wig. We had tried
more of the fiber optic barrettes, but they were clumping
and not reading in the mass of the hair. Individual strands
of tinsel were knotted into the wig base.
Tyler Dean as Titania!
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Derek Tran as Puck, Tyler Dean as Titania & Caitlin Chou as Oberon !
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Conclusion
The use of reflective materials on theatrical
costumes was developed during the 17th C early
Stuart court masques as a means to focus the
audience's attention to the performers under dim
lighting conditions. Shiny embellishments that
would seem gaudy outside the theatre become
luminescent and magical within.
After suggesting tinsel for Titania’s wig, I had an
eyeopening lesson in design theory. The fiber
optics were never going to work in her hair; what
she needed was a shiny texture incorporated into
her wig. Light does not work without contrast and
reflection. Taking this one step deeper, I would
have wished for small sequins and stones in
addition to some of the lighting technology to
define the fairy world in this production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
After the final dress rehearsal, the lighting
designer looked at me and said, “Well, now we
know exactly what to do!” Indeed. !
Special Thanks
LD-Rob Murphy, ME- Mark Berg, ALD- Miriam Michaels, & LX Aaron Tacy
Prop Master- Arthur Ridley
Marketing & PR- Kerianne Tupac!
Costume Production Staff
Artistic Staff
Director
Scenic Designer
Wig & Make-Up Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Composers
Stage Manager
Malcolm Tulip
Vincent Mountain
Dawn Rivard
Rob Murphy
Henry Reynolds
Simon Alexander-Adams
Conor Barry
Meg Bellino
All Production Photos by Peter Smith for SMTD
All Renderings by Costume Designer Christianne Myers
Shop Manager
Assoc Shop Manager
Drapers
Crafts Artisan
Wardrobe Supervisor
Laura Brinker
George Bacon
Virginia Luedke
Lea Morello
TJ Williamson
Elizabeth Gunderson
Renae Skoog
Ass’t Costume Designer Leslie Bates
(Responsible for designing The Mechanicals)
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