Theater Transformed Into South Central LA
This past Monday, the Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 scenic team started loading the show’s scenery in the Semel Theater. In case you missed our Facebook post on Tuesday, there is an actual car in Emerson’s Tufte Center!
We had the chance to talk to Twilight Scenic Designer, Jeffrey Eichert, a senior BFA Theatre Design / Technology major concentrating in scenic design, who took us behind the scenes and gave us a feel of the work he’s been doing since this past summer.
Eichert explains how he drew from various locations in the city of Los Angeles to create an atmosphere that would represent the place the Riots occurred. One important scenic piece incorporates a car driving into a wall, representing on one side the Los Angeles car culture, but also demonstrating on another side the destructive nature of the 1992 episodes. According to Eichert, the car references the hazards of living in an area where it was extremely dangerous to drive through or worse, walk through.
- The car in Twilight seen during a lighting and projections focus.
Throughout the show, the scenic design, the physical riots happening on stage, and the sounds will altogether play a great role in transporting the audience to those riots in order to make them feel as if they were “there.” Small TV screens will be positioned throughout the stage, alluding to the heavy attention that was paid by the media during the Riots.
Ultimately, Eichert has strived to create a collage that would not only represent LA but also any city in order to transmit Director Benny Sato Ambush’s aim to suggest that civil unrest like that displayed 20 years ago in LA could happen anytime, anywhere
- Scenic load in
Eichert’s previous Emerson Stage shows include NewFest 2011: Chops (Scenic Charge), The Actor and The Actor’s Nightmare (Scenic Design), Much Ado About Nothing (Assistant Scenic Designer), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Scenic Artist), Into the Woods (Assistant Scenic Designer), and The Hundred Dresses (Fly Crew).
Countdown to Twilight: 6 days! We can’t wait to see the final product of such an exciting show!
