THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE & DANCE
GODSPELL
MUSIC & LYRICS: STEPHEN SCHWARTZ | BOOK: JOHN-MICHAEL TEBELAK
MAY, 2021 | THE POWER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, ANN ARBOR, MI (PRESENTED DIGITALLY)
DIRECTOR:
Telly Leung
CHOREOGRAPHER:
Conrad Sager
MUSIC DIRECTOR:
Jason DeBord
SCENIC DESIGNER:
Henry Pederson
COSTUME DESIGNER:
Sarah M. Oliver
LIGHTING DESIGNER:
Harrison Hoffert
SOUND DESIGNER:
Al Hurschman
VIDEO RECORDING & PRODUCTION:
Sly Pup Productions
STAGE MANAGER
Sam Schoenfeld
Our Godspell was truly a piece of theatre born out of the pandemic. Our concept for time and location, an abandoned theatre, was concieved out of the necessity to re-use existing scenery and props. My core design idea was to re-enforce the sense of community and comfort that the cast develops throughout the show as they learn to trust one another and develop a sense of communal identity. Using both historical and modern day research, I found that soft textures, indirect lighting, and a desaturated warm color palette were common tools that we use to create comfortable environments where we, as humans, can be vulnerable. Additionally, further pulling from pandemic lessons, I used individual light sources as inspiration for community even among social distancing. We flew a variety of chandeliers and custom string lights to create multiple stage looks full of twinkling lights in the background. However, for every intimate moment in the show, Godspell counters with a heavy hitting musical number. Working without haze (we didn’t know the health implications at that point of the pandemic), I collaborated with the scenic designer to create “pipe structures” upstage, each full of lighting equipment that served as concert style backlight. I also made use of MR-16 strip lights on the deck and a variety of LED instrumentation overhead to provide chases and effects.
