NATALIE ERHARD
lighting design
MY WORKSHOPS
I learned to love lighting through hands-on, guided instruction. In the same way that I was taught by my mentors, whether they were adults or older students, I have worked to continue the traditions of teaching others by offering them a hands-on, guided experience.
Seussical the Musical was the first show I had ever put any design input into.
I was under the instruction of Greg Martin as his student assistant for the 2018 Senior Musical. I was just taking notes for him at first but as he began to teach me the ETC program, he asked me what I thought about doing for certain cues within the musical number "Alone in the Universe." I suggested that as the characters crossed, we used the LED rope lights to fade the colors across as they moved. That suggestion was the first design choice IÂ had not only made, but was able to see in a real production.
I lead the first official lighting workshop in November of 2020, fully distanced in the Mater Dei blackbox theater!
My Workshop
In this workshop, I wanted to let other students who had an interest in lighting fully take over the grid. I came in and guided the students who wanted to light The Diviners and I thought, why not have a chance for anybody to try, with no show limitations! I started creating hypothetical scenes for them to light. One of the scenes I had made up was a duet that takes place between two lovers in an open field in the middle of the night. I explained the importance of how colors have an impact on mood, time of day, brightness, type of light that is supposed to be portrayed, and even the actors' skin tone. I emphasized the importance of wash lights and their effects as well. This workshop was really created more for the elements of design, but allowing the students to play around with the programming and operating of the fixtures in the grid was also really crucial in explaining limits in design.
FOOLS
Fools was the first show that I was able to fully design, program, and operate lights for. This play took place in our blackbox theater at Mater Dei High School.
Our set featured the small home of the Zubritsky's, their balcony, and the center of the village, Kulyenchikov.
Because of the way that our set was positioned, I had to modify my designs in a way that would isolate the town, path, house, and balcony independently at times and together at others. There was no wall separating the house from the path and town, so I had to make sure that the actors were lit without having the light spill over or appear too focused. I made sure to be very careful and precise with programming as I made my ideas come to life.
The Importance of Time and Weather
One of the most important things that I remember having to take into account while designing this show was the weather and time of day. The costumes were fairly simple and not too brightly colored, so I just made sure to note that whatever lighting I used blended well with the set and skin tone of all of the actors. Besides those little details, this show was the first show that I had ever added lighting effects to. There was a storm scene that required lighting cues that were timed within seconds of thunder sound cues. I adjusted the intensity, cue time, and set the cue transition to immediate to make it more realistic than a basic strobe light look.
Magic Sheet of the grid used for Fools
ONE ACTS
Our final project in Theatre II was to put on a series of One Acts in which we all starred. I designed lighting for each of the One Acts and ended up having to program over 100 cues with special effects within 30 minutes before house opening due to DMX technical difficulties!
This showcase of One Acts included An Experiment, Your Life is a Feature Film, 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, and Shipwrecked (pictured.)
This showcase was our second semester final for Theatre II. We were told to act in as well as do crew for at least two of the One Acts. I asked Mrs. Fouts, my teacher, if I could have a small role so that I could light all four features for our showcase. She agreed, and so while playing the role of Eddie 'Edith' in Your Life is a Feature Film, I managed to also design all four One Acts.
Cue list for the One Acts
SHREK THE MUSICAL
The graduating class of 2020 at Mater Dei High School was set to put on this hilarious show right before their graduation. I fully prepared design concepts, including a live-concert style closing number, only for quarantine to send us all home only weeks before.