Making a Scene

April 26, 2010

Isaac Winston will have no speaking lines, nor will he appear on stage in BMCC’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, which opens at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center this week. Nonetheless, it would not be an overstatement to bill him as a star of the show.

A second-year Theatre major, Winston is the lighting designer for the production, which will have three performances on April 28 and 29, at BMCC’s Theater II. And, he is quick to note, stage lighting is a lot more than a matter of simple illumination.

“Basically, my job is to integrate the lighting with all the elements of the production—the set, the flats, the actors’ skin tones and the costumes,” says Winston. Like any skilled visual artist, he draws upon an extensive palette of colors to achieve subtle atmospheric effects while adding visual interest and emotional nuance to his canvas.

Departing from past practice

To be sure, students are not typically enlisted to light BMCC main stage theater productions. “Usually, we’ll bring in a professional,” says Elizabeth Chaney, an assistant professor in the Department of Speech, Communications and Theatre Arts and set designer for The Seagull. “But Isaac has definitely shown the interest, talent, dedication and artistic sensibility to handle a main stage design.”

Chaney’s courses, which focus on design and technology in theater, include a classroom component as well as practicum classes, in which students are trained in scenic lighting, costume and sound design. “When students come to BMCC to major in theater, we feel it’s important that they understand that the field isn’t only about acting and directing,” she says.

The practicum “is a totally hands-on experience,” adds adjunct professor Chad Yarborough. “We’ll get the tools out and get them into the students’ hands, so they can take them apart and see how they work. Then, when they read a play, they get to design projects that realize their creative vision.”

Yarborough has worked on past main stage productions with Winston, who has always shown “great initiative and terrific follow-through,” he says. “But mostly he’s assisted on the lighting. This time we’re handing him the reins and giving him the freedom and space to do what he does so well.”

The Seagull in miniature

On a recent afternoon, Chaney and Winston are trying out different lighting approaches by shining a flashlight through translucent color chips onto a diorama of the set. “Since The Seagull is set in Russia in the 1890s, illumination is provided by gas lamps, lanterns and the flickering light of fireplaces, so we need to find ways to simulate them realistically,” Winston says. “We also have to know the time of day each scene is taking place in order to create the effects of sunlight or moonlight coming through the window.”

Chaney and Winston’s conversation is peppered with talk of pastels, color saturation, backlights, front lights, gels and skin tones. “Depending on the effect you’re looking for, you go with harsh light or soft lights,” Winston says. “The idea is to get everything to blend together—and to make a scene.”

Winston, who will graduate this June, hopes to continue his studies at Brooklyn College in the fall and eventually pursue a career in lighting design—ideally on Broadway. At BMCC, says Chaney, “Isaac has been an absolute standout.”

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • BMCC Theatre major Isaac Winston is lighting designer forThe Seagull
  • The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov, will be presented at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Theater II, April 28 & 29

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