Lighting Up Then She Fell
Lights flicker before illuminating an intimate dance. Chandeliers dim to reveal another room through the mirror. The performers and sets and music may draw you in, but no one can light up a room like Kryssy Wright, Lighting Designer for Then She Fell. Kryssy knows her way around immersive theatre; she has lit several site-specific works, including Third Rail Project’s Steampunk Haunted House (2009-2011) at Abrons Arts Center as well as the previous incarnation of Then She Fell at Arts@Renaissance (the former Greenpoint Hospital).
Above: Carlton Ward under Kryssy Wright’s Interrogation Light
For Kryssy, working with movement-based artists is a freeing experience from the codified constraints of traditional theater. “Theatre lighting is a lit kitchen; dance can be dusk on Mars,” she describes. With Third Rail Project’s penchant for site-specific productions, Kryssy negotiates the interpretive nature of dance with the physical architecture of an existing space. The Maujer Street location presented a number of new challenges. The old schoolhouse had a number of upgrades, but not throughout the whole building. As a result, some rooms don’t have power outlets. Other rooms had to be divided into smaller rooms, each with their own lighting requirements.
Above: Tom Pearson and Rebekah Morin under Kryssy Wright’s Boudoir Chandelier
Kryssy starts every project with fantasy – with unlimited time, money and ideal circumstances, how would she envision each space? With that image in mind, she finds ingenious solutions to come close to those fantasies, however difficult the design constraints may be. For example, many scenes require some some sort of lighting adjustment that changes the mood; a perfect scene would have the lights magically dim and brighten with the rhythm of the performers. Yet characters can’t turn lights on and off without “breaking the magic” of the scene, and there are too many simultaneous scenes to monitor. The solution? Computer-controlled dimmers that run with the soundtrack, adjusting the lights along to performers’ musical cues.
As a lighting designer, Third Rail Projects’ work is an extraordinary opportunity. For Kryssy, “[working with] a group like this is really satisfying. It combines the realm of dance with visual art, architecture… you’re not viewing these scenes from a distance – you’re in it.” Being responsible for these immersive scenes is a pleasure for someone as creative as Kryssy. She started working with theatre in high school, enticed by its artistic and techical duality. In college, she went on to take engineering but still held a soft spot for the fine arts, like painting. Kryssy returned to technical theatre, which she has been doing for the last decade in New York.
Above: Kryssy Wright
“Lighting is still this wonderful blend of science and art. I can get excited about the technology behind it and the pretty pictures it creates… I think I’ll continue to do this forever."