Divergences: LOGAN part 1

Divergences: LOGAN part 1

I apologize in advance for my next few postings… I fear I’m going to get a little maudlin and nostalgic, as my (and my family’s) time in Chicago draws to a close. We’re now at 9 weeks and counting until…

 Burch Migration 2012 : FINGER LAKES BEWARE!

On July 31, 2012, I will leave my position at University of Chicago, precisely 7 years after I started. Thinking about where I was then as a designer, artist, husband, father, educator, human being (etcetera) is slightly overwhelming. For me it brings up the questions of both personal and academic evolution. And stemming from that is one of the slowest, and perhaps most tangential projects I’ve ever been (a VERY small) part of… that being the evolution of a building.

Even before I started here at UChicago, the planning was underway for an Arts Center that would house all of the academic fine art programs/departments on campus. Feasibility studies were already complete, initial conceptual plans from architecture firms were underway, and I came into a program who knew it was, and was going to continue to be in flux. It was clear that a tonal shift would happen as we moved from our scrappy and make-shift digs in a century-old student union building into a purpose-built, hi-tech, high-profile location. how could it not?

Over the course of my first couple of years here, there were an endless series of meetings, many of which I didn’t participate in (that honor fell to my boss, Heidi Coleman), but as things developed--- the  architecture firm of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien was hired, as were Shuler Shook (Theatre Planners) and Kirkegaard Associates (Sound/Acousticians), I started to be a part of the discussions about the building, how it might be used, and got the chance to respond to material choices and ideas. But even more fascinating to me were the inner-departmental conversations we had about wishes, desires and how the building would change the structure of the program, as well as how the programs needs needed to be infused into our conversations with the architects and planners.

No fewer than three times we were asked to “cut x percent” out of our overall footprint in order to cut costs, so we suggested certain rooms become smaller, or sometimes eliminated. A seemingly endless series of plan variations were sent our way for comments and recommendations. The initial groundbreaking ceremony arrived near my 5^th anniversary working here, and the plan was for it to be up and running by Spring 2012… a date that seemed both ridiculously far away, and tantalizingly close. I have to admit that I was most skeptical about the building being ready, but I gladly admit that I was also wrong. We indeed moved in when they said we would, even if workers were still traipsing about the building in hardhats, pouring concrete and creating all kinds of noise and dust.

The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (LOGAN) located on the south end of campus, at the juncture of 60^th street, in between Drexel and Ingleside. It’s south of the MIDWAY PLAISANCE, a historic and somewhat peculiar boulevard that separates the south end of campus from the rest of campus. LOGAN is adjacent to the LAREDO TAFT HOUSE AND STUDIO, which is where DOVA (the Department Of Visual Art) has been housed for the better part of the past century.

Here’s a link to the official site for the building… http://arts.uchicago.edu/logan/

This building houses the following academic entities: DOVA, Music, Film and Media Studies, and TAPS (Theatre and Performance Studies). and consists of three major visual shapes (these are MY delineations, not the architects, mind you...) the BASE the TOWER and the COURTYARD. 

this is an early model of the proposed center

and here's a model of what was actually BUILT. 

the changes are fascinating, even on just a visual level.

You'll notice the BASE, (above in the model) its' distinguishing feature is that serrated top which is made of of series of sky-lights letting natural light into the 2nd floor of the building. there are pockets where this light is filtered further into the depths in really interesting ways. The first floor of the BASE contains a really nice gallery space for DOVA, as well as classrooms and studios for them. It also houses the main level of both theatre spaces for TAPS, and a performance hall which will be used primarily for the Music Dept. directly adjacent is the COURTYARD (which you can't see in the model pic above, but pix will follow, promise), which is an open area that is surrounded on three sides by the LOGAN Center, and directly adjacent to MIDWAY STUDIOS aka the Laredo Taft House. 

the COURTYARD as viewed thru the first floor hallway in the BASE, view looking SE

looking down into the COURTYARD from the 2nd floor BASE hallway, view looking NE

note the "bridge"

the "bridge" connects the top level of the performance hall to the tower, traversing the COURTYARD. note that the backsides of the sky-light serrated edges are covered in solar panels, and that the roof is planted in greenery.

