Designer sheds light on his art
When the technical awards come up on the Oscars or Tonys, it usually means one thing: bathroom break.
But for Michael J. Eddy, a top lighting designer for theater and dance in the Valley, a low profile is part of the appeal of his artistic vocation.
“I don’t necessarily enjoy the spotlight,” he says. “When I’m at a party, I’m not the life of the party, I’m in the corner having a one-onone-conversation with someone.”
Growing up in the Valley, Eddy wanted to be an actor at first but quickly gravitated toward behind-thescenes roles. For more than a decade he has worked as production manager for Phoenix Theatre. But in addition to lighting shows there, he continues to freelance here and outside the state.
In the theater, the best lighting is usually the kind that doesn’t draw attention to itself, but dance gives Eddy more room to play. His work will be featured this week at the Herberger Theater Center in Center Dance Ensemble’s “Worlds of Wonder,” a repertoire program anchored by artistic director Frances Smith Cohen’s modern-dance take on Stravin- can make it funnier, lighting can make it sadder. It’s a very powerful medium, and I really enjoy collaborating with other artists, being able to impact their world and help them.
By simply changing a gel (a color filter) or changing an intensity, you can completely change a costume, versus the costume designer going back to the shop spending all night redyeing or redraping or recutting a piece of fabric because it’s not laying correctly. That’s the most powerful and enjoyable part of it. You can help bring other people’s ideas and designs to life in the last couple minutes before the audience comes in.
Q: Lighting usually aims to be subliminal, but you are also called upon to create “wow” moments. The lighting for “Rose’s Turn” in Phoenix Theatre’s “Gypsy” was one of those.
A: When that needs to happen, it happens in an organic, natural time. Using “Rose’s Turn” as an example, that’s the 11 o’clock number, that’s the climax of the piece, and you’ve got Kathy (Fitzgerald) out there by herself. Well, nothing can compare with Kathy, so for that moment we can really pull out all the stops, and it’s appropriate. She’s worked for 21⁄ hours to get to that point. She deserves it, she needs it, she wants it.
Q: How is designing for dance different from theater?
A: You can be so much bolder with dance than you can with theater. (In the theater) if you can’t see the actor, if you can’t see their mouths moving and their facial expressions, then you’re not doing it justice. They always have to have a certain amount of light on them, and then you layer on the artistry on top of that. With dance, they express themselves with their arms, their legs, so you have a bigger surface to light.
(Also) when it comes to dance, and especially modern dance, you’re trying to create scenery that doesn’t exist, because dancers need a pretty big footprint to do their work in, but you still want something to look at. So you use gobos (patterned covers, sort of like stencils for light) and textures and colors and different lighting on fabrics. You get to play set designer a little bit and play with tactile, three-dimensional objects.
Q: What do you have in store for “Worlds of Wonder”?
A: For “Rite of Spring,” we’re bringing in this fabric that’s going to start on top of the dancers in the beginning, as if they’re coming from the
TIM FULLER earth. So we get to play with this fabric that’s draped on top of them, and then that will rise and move out of the way so they can continue on and tell the story. And then for “A New Beginning” (set to Carl Orff), we’re creating some shooting stars, and then there’s also a section that the dancers interact with the light, so we have a lightbulb that starts out high and then comes in low.
Q: How does the collaboration work?
A: Most of the time, Fran and I will have breakfast — it’s usually at the Good Egg — a couple months before the show, and she’ll walk me through. She’ll say, “Honey, you need to create the world,” or, “You need to create a sunrise,” or, “I’m counting on you to be brilliant in this part right here, and then this other part you don’t need to worry about because I’m brilliant here.”
Then we get into the space, and with Fran, it’s very much about options. She loves texture, she loves gobos, she loves to see the dancers sparkle. The dancers must sparkle.