A
recurring theme in the performance is the appearance of the Northern Lights. We
are first introduced to the lights during the first scene, called “Her Heart,”
when East, played by Kyle Delaney sees a stranger standing in his yard. East
confronts the stranger and learns her name is Glory, played by Rebecca Munoz.
Glory tells East she is there to see the Northern Lights and pay her respects
to her dead husband. When the scene ended, after the two had fallen in love,
the cyclorama lit up with different colors of green, pink and blue to represent
the Northern Lights. Tinkering music played in the background while East and
Glory look wondrously past the audience as if they were really admiring the
Northern Lights in the big Maine sky. The lights occur again at the end of all
eight scenes and the epilogue. Each time, the tinkering music plays to draw our
attention to what’s happening in the background and the characters look into
the audience as if the lights are above them, while the audience looks past the
characters on stage and into the lights. The recurring lights, along with
Ginette, played by Lydia Miller, walking through each scene in the play, helps
the audience realize that all of these scenes are happening simultaneously.
There
are also a couple of instances of cars in the play. The first time we hear a
car is in “Where it Went,” with Phil and Marci, played by Ty Carter and Mycah
Westhoff. The married couple had been ice-skating and was arguing while getting
ready to leave. It seems like a very typical argument between a couple, as
Marci claims she is definitely not mad and Phil tries to figure out where he
went wrong. The couple got some “Ooohs” from the audience when we found out it
was their anniversary and Phil had forgotten. The scene ends when Marci walks
offstage and we hear the sounds of car driving away, indicating that she has
left Phil. Poor Phil is left all alone to walk home (hopefully he didn’t live
too far away) at the lake they had been skating at as his wife drives away
without him. The Northern Lights cue up and Phil looks off into the audience as
if he’s really looking at the sky. In this scene the lights seem to represent
Phil’s acceptance that his marriage is no longer working out. The lights fade
away and we move on to the next scene. Another car in the play was during the
scene “Story of Hope,” staring Kyle Delaney as the man and Carolyn Williams as
Hope. Hope had taken a taxi over 100 miles to get to this mans house from the
airport. We hear a car drive up, a car door slam, and Hope walks on stage
carrying a suitcase. The car sounds are crucial to this scene because without
them it would appear Hope has just walked right over to this man’s house, which
is not nearly as romantic as her traveling hundreds of miles. The Northern
Lights end this scene when Hope finally gives the answer that she promised to a
man many, many years ago.
Another
important part of the play was the transition between scenes. The play contains
eight scenes of different connected stories, plus a prologue, interlogue and
epilogue, and the designers were faced with a tough job of ending one scene and
smoothly bringing us over into the next. Each scene ended with the Northern
Lights, which came to be a symbol of conclusion for each scene. After the
Northern Lights lit up the cyclorama, all the lights would fade leaving the
stage in complete darkness. Immediately after, music would begin to play for
about a minute until the set crew had everything ready to go for the next scene.
The music would slowly fade away and the lights would come back on. The
consistent scene conclusions and smooth fades of light and music transitioned
the audience easily from one scene to the next, without removing us from the
world of the play.
The
lighting designer, Jennifer Kilgore, did an excellent job at portraying the
different between inside and outside scenes and setting the mood. Several of
the scenes took place outside and, besides the fact that the characters were
bundled up in winter clothing, it was easy to tell because the ‘sky’ was lit up
with a nice dark blue. When the scene took place inside the lightning was a
warmer glow, much like what you would get from a lamp in the living room. The
scene “Getting it Back” opened with Lendall, played by Ty Carter, sleeping in a
comfy armchair in his living room. His nap is rudely interrupted by his
girlfriend Gayle, played by September Adamson, pounding on his door. The lights
are dim when he first wakes up, giving the scene a very sleepy and comfortable
mood. After quite a few more knocks and screams by a very upset and demanding
Gayle, Lendall gets up from his chair and the lights get brighter, making the
room seem more lively. Subtle differences like the lighting of a room really
helped pull the audience into the play.
