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LIFE ON THE LINE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A CHORUS LINE

Jeffries, Sean A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1334244672

Abstract Details

2012, MFA, Kent State University, College of the Arts / School of Theatre and Dance.
I propose to design the lighting for A Chorus Line at Kent State University as my thesis project. The premise of the story is an audition for the chorus line in a musical. The objective of each character is to “get the job.” The “director” predicates their success on the dancers sharing a personal dialogue with him. This dialogue takes place both internally and externally. In order to support this dialectic, the space needs to transition smoothly between the two worlds represented in A Chorus Line: 1) – the reality of the audition and 2) – the internal voice, or world, of the character. “The Line” represents their change, from individual to member of a chorus. It is the transitional space from cattle call audition to faceless chorus member, a space that each character navigates via individual explorations into his or her own psyche as guided by the “director.” That journey is the driving force of my conceptual approach. In addition, the director, Terri Kent, seeks to maintain the integrity of the original Broadway production, while incorporating an additional layer of timelessness that can help bridge the ideas used in renditions of the piece produced over the past 35 years. With such a wide but strictly prescribed outline, I recognize that using the iconic model employed by Tharon Musser, the original lighting designer as a jumping-off point will help me attain a cohesive balance between what Kent envisions for the lighting design and my own concepts. In order to further their careers, and get the job, the dancers in A Chorus Line are required to discard their individuality for the sake of the whole. The chorus needs to work as a single unit – a living, breathing, moving, thinking organism that reacts as one entity. At the same time, each character has a unique personal history, explored in the second half of the audition, to put on the table, a tale of struggles overcome on the path to perfecting his or her craft and advancing his or her career. It is my goal to support each story by separating each individual from the group through the manipulation of color, angle, and intensity. The academic schedule requires the lighting be designed using a repertory plot. The restraint of having to use such a plot is also an opportunity to stretch and manipulate it to serve the needs of this production. A second challenge, presented by A Chorus Line itself, is the continuous shifting of focus from the internal voices of the characters back to the full stage reality of the audition, creating the illusion of a foreground/background. Emphasizing this shift with lighting will help drive the audience’s focus onto each individual character. Third, I will have the added challenge of using intelligent lighting to create a controlled focus, necessary to underscore the interior voices of the characters. On the surface, A Chorus Line is a musical about people trying to “get the job” of framing a star performer. In actuality, the show transforms each chorus member into a star performer. A Chorus Line celebrates not the singular star, but the ensemble members whose voices are often drowned out by the adulation given a show’s star.
Jakyung Seo (Advisor)
Cynthia Stillings (Committee Member)
Rosemarie Bank (Committee Member)
57 p.
Theater
"A Chorus Line; Lighting Design; Thesis Projects"

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jeffries, S. A. (2012). LIFE ON THE LINE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A CHORUS LINE [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1334244672

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jeffries, Sean. LIFE ON THE LINE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A CHORUS LINE. 2012. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1334244672.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jeffries, Sean. "LIFE ON THE LINE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR A CHORUS LINE." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1334244672

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.