Ron Brown Observation

Warning, standby, and GO. Those are the key words that hold together the whole technical operations of a show. For Mainstage Week One I practiced running the light board for Ron Brown’s piece. While I previously watched my classmates run the board before me, when I sat in that seat I was not fully prepared for fast pace action of running a piece. I immediately realized the importance of a stage manager’s job. As the stage manager, Stacey Jo had to know every aspect of not only the choreography and music, but the lights, sound, and curtains. Ultimately, the stage manager is who holds together the technical operations of the whole performance. Without her cues, the people operating different parts of the show would not be as unified. Moreover I also saw the importance of a tech rehearsal for reasons other than the dancers to feel out the performance space. As I was assisting Nick he was constantly adjusting the colors by the slightest bit to make sure they matched the exact hue dictated by the choreographer. Brown’s assistant made specific requests for the details of the …show more content…
The details of the cues were extremely meticulous. While the color palette for the piece was primarily blues and greens, there were so many variations on the tint and shade. Furthermore, I saw how the shape of the light hid or exposed different parts of the dance. I noticed that there often wasn’t an immediate change in the lighting when a cue was called, but instead multiple cues spread out over time could add up to slowly create a dramatic change. Each cue was timed down to the exact millisecond. The variation in the duration and timing of each cue helped evoke different attitudes of the piece. It was very clear for Brown’s piece most of the lighting cues were rhythmically inclined. I specifically saw that the more dramatic and upbeat the choreography and music got, the brighter and more saturated the lighting