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Show Jt Lake Tribune ARTS 0, 2002 Sunday, Nove: Craig’s Bright Ideas Illuminate “Big Love’ that this is BY CELIA R. BAKER THESALT LAKE TRIBUNE not reality. It helps filter the two pri- motionallevels. ig created 150 lighting People like Jim Craig play with your mind and manipu- late your emotions. Every time ciled into its script. For every cue, he worked out changesin mood and illumination on a you attend a play, you surrender a portion of your will to someone whotells you where to look and. whatto feel. This per- light board, then programmed a computer to bring groups of ts up or down. Each pro- son, Big Brother of the Theater, is called a lighting director. grammed cueincludes infor- For six years, Craig has designed lighting for shows at Salt Lake Acting Company. His mation for how quickly or gradually the changes must happen. Numerical codes for craft requires the brain of a scientist, the eye of an artist and the flying fingers of an adding-machine operator. When. Craig gazes upon the smallish stage of SLAC’s Upstairs Theatre from his perch at the lighting board, he sees an intricate grid covered by 165 specialized lights arranged over 125 channels. Working fromthe primarycolorsoflight - red, green and blue Craig can color an audience's experienceof an eventin any area of thatstage. Literally. “If you don’t agree with the text of a play, you can make an intellectual judgmentto reject it,” says Craig. “But when light moves you, you can’t denyit. It's one of the only physical connections you haveto a play. Everything is filtered through Paul Fraughton/TheSalt Lake Tribune SLAC’s Jim Craig created 150 lighting “clues”for “Big Love.” what is programmed for the SLAC’s upcoming production lights. We tell you where to look, and when to look, and of “Big Love,” Craig worked out two separate light environ- how you're going to experience that moment. We shade the emotion toward scary, charming,harsh or stark.” Craig becameinterested in lighting while attending high school in Sandy, Ore., then got a theater degree from Weber State University along with a minorin art. A memberof the union for professional scenic artists, he lights shows at other theaters around the state and nation in addition to his ongo- ing gig at SLAC. In designing lighting for ments, One lighting scheme anchors the audience in the semi-realistic world where the 's plot proceeds. But there is another emotional dimen: sion in “Big Love,” aplace of utter unreality. “There ese outbursts in the play,” says Craig, “reactions commenting onsocial behavior and gender. They are like red herrings, comingout of nowhere. When those happen the abstract moments there is more color and harsh ness.It’s a clue to the audience ‘hundreds and thousands of small decisions” were typed into a computer via a 10-key entry panel. Once the NOVEMBER 13 ¢ 7 PM PYTVSee iss RELEi Pe ath ay cues are pro- grammedandset, Craig’s job is over. Whenthe show is up and running, production stage manager Tanner Broughton calls Craig’s lighting cues for SLAC’s crew of “techies” during each performance, along with all the other technical cues for the play. The system allows each performance to unfold atits ownpace. Craig knows he got the lighting just right if the audi ence ignores his work: “Ifyou notice more than you feel, that’s bad,” he says. “Ifyou feel more than you notice that’s good.” ae wireless We neverstop working for you ROBERT DUBAC'S The male intellect: -c-k! an oxyme@ren? 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