Yale Repertory Theatre's New TINY FX and Viper NT Foggers Debut with World Premiere of Good Goods

Good Goods, a new play written by Christina Anderson and directed by Tina Landau, made its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre recently with fog and smoke effects created by Look Solutions' TINY FX and Viper NT foggers. The equipment was just purchased for the university's repertory productions.

A Viper NT is deployed for two industrial smokestacks which appear in a factory seen upstage. "They have to blow at various times during the production, and the Viper works very well for that; we can get a lot of fog out of it," says lighting supervisor Donald W. Titus. "Look's quick-dissipating fluid is one of the fastest I've ever seen; we thought we'd have to install an exhaust system but we didn't." A second Viper is utilized to pump fog to several other scenic elements throughout the stage.

The Viper NT fogger features DMX 512 as standard, has an internal timer and easy-to-use LED-display panel, the company says, and offers fine adjustment of the output to produce everything from a tiny fog cloud to the thickest fog.

Two TINY FX foggers are used for effects in which the characters appear to cough up smoke. "I worked with the costume designers to build them into the costumes," Titus explains. "The hose runs down the sleeve of one outfit, and the actor holds his hand up to his mouth and coughs. In the other instance, the actor wears a short-sleeved dress and the hose runs over her shoulder invisibly. The TINYs can be easily hidden and work very well."

Truly small in its footprint, the lightweight TINY FX consists of just two components: the machine and its battery pack. It delivers efficiency and punch in a unit that's easy to use anywhere.

Titus is pleased with the performance of the TINY FX foggers and Viper NTs and has his eyes on possible additional purchases. "We always like Look products for our shows," he says. "There is very little to worry about in terms of their maintenance and cleaning. We may be purchasing some more. The Unique hazer is everyone's favorite -- it seems to be taking over everywhere."

Yale Repertory Theatre acquired its TINY FX foggers and Vipers from Dark Star Lighting & Production in Hinesburg, Vermont.