What a great way to start my new year with you all creating the world for Marisela’s new play. In December: a love years in the making, the love for poetry and music creates a blossoming chemistry that allows Carolina and Benjamin to build a romantic connection that endures time and what seems impossible at first.
The play happens in one location, with a full circle from beginning to end. It is Carolina’s house in Minneapolis that holds the space for this intimate relationship that grows. The lighting will highlight the rich details, textures and the soft color palette that Scenic Designer Regina García put beautifully as our realistic background. I will be creating a sense of indoor vs exterior by introducing the texture of nature both in the entrance area, the roof line and through the windows.
In our design meetings we discussed the importance of keeping a feeling of intimacy for the actors against the background. While creating realism of the interior space, there will always be focus around the actors to feel as we are zooming in to their personal journeys just as references I borrow from cinematic lighting and the work of Viola’s Catherine Room you can see in my research.
But time seems to bend the portion of realism in the play, where in two big transitions, the span of 12 years passed. This is where we will be adding a little bit of theatrical elements so the light becomes time passing, characterized by a sense of the nature in Minneapolis’ houses and movement from trees. Light captured through the passing of time has a rich combination of shadow, color and texture that I intend to compose against the entire space during the transitions.
December: a love years in the making runs January 17 – February 2.
