With strong reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, and 12 Tony AwardR
nominations, the musical Fun Home appears to be right at home on Broadway.
Based on an autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, it is an
unusual show - incredibly delicate, rather than big and flashy musical -
according to lighting designer Ben Stanton, who found himself with a
low-tech show in need of high-tech lighting.

Eos Ti
Stanton uses shifting pockets of light follow the action from scene to
scene, defining rooms of different shapes and sizes as furniture appears and
disappears through a complex series of traps. Using an ETC Eos TiR lighting
desk, programmer Alex Fogel built a low-res pixel map encompassing the whole
stage, with each lighting area as a separate pixel. By applying a gradient
to the intensity parameter of the area lights, he was able to smoothly drag
focus around the playing area, responding quickly to changes in blocking,
while maintaining the intimate look of the scene.

Because the show had been staged in a previous venue with the same creative
team, he spent a lot of time making sure that things that worked downtown
still landed in the round. Sometimes the new venue prompted significant
changes. Previously, back wall projections were used to reinforce key
moments in the show and to liven up the occasional dance number with bursts
of colour, but in its new venue with no walls to speak of, many of these
visual and narrative duties now fell to the lighting team. "The show is all
about the deck," adds Stanton. "The floor is the backdrop." At times,
characters are placed inside frames projected on the floor from custom
gobos, referencing the hand drawn panels of a graphic novel. One jubilant
dance sequence involves disco squares, while at another, bleaker moment, the
lighting pulls back from the edges of the open trap doors, and chunks of the
stage picture seem to go missing.

Source FourR LED Series 2 LustrR
Stanton initially specified colour scrollers, and even took chances with the
fans turned off. But noise was still going to be a problem. He knew that he
needed colour-changing fixtures. So rental house Christie Lites offered to
substitute Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr luminaires for the 200-plus
scroller fixtures in the rental package. None of the lighting team had used
the Series 2 luminaires before, but they were quickly won over by the high
light output, minimal power needs, and of course the lack of fan noise.

"Alex went through colour by colour with Lustrs and gels Eos Ti and was
able to match perfectly any colour I'd have wanted," Stanton says, adding
that he was particularly impressed with the LED luminaires' ability to mix
deeper colours: "Some of the blues are insane."

The ability to cue area lights using colour, as well as intensity, turned
out to be a big asset to the production. The Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr
luminaires, he says, "take us from a simple, subtle look to the most vibrant
colour you'll ever see."

To learn more about Eos Ti, Source Four LED Series 2, and all of ETC's
products, please visit www.etcconnect.com.