“I’m Connecticut”, a new play by “The Simpsons” writer Mike Reiss is quickly approaching! I am co-projection designing the show with Allison McGrath and am excited to say that we’re almost done! The process, which began last April, has been extremely enjoyable and very collaborative, and it’s great fun working with the brilliant director, Paul Mullins. We’ve just finished tech and will hold three more days of dress rehearsals followed by a preview performance before the world premiere opening performance on Friday, December 2, 2011. How exciting! The show is a romantic comedy about a man who is insecure of himself because he is from Connecticut, a boring state. The show is a lot of fun (and there’s even a little surprise at the end!)
The set (Michael Anania, Matthew Iacozza, scenic designers) consists primarily of four rotating panels that make up a back wall. The panels are stretched with Rosco gray rear projection screen making the entire wall our projection surface! (see images below).
As for the technology, we have two Christie DS+650 projectors, each covering two of the four panels from the rear. For control, we are fortunate enough to have a PRG Mbox EXtreme v3 Media Server for the production. The Mbox is a popular media server with widespread use throughout the industry on productions like the Bon Jovi tour and Broadway’s Spider-Man. For programming and control, we are using PRG’s Mbox Director software (beta testing a new version that enables new features like Live Image Feedback and MIDI Show Control triggering). The Mbox EXtreme and Mbox Director both have been incredibly powerful and stable! We just could not get the system to crash–and believe me, we tried!
Most of our content was built with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, combined with the powerful 2D and 3D effects and capabilities found in the Mbox. Additionally, there are some scenes in the show that required live footage. You can see some of the images below from our small film shoot! To see our content, you’ll just have to come see the show!
“I’m Connecticut” opens in the Connecticut Repertory Theatre‘s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre on Friday, December 2, 2011 at 8:00pm. Call 860-486-4226 for tickets and information. Come see it!
