Inheritance

; A Work In Progress

In a nutshell,

Please!

Devised Work | Lighting Design

Inheritance is a collaboratively devised work produced by UNC School of the Arts (School of Drama & School of Design And Production) that examined this thought:

"In isolation, we often struggle with ourselves and the people around us; it can be a pressure cooker. Meanwhile, outside our windows, something is brewing – protests, a pandemic, an election, climate change, and weather events. It can feel like the world is on fire and everything is crumbling. Do we have the power to change any of that?” - Andy Paris

Unlike a "traditional" theatrical design process the performers and creative team had to build the script and develop ideas collaboratively and on a tight schedule. With less than two months to create a first iteration, we dove into working immediately.

Creative Process

The Lighting Design Perspective

Roughly a month into the devising process, we confirmed our location for this iteration: The Historic Brookstown Inn - A landmark in Winston-Salem NC, with a rich history of its past life as a cotton and textile mill. Over the course of two weeks, the production electrician (George Meltzer) and I took some equipment to the location to find interesting textures and angles that would help aid in the story we were writing, as well as tell the story of the building's history

After completing a load of light tests and texture studies, I worked with the creative team to consolidate the visuals we found the most compelling to share with our audience.

I began to refine my research and move forward with the lighting and atmosphere design with this concept in mind:

Inheritance is a metaphorical looking glass that examines the lives of six characters, struggling with the present-day world around them. Isolation, Fear, and loss- all under the veil of a global pandemic, systemic racism, and social injustice. As we see these characters through the windows of the historic Brookstown facade, a past era emerges, and we are surrounded by what this building used to be: an early 19th-century cotton mill, built by marginalized individuals, who lived lives that were strikingly similar to the ones of the characters in the windows. A nod to the past, to encourage change for the future.