Theatre is activism and this piece (though silent) screams: Will Anything Ever Change?
The world is a smoldering pile of ruins. The survivors of a cataclysm walk with few possessions, shocked into silence, carrying their trauma. The Water Station is a non-verbal depiction of travelers encountering the miraculous gift of flowing water along an otherwise desolate path. The piece is meditative, an exploration of time and progression. It is also a marathon demanding extreme focus as each actor moves meticulously, painstakingly, in silence and slow tempo for the two hour piece. The primary lighting gesture and anchor of my design concept was a 20k fresnel emphasizing the diagonal of the path the actors walked. Beginning at a very low trim height and slowly, in direct conversation with the pace of performers, the light would almost imperceptibly begin its journey from the ground to the sky, emulating the rising sun, the life force. When characters first entered the space they were back lit, their faces inaccessible, a mystery to us as the viewers. It is only after enduring the time and effort of watching the actor move downstage to the water that the lighting reveals more of the character to the audience. We begin and end the continuous cycle of actors along the path with the same character, the girl. This completion of the cycle suggests we have only seen a glimpse of an unending pattern. Using the unique community of CalArts as an incubator to experiment it was important to the director and design team to create a landscape that supported the intense feeling of loss and the persistence to keep moving forward. The lighting was subtle to emphasize the relationship of the characters to the world; stuck, with a glimmer of hope that there is something better on the horizon. What moved me most about this story and inspired my design was universality in the theme; some viewers related it to the story to their experience of immigrating to the US, others had a less tangible memory but felt the experience of the characters endurance deeply within themselves.
Production Credits
California Institute of the Arts: Walt Disney Modular Theatre
Playwright – Ōta Shōgo
Director – Héctor Alvarez
Scene Design – Chusu Kim
Lighting Design – Claire Chrzan
Costume Design – Yuwei Hu
Sound Design – Clare Marie Nemanich
Assistant Scene Design – Benny Pitt
Assistant Costume Design – Ashley Snyder
Assistant Costume Design – Yi-Lun Chien
Assistant Lighting Design – Matthew Duran
Production Stage Manager – Carina Yuan
Stage Manager – House Dow
Stage Manager – Sami Hansen
Tech Director – Naomi Miyahara
Tech Director – Ethan Geisness
Props Artisan – Patrick Smith
Actors featured in Photos
Brent Charles
Emma Crawfis
Henry Fulton Winship
Ava Hase
Hugh Hedley Lewis
Devin Alan McLean
Carter Avery Prentiss
ChaCha Tahng
Lily Rutman
Sofia Rahaniotis
Jeannette Srinivasan