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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 3, 2005 Let there be light By Cindy Blankenship For the Daily Tidings If you caught the "Glass Menagerie" at artattack Theater last year, or more recently "Ellington," at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, then whether you noticed it or not, you've been under the spell of Mike Stanfill, artattack's resident lighting designer. "I love lighting design because of how subconscious lighting is, how it can change the mood of those in the audience. 'Manipulate' almost describes this, but without the negative connotation�I love helping to tell the story with the lighting," says Stanfill. His love of lighting is what led the Portland student and actor to study at Southern Oregon University which unlike most schools, offers a fine arts degree specifically in lighting design rather than only the more general theatre degree. Set to graduate this June, Stanfill says while there's more money to be made in theatre on the East Coast, he hopes to keep himself busy enough, doing a couple shows a month in Seattle and San Francisco. For now, the native Portlander is enjoying Ashland. "Ashland is the speed that I need to go now," he said. "Portland felt so laid back and Ashland's even more so. I love the art culture, the theatre culture that's here." Stanfill begins his designs by reading the script, first as one would read a novel for the enjoyment of it, and then at least once more, taking notes, asking himself questions like "What is the theme?" "What are they trying to say about life?" Depending on the play, he'll also research the playwright, his inspirations, and history surrounding the play. Then Stanfill sits downs for his first meeting with the director. "I had a chance to work with Jim Edmondson (technical director in theatrical department at SOU and long-time resident director and actor with OSF). He's very clear in what he wanted and left a lot of room for me to be a designer," says Stanfill. Once he has his design in mind, he will light plot, creating a draft of what lights will go where and such for the light crew to follow. "Then we go into something called tech. It's a huge train wreck� You have all the designers and technicians there, and the actors will start running a scene and the director will yell "Stop!" and the lighting designer will adjust something. Usually we'll take 6 to 7 hours on a two-hour show." It's a little bit different at artattack, says Stanfill comparing artattack to the New York "actor studio," i.e., a small, intimate space that allows for a lot of fun and creative choices. "The artistic directors at artattack are young like me. And I'm still young and na�ve enough to feel there's no wrong ways, but only better ways to do things. "The difference between a good and a bad designer," Stanfill continues, "is a good designer knows what can be improved upon where as a bad one would stick with the same idea, steam rolling ahead, no matter what." A good lighting design doesn't usually end up getting reviewed because if it's going with the story, it doesn't get noticed. "Glass Menagerie" was one of the exceptions, says Stanfill: "The lighting was so incredibly bold that it got a review." A good review, that is. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams