West Linn High School Performing Arts Program

Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Set and Lighting Design by Jon Ares.

November 2003.

Written by Luigi Pirandello. Directed by Cheryl Cantwell, with Gabrielle Brewer-Wallin, Dramaturg. Set and Lights by Jon Ares, Costumes by Cheryl Cantwell, Sound Design by Rodolfo Ortega.

Cheryl opted to place the locale on a soundstage of a movie studio, rather than a theatre. The Family are of another era – the Silent era, whereas the Actors are of the modern (30’s) era of Talkies.

The wing walls were made to look like walls covered with acoustic sound blankets, and there were rolling studio lights on the stage, operated by the actors. It wasn’t possible/practical to acquire period lighting fixtures, but quite honestly, I don’t know if there was a single person in the audience during the run that would know what a period Kliegl or Mole-Richardson would look like compared to the giant Colortran 5K we used.

Colors for lighting were fairly cold, with warms in certain areas. Lots of gobos. Act One was ‘modern’ Reality, Act Two was Heightened Reality, and Act Three was Hyper-Reality. Act Three was the only time some saturated colors were used – and they were in the rolling Studio lights.