From the Designer
We asked Lauren Joy, Video/Projections Designer for THE GREAT LIEUTENANT SPRINKLE DIDN’T SAVE ME, to write about her experience working on this new play.
Getting to work on THE GREAT LT. SPRINKLE DIDN'T SAVE ME was a lot of fun - especially as a projections designer. When I first received the script, I was pleasantly surprised to see the video elements so well integrated into the story. It's always exciting for me to get a script like that because I believe video, when used, should be able to be a fully integrated design element, just like costumes and scenery! At our first design meeting, I learned that our lovely director, Maureen, felt the same way about getting video elements involved.
Since I was brought on as a "projections designer," the first bits of conversation about the concept of the design assumed the use of a projector. After reading the script, I felt like it would definitely be possible for us to depart from that and try to just use the physical monitors to tell that part of the story. I liked the aspect of it being a constraint for us to work within, as well as it being practical and recognizable to the audience as something that would be in a security office. Acknowledging the monitors as what they were allows the supernatural moments to be crafted within the world the story was happening in. Maureen and I agreed that it was much creepier for The Figure to actually be able to tap into the technology than to just have the content on a wall. And high creepiness factor was a important part of this show. :)
The other aspect of this process that was exciting and challenging for me was the filming. We spent an evening filming for the security footage. Turned out that Caos on F was an absolutely perfect blank canvas for the story to exist in. It also lent to the same idea of being recognizable to the audience. We filmed lots of different actions from different areas of the building so that they could be rearranged and played with in tech.
Putting it all together in tech was extremely rewarding. When we got sound involved, as well, certain moments really started to pop in a way that I couldn't have accomplished on my own. The performers were patient and wonderful at embracing the integration of this new "actor" on stage, and I couldn't be more grateful to have gotten the chance to work on this project.