Lighting design for Uncanny, a music and movement concert conceived by Anna Brenner, Hannah Wasileski and myself in collaboration with the performers: Virginia Logan, John Riddleberger, James Sargent, Jess K. Smith, and the musicians: Andrea Jakobowski and Daniel Sefik. Inspired by Arvo Pärt’s composition Spiegel im Spiegel. Anna directed it, Hannah designed and performed live overhead projections, and Jess arranged and performed songs. It happened at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn in June 2010.

Lighting design for Presentation, choreographed by Colleen Megley. Part of Connecticut College’s 2010 Senior Concert in New London, CT.

Lighting design for Vagabound, choreographed by Lily Ockwell. Part of Connecticut College’s 2010 Senior Concert in New London, CT.

Lighting design for Flutter, choreographed by Lisa Race. Part of Connecticut College’s 2010 Senior Concert in New London, CT.

Improvised production photography (on Hannah’s old Canon point-and-shoot) for Look Away by John Douglas Weidner, directed by Anna Brenner, at the Schapiro Theater at Columbia University. Part of KafkaFest. Scenery by Tuffer Weidner, clothes by Evan Prizant, lighting by Kevin Hardy, shadow projections by Hannah Wasileski. The show featured a music set by Oh You Devil.

Production photography for Hanne Tierney’s My Life In A Nutshell at HERE Arts Center. The puppets are made by Hanne Tierney, the manual overhead projection is created by Hannah Wasileski, and the lighting by Marlon Hurt. Jane Wang composed and performed the music. It is part of the Dream Music Puppetry program curated by Basil Twist, and is co-presented by FiveMyles.

This is a production I’ve been personally looking forward to for a long time. It’s the beginning of something big, and I’m grateful to be connected to the people involved.

Lighting design for Nijinsky’s Last Dance by Norman Allen, directed by Charlotte Braithwaite and starring Danny Binstock, at the Yale Cabaret. The sound is designed by Chad Raines, the set by Chien-Yu Peng, and the clothes by Leon Dobkowski.

Lighting design for Performance Thanatology’s The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Running through August 1.

In this installment of Performance Thanatology’s ongoing research in death and performance, a solitary figure performs all his old songs and dances despite the loss of his partner, the loss of his dancing shoes, and the loss of his teeth. Somewhere between Krapp’s Last Tape and Artaud’s Spurt of Blood, this is what really became of vaudeville.

A concise lighting rig allows for quick and shocking transformations from confessional monologue to vaudeville to rock’n’roll concert during this 35-minute show that stubbornly stays one step ahead of the audience’s perception. The 16 moments of the show are as rich and internally complete as the transitions are swift and non sequitur. Though the piece as a whole resists dramatic structure, the lighting attempts to introduce clear, palpable ideas and emotions by creating contrast between moments while sticking to a small and specific palette of colors, angles and timing.

It’s been a blast working with everyone on this (Ric and Lucas: thanks for trusting me with your work). This is also my long-overdue Ontological debut, which caps an incredible 2 years in New York as I move to New Haven to pursue my MFA in lighting design.

Lighting design for Hoi Polloi’s festival production of Winter Journey, written and directed by Alec Duffy, presented by the undergroundzero festival at Performance Space 122.

With the help of a pianist and singer, Duffy explores the songs of the work and strives to unlock the mystery of why the piece held his father, and so many others, in thrall.  Deeply personal but also highly entertaining, Winter Journey offers a fresh take on the tradition of the ‘confessional monologue,’ with Duffy leading the audience down lush and unexpected pathways.

A living room bound by hanging boxes of miniature trees is filled with warm golden light, as the Narrator, the Pianist and the Wanderer lecture and demonstrate to the audience. The Narrator’s deeply personal story takes over once and again, as the cool winter night outside intrudes into the interior in the form of shafts of clear blue light shooting through the trees, painting the ceiling blue in the process. The story of the Narrator walking through the woods in the Vienna winter night closes the piece, as the three characters exit the living room and form a gentle final tableau.

Production photography for The Little Lord Fauntleroys’ production of Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland, directed by José Zayas and Michael Levinton, presented by the Ice Factory 2009 at the Ohio Theater.