Eight Days A Week: A New Brain

Moonbox Productions is performing their spring show right now at the BCA Plaza Theater in Back Bay for one more week! I worked on this show as the Master Electrician and also assisting the lighting designer, Jeffrey Salzberg. Moonbox is a great, up and coming company in the Boston area, for their talent as well as their partnerships with non-profit organizations, and although this is only my second time working for them, I know I will go back gladly. I have also worked with Jeff for years now, so we have a solid professional relationship (as well as being good friends!)

One of my favorite looks Jeff created.

A New Brain is a very strange show. It is a musical about a composer (played by Tom Shoemaker) who has to have brain surgery, and we see through his eyes as well as from the point of view of other characters as they struggle with the chaos and emotions that his condition causes...all while remaining musical and often humorous. My favorite parts include a coma-induced series of songs and images, featuring supporting cast members like Aaron Ray and David Carey; some quiet moments between Gordon and his lover, Roger (played by Ross Brown); and the generally well-captured, overwhelming feeling we experience at hospitals and with many medical problems. 10 cast members-- especially 10 very strong actors and vocalists accompanied by a large pit band-- is a lot for the small Plaza Theater, but they pull it off stunningly.

The set was built by Bent Productions, a shop based in Marlborough that I have worked with on several occasions now. The director, Allison Choat, decided to design scenery for this show with the technical help from Richard Gray, the TD at Bent, and it is a remarkably interesting set! There are only 2 main pieces: a bookcase that spans most of the upstage area (if you go, keep an eye out for patterns among the book placement...) and a huge piano, built from scratch by Bent, which twists and turns and splits and flips and lights up. We had some fun times embedding LEDs within the piano pieces, and installing lights in the bookshelves as well.

set and lights in progress.

As you may have guessed, we got to use some fun toys, including LED Source 4's again; lots of DMX devices like IQ's, gobo rotators, irises, a boatload of altman LED units (SpectraCycs and SpectraPars) and ColorBlasts, and more.

A lenseless S4 LED creates the perfect effect for this psychedelic show.

Being the ME for load in was sure interesting, and I learned a lot. I am definitely better at managing people and time than at reading the manuals for all these devices, and it worked out fairly well. But I do need to work on closer supervision and instructions. All in all, a great experience.