Bandit Brings the Lights to Shaping Sound: After the Curtain

	Shaping Sound: After the Curtain. Photo: Kaitlin Chow

Shaping Sound, the phenomenal mash up of contemporary dancers, musical genres, and dancing styles has returned to the road with a brand new production with Shaping Sound: After the Curtain. Bandit Lites once again provided the lighting package for the spectacle which is cultivated under the artistic direction of Emmy Award-winner Travis Wall and co-created with Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance, and Kyle Robinson.

The dazzling show follows the story of a man as he struggles to come to terms with the loss of his one true love, his struggle to find his creative voice, and grasp the reality around him. Co-lighting designers Nathan W. Scheuer and Teresa Fensler created a plot based on a typical dance set up, with four booms for side light and spreading out overhead electrics for high sides and a good down wash.

"In dance, the most important aspect of the design is obviously showcasing the form and movement of the dancers and secondary is creating that atmosphere that supports the choreography," Scheuer said. "Shaping Sound is a unique company to work with, because not only does the show demonstrate the dancers technical ability, which I want the lighting to enhance, it also has a framing story that needed the lighting to help guide the audience through the performance."

Drawing on Walls's vision of an early 20th century, vaudeville feel, the lighting design features the warm, incandescent feeling and architecture of historic theatres to draw in the audience. For the majority of the show, Scheuer utilized a range of warm and CTO based colors in addition to relying heavily on the beam and texture of VL 3500s to help in the recreation of theatres of years' past, while LED lights at different moments evoke the era's iconic footlights at the edge of the stage.

"After the Curtain has many isolated moments," said Fensler, "the 'big bright looks' don't happen very often, and we wanted it to be intimate."

"For this show we also used some Claypaky 20mm LED Panels to create a little super title screen that typed out character introductions, and key moments from the main character," Scheuer said. "They are such a quick set up, and the ability to tell the audience some key moments or help remind them of each character's dynamic really makes the overall show much stronger."

In a departure from the previous iteration of the show, the entire back wall has five tail downs of Sunstrips used for the 'show within the show' numbers. After the Curtain also includes the addition of a midstage electric, and with characters literally flying, direct overhead lighting helped to hide the rigging hardware.

Gear supplied by Bandit includes Philips Vari-Lite VL 3500 Spots, GLP X4S, Chauvet Professional Freed Par Quad 4s, Chauvet Color Dash Accents, Claypaky Mirage 20 mm Panels, Eurolite STP-10 MK2, and an MA Lighting grandMA 2 Ultralite with a MA 2 Command Wing for control.

The natural challenge for the lighting design involved how quickly the show moved and ensuring that specific moments were fully amplified onstage.

"As an example, there are some beautiful platforms and a staircase that continuously move throughout the show, creating different locations, or vignettes," continued Scheuer, "but it was so critical to make sure the dancers moving the platforms and our lighting aligned, or else the platforms would block the lighting from the dancers, or draw attention away from the dancers if we were wanting to isolate."

"Each move was crafted to hide or showcase certain dancers and their storyline," added Fensler. "Creating the 'magic' looks take the most time because position of each focus is imperative."

As the sole lighting tech on the show, lighting director and co-designer Fensler has returned to the console with both praise from Scheuer and support from Bandit.

"Project Manager Matt King and Bandit's technical service department has taken great care of me," she said. "Being by myself makes it hard to do everything, but when you have good support from the shop it makes everything easier."

"Teresa is amazing," extolled Scheuer. "She was able to not only get the rig ready for tour and accommodate some of the changes that naturally happen during a tech process. She was also a key figure in the execution. Throwing in ideas, cleaning up quick programming... the show is in good hand while the tour continues."

And, as the tour continues to inspire and astonish audiences well into the year, with buzz continuously building for the show, Bandit Lites is thrilled to illuminate the jaw dropping production, striving to match the attention to detail, precision, and support, in every aspect of the production.

"I want to make special mention of Robby MacLean and his efforts as production coordinator, as well as Brad Bauner as tour manager," said Bandit's vice president Mike Golden. "It has been my pleasure to work with these gentlemen over the past four years and I admire their efforts and focus. I had the pleasure of seeing this show recently and I would encourage anyone to go see it."

"My experience with Bandit was great, as it has been every chance I've had to work with them," finished Scheuer. "Mike Golden was so patient as we were first putting together the rental order as we were trying to find that balance between design and budget."