Northern Vermont's home for contemporary theatre
Vermont Stage
  • Shows & Events
    • Airness
    • Venus in Fur 2023
    • The Bake Off 2023
  • Donate
  • About
    • Equity and Inclusion statement
    • Past Productions >
      • Winter Tales 2022
      • The Pitmen Painters
      • Women in Jeopardy!
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • Where
    • Accessibility
    • Safety Precautions
  • Education
    • Vermont Young Playwrights
  • Contact
    • Available Jobs
    • Get Involved

Jeffrey E. Salzberg on Lighting  SLOWGIRL

3/10/2015

 
Jeffrey Salzberg Lighting Design
There's more to "vision" than what we see with our eyes.  Vision also resides in the brain. The eye sees things as they are, but the brain sees things the way they might be. In theatre, playwrights have a particular sort of vision; directors have another, and designers another yet, and they all interconnect to form an image, like a jigsaw puzzle... And, as with any jigsaw, we usually start at the outside and work our way in, to find the truth in the middle. It's hard, though, to express that vision in words – theatre people sometimes say that if we could describe it in words, we wouldn't need to do the show.

Theatre is a collaboration, in absolutely the finest, broadest sense of the word.  The actors collaborate with each other to relate the story.  The designers collaborate with each other – and with the actors – to create a visual and aural environment, in a manner which supports, sometimes in an imperceptible way, the themes of the play... and that brings up another important collaboration: our collaboration with the playwright.  Even when the author is not in the room – even when the play is a classic whose author died years or even decades earlier – our work is a collaboration with the words and thoughts put upon the page in the initial creation.

Any well-written play can, and usually is, about several things at once. To me, Slowgirl is about running from one's responsibilities... and returning to confront them. You might agree with me, or you might not. You might see the theme as something completely different. That's fair enough, and while I am, of course, right... so are you... Because our most important collaborator is the audience.

"When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'” ~ Lao-Tzu


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    January 2019
    September 2018
    April 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Acting
    A Doll's House
    American Hero
    A.R. Gurney
    Art
    Bess Wohl
    Beyond Therapy
    Blackberry Winter
    Christopher Durang
    Costuming
    Curious Incident
    Dancing Lessons
    David Ives
    Designing
    Directing
    Dramaturgy
    Fun Home
    Greg Pierce
    I And You
    Jon Robin Baitz
    Karen Zacarias
    Katori Hall
    Lauren Gunderson
    Liz Duffy Adams
    Mark St. Germain
    Mothers And Sons
    Native Gardens
    News
    Nina Raine
    Or
    Other Desert Cities
    Part 2
    Playwriting
    Q&A
    Slowgirl
    Steve Yockey
    Terrence McNally
    The Bake Off
    The Call
    The Dining Room
    The Mountaintop
    The Quarry
    Tigers Be Still
    Tribes
    Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike
    Venus In Fur
    Yasmina Reza

Season Sponsors
Picture
main street landing logo
Picture
Join our mailing list