 The second floor of the BASE houses departmental offices, art studio spaces, the second levels of TAPS' two theatres, including BEAUTIFUL new control booths. There is also a basement level to the BASE which holds storage, dressing rooms for the theatres and performance hall, the costume shop and a digital media lab and classroom. 

view from the SW corner of the building

view of the tower from NE of the building

the porch you see on the right side is part of MIDWAY STUDIOS

view of the BASE room, and all those skylights from the 7th

floor of the tower

in, what seems to ME  to be an odd, but unique choice, many of the

interior walls are covered in a felted material, decorated in a variety of

patterns and shapes

the main lobby. the frosted glass you see throughout reaches up past the roofs

in order to act as ersatz light wells that continue vertically through the building to bring 

some natural light into even the basement... cool, eh?

The TOWER consists of 11 floors, the first floor of which will be a cafe, eventually, the remaining ten floors will house classrooms, music rehearsal rooms and studios, a film screening room, two TAPS classroom/studios, and performance space on the covered rooftop deck.

one of the TAPS classrooms in the TOWER

second view of same classroom

view out the window in said classroom

We’ve now been in the building for almost 10 weeks, and there are still workers about, though much fewer, and there are elements that won’t be complete for weeks to come. The building “soft” opened on April 21^st, 2012, and there is a gala celebration planned for this coming October, when the remaining parts of the building are complete (notably a cafe on the first floor and the film screening room/theater in the tower).

The catchphrases that I kept hearing throughout the process were…

“supporting inter-disciplinary cooperation and collaboration”

“the building should be a beacon, beaconing the northside of campus to stretch out and come to us.”  and “a beacon to the community, asking them to join us in a community conversation about togetherness”

“a beehive of creativity, that lit up even into the night, showing artist at work”.

and in many ways, the tower feels a bit like a beacon…and it IS a beehive of activity. I have to admit that. The one place where it seems a little lacking yet is the “inter-disciplinary cooperation/collaboration”, and in all fairness, those kind of connections take time. Just because we are all now sharing a building doesn’t mean that we’re all willing to ‘play along’. Those kind of relationships take time, and people willing to span the divide of programming and insularity that academic departments are famous for. I’m hopeful to that end. I really am.

But sadly, that bridging of mistrusts and inner-departmental shift will be happening without me. July 31 looms.

Up next: Our theatre spaces here at LOGAN

Wearing multiple hats can cause an irritated scalp

Stanislavsky’s AN ACTOR PREPARES

Adapted by Mickle Maher

University of Chicago Theatre and Performance Studies Program

Theatre East, Logan Center for the Arts

Directed by Devon de Mayo

Scenic AND Lighting Design by Yours Truly

Costume Design by Nathan Rohr

Sound Design/Composition by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen

THE STORY

Constantin Stanislavsky was a great acting instructor in Moscow in the early days of the 20^th century, made famous for creating a system of acting that brought about a revolution of a more naturalistic style. This was manifested in his great book, AN ACTOR PREPARES, which virtually every actor reads at some point in his/her training. His personal life was fraught with trying to stay on the ‘good side’ of Stalin and the rise of Communism in his homeland.

Our play is, in essence an adaptation of the book, which takes the form of a journal of a young actor beginning his formal training. All of the characters have aspects of Stanislavsky’s personality in them, making it somewhat strangely autobiographical.

In it, the young student KOSTYA begins exploring the different aspects of how to “live through a role” the central conceit of Stanislavsky’s “System”. At the beginning of the play, Stanislavsky talks to the audience, about how he wants to present each chapter to them, but is interrupted by another actor dressed identically, who identifies himself as Stanislavsky… These two are joining by a third, fourth, all the way up to eight

OUR PRODUCTION

Not sure how to begin writing about this one… it’s special on many fronts.

Firstly it is the inaugural production in the brand spankin’ new Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts here at University of Chicago.  So… we moved into the building a mere 4 weeks before we went into tech, and were constantly challenged by the fact the contractors were (and even now AFTER the show) continuing the work to finish the building and the full functionality of all its’ spaces. In the coming couple of weeks I’ll write a post about the building itself, as its’ fascinating on many levels and having been party to the creative process that birthed the building itself, I have a soft spot for this place now. I think I always will, but more on that later, back to the show….

