TS: What do you think Fugard’s play is about?


PK: I think it’s largely about exploring the theme of the artist as outcast; how the artist survives and continues to pursue his or her work in the face of isolation and pressure from outside forces to stop doing that work. I think it’s also about aging and the fear at an advanced age of an imminent, all-enveloping darkness. And it’s about commitment to your own principles even as society is urging you to relinquish your principles.


TS: What do you look for from the director before you start designing?


PK: Mostly I just want to feel secure that we are starting our work from the same jumping-off point. So I want to know broad-stroke information from a director: are we doing real or abstract? Are we setting the play as suggested in the text or are we re-imagining where the action takes place? I don’t need to discuss the play moment by moment. That usually doesn’t get sorted out anyway until the cast gets well into rehearsal and by then, my advance information has already been drawn and delivered for preparation.


TS: How do you collaborate with the rest of the design team?


PK: That’s a mixed bag. It’s always different on different shows. It really depends on a lot of factors. Quite often designers are very busy and not all that available for long intensive sessions on a developing design. On this show, we’ve had two or three sessions with all the designers and Gordon, and they were mostly about atmosphere and ambience and sensibility. More specifi cally, Michael has designed a set that tries to embrace and support the “magic” Fugard talks about when all the candles are lit, and this involved inserting some light fi xtures within the walls of his set, walls that turn out to be translucent. So we met last week at the shop in Connecticut and did a little experimenting with some light sources and some mocked-up painted walls. Susan and I talked a bit about the colors she’s planning for each of the character’s costumes.


TS: What factors go into designing lights for a musical as opposed to a straight play?


PK: That’s a somewhat complicated question. There are some plays that have a lot of lighting requirements. There are some


UPSTAGE THE ROAD TO MECCA 15


IN THE CENTER OF MECCA THERE IS A TEMPLE, MARIUS, AND IN THE CENTER OF THE TEMPLE IS A VAST ROOM WITH HUNDREDS OF MIRRORS ON THE WALLS AND HANGING LAMPS AND THAT IS WHERE THE WISE MEN OF THE EAST STUDY THE CELESTIAL GEOMETRY OF LIGHT AND COLOR. I BECAME AN APPRENTICE THAT NIGHT. LIGHT THEM ALL, ELSA, SO THAT I CAN SHOW MARIUS WHAT I’VE LEARNT.


—HELEN


musicals that have few. There are not many hard truths about designing a play versus a musical. But very generally speaking, for musicals you are more likely to need to have a great deal of variety in the light at your disposal to keep things looking new and fresh and surprising throughout the evening. In a play, you are more likely to have a narrower range of needs.


TS: Where did you get your training? Any great teachers who infl uenced you?


PK: I have an undergraduate degree in Drama/English from SUNY Geneseo. I didn’t go to grad school. I had a terrifi c teacher at Geneseo who came to New York ahead of me and blazed a trail that I eventually followed. I graduated in May and moved to the city in August. Once I got to New York, I did a lot of assisting for some of the most revered designers of that period: Tom Skelton, Craig Miller, Bev Emmons, Neil Jampolis, John Bury. I really learned how to do this by watching them do it.


TS: Any advice for a young person who wants to become a lighting designer?


PK: Get a law degree.


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