
BEHIND THE DESIGN:
JOAN THE GIRL OF ARC
From the first day of working on Joan the Girl of Arc, it was clear to the lighting team (made up of co-lighting designers Jaden O'Berry and Conner Wieland) that the production was not only going to represent what the future looked like to do theatre in a Covid-19 world, but also how designers would move from A to B (while also planning through to double A or triple Z in recognition of potential problems) while working for a live-stream format instead of a live-theatre format.
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Joan the Girl of Arc premiered at Saginaw Valley State University's Theatre Department through the usage of a YouTube livestream, as opposed to a live-audience, due to Covid-19 restrictions and regulations. This meant that the feeling and atmosphere of the show had to be as genuine and compassionate as if the audience was still present in the building while watching from home. The actors, while accustomed to having to rehearse with no laughter or audience reaction, were posed with their own dilemma as to how they could feed off of the energy of one another as opposed to the energy of the usual 500+ audience members that would be physically present in the space in non-Covid times.
To make this an easier transition, and to pull them further into the world of this TYA show, lighting worked alongside projections and set to form the 14th century world through the eyes of Jeanne D'Arc herself, with large lillies of the valley hung about the stage, three of which held projections that showcased location alongside paintings of Jeanne herself later in the show.
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Lighting, through the lens of a Theatre for Young Audiences viewpoint, had to be very active and saturated so to keep the interest of the younger audience members that may have been watching from home. This was done using contrasting sidelight colours and a vibrant cyc that had juxtaposing warms and cools between the sky batten and the ground row. A pink motif followed Jeanne's character as she moved her way through the show, and when she was alone with the voices of the Saints, it was the main focus in the sidelight/booms and the cyc as well. If nothing else could keep the attention of the younger attendees in the at-home audience, the goal was that the lighting could.
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In recognition that the story of Jeanne D'Arc didn't have a happy ending, but that she was obviously the most influential feminist icon in medieval Europe, honoring the legacy of Jeanne became the main goal for everyone on the design team. Through much research and many (many) checked-out library books, lighting took inspiration from medieval (14th & 15th century) European paintings/art and early French cathedral windows to symbolize the transition of Joan from peasant farmgirl to leader of the French army and close confidant of the Dauphin. This tied into projections as well in the use of black-and-white medieval sketches of the locations to finally full-colour paintings after Joan's character went to a cathedral with the Dauphin to speak with the High Priest about the Hundred Years War. The cathedral windows were the first in-colour projection, and all other projections were full-colour afterwards. Not only that, but lighting became more saturated and full-bodied in depth after the cathedral scene as well, directly paralleling Joan's faith in not only her religion and the voices that lead her through the war and to victory, but of her faith in herself. Subsequently, when Joan is arrested and tried for heresy against the Church, the lighting dims, and the once pink motif becomes a deep blood-red, as while Joan doesn't question her faith (in the play), she directly asks the voices if she should.