Secondly, this was the first piece that was truly commissioned by the academic program here. And the process was LONG and fascinating. Mickle Maher, the writer/adapter is known about Chicago for his challenging, erudite, quirky and endlessly inventive creative works… whether juxtaposing Camus’ The Stranger with the Bush/Kerry debates from ’04 in THE STRANGERER, to the bizarre and fascinating opera HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS in which Beethoven and Hugo’s Hunchback try to create a sound effect for Chekov’s CHERRY ORCHARD… You can’t argue with the power of intellect here.  You CAN argue with the fact that the design process had to take a backseat to a text that was undergoing radical revisions up until first rehearsal. And even beyond. So… you do it… try designing set and lights for a show that is in flux, in a building and space that’s also in flux as to its’ availability, and it’s physical preparedness for a show. Let’s just say I have a few new gray hairs following this project…. Having said that, I’m really quite proud with how it turned out. The actors were STUNNING, , the arc of Stanislavski’s journey of continuous re-self-discovery (literally) became truly alive onstage, in a way that was hard to comprehend on the page. I have to give huge kudos to Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, the composers/sound designers on the show, as well as the director, Devon, for sculpting the play with sound, and underscoring, in a way that I didn’t think was truly possible. Exacting selections of Shostakovich and newly composed pieces dovetailed with the emotional journey of facing the horrors of Communism on the psyche of a consummate artist of the human.

Marya's apartment

the arrival of Stanislavski-5, aka Meyerhold

The killing of Stan's nephew, Mika (Stanislavski-6)

As to my contribution… I took on two separate areas this time around, and I’m both glad that I did, and more-than-mildly exhausted from the effort. The set consisted of a series of draperies in the spirit of an old slightly-unused theatre (the play is nominally set in the theatre that Stan erected in his residence, called Onegin Hall. It’s where he taught students, rehearsed and performed many great works), these curtains tabbed up, slid on slider tracks, and generally whizzed around the space to sculpt the individual moments of the play. Upstage was a set of old-forgotten-looking theatrical walls (called ‘flats’ in the biz), scattered about, that without moving, were transformed by light and usage into the many nominal locations that Stan’s mind moved to in process of embodying the story of Kostya and his mates and their teacher Tortsov.

As a scenic designer, I’m so very used, in tech, to be sitting there… paying attention, ready to help, but generally sitting on my @ss, as I can’t actually DO much during tech aside from take notes on things that need to be altered, painted, reworked in some way…. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog… I’m often bored to near tears during tech, because there isn’t much for a scenic designer to do aside from be supportive….and surf the web.

BUT THIS TIME… I was the one trying to figure out what lights were where, and trying to decide in the moment, how to sculpt the visual space with light to help support the tone of the differing moments in the story. I had to be ON, for two straight days during tech, and I have to say, I found myself a little lacking. Those mental muscles are enough out of shape that I really ought to reengage with lighting or sound in the future, and flex them. I created a set of “basic looks”, a warm inviting  world whenever we were in the classroom, something bluer/colder for whenever MEYERHOLD came into the storytelling frame, to augment the sense of doom that really followed Meyerhold during Stanislavskis’ writing of  AN ACTOR PREPARES.

Beyond that, I worked some lighting textures (called gobos) into the lighting palette, in order to soften the harsh lines of all the vertical curtains that dominated the set. And the upstage I used a couple Constructivist-style gobos to stand in for Stalin and the politics of the world (Constructivism being a visual art movement popularized in the 1910s/1920s in Russia that used lots of geometric shapes to create robot-esque worlds that pointed to man’s futility in a machine-like society. This movement softened somewhat (or was co-opted) into the more fluid Art Deco Movement of the following years.

note the thread-like patterns at the bottom, and the red abstract shapes behind them.

But my favorite gobo-set was a series of silky languorous clouds (that we colored yellow) that streaked diagonally across the upstage flats. I LOVED the shadows that they created, especially when the muslin walls were backlit so that you could see the STRUCTURE of the theatrical flats. Ultimately I didn’t’ get to use them as much as I would have liked, but they gave an eerie and unsettling tone to the scene near the end where Stanislavski is forced to accept (and view, if only in his head) Meyerhold’s execution.

Ultimately, I have to admit that I was pleased with how the show visually turned out, and even with my own misgivings about my abilities as a lighting designer, I feel confident in saying that I supported the story, and that it looked pretty damned nice… if I do say so myself…. But now… I need some rest….

Meyerhold's Execution