{"id":91550,"date":"2021-10-05T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=91550"},"modified":"2022-09-19T09:07:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T13:07:53","slug":"a-singular-light","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/articles\/2021\/a-singular-light\/","title":{"rendered":"A Singular Light"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin magazine-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-left\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1765\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-scaled.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-636x438.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-1024x706.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-1536x1059.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-2048x1412.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/21-1276-CFAWIEGAND-002-1451x1000.jpg 1451w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Photo by Laura Barisonzi<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">CFA Alumni<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Singular Light\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">As one of the country\u2019s only professional Deaf lighting designers, Annie Wiegand is pushing artistic boundaries and working to increase industry diversity and access<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar magazine-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/authors\/andrew-thurston\/\">Andrew Thurston<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph magazine-block-editorial-introparagraph has-dropcap is-style-dropcap-dimensional has-dropcap-color-secondary\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph-content\"><p><strong>Lighting a stage show is complex:&nbsp;actors are constantly moving; scenes, seasons, and moods shift; music and sound effects crash, swoop, and dip. The lights have to follow everything, reflecting it all.<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And if lighting one show is hard work,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.anniewiegand.com\/\">Annie Wiegand<\/a>&nbsp;once had to figure out a way to light two\u2014at the same time, on the same stage. In Playwrights Horizons\u2019 2018 Off Broadway&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.playwrightshorizons.org\/shows\/plays\/i-was-most-alive-you\/\">production<\/a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<em>I Was Most Alive With You<\/em>, two casts\u2014one hearing, one Deaf\u2014performed the play simultaneously on a stage split into two levels. Wiegand\u2019s challenge was to make sure all actors, from the players projecting their voices on the lower stage to those signing on a balcony above, were bathed in light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was really hard to light them appropriately\u2014just the architecture of that was challenging,\u201d says Wiegand (\u201910), a lighting designer who\u2019s worked on Broadway and beyond, including with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Huntington Theatre, and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She\u2019s also an assistant professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., teaching theater and dance program students in its school of arts and humanities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One budget-priced solution she and her assistant, Gifford Williams (\u201918), hit upon for&nbsp;<em>I Was Most Alive With You<\/em>: strips of LED lighting on the balcony railing. They \u201chelped to fill in the actors\u2019 faces a little bit more,\u201d capturing the nuance of the Deaf performers\u2019 work as equally as that of their colleagues treading the main boards below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s an episode that helps illuminate Wiegand\u2019s career in theater: pushing boundaries, trying creative new ways to light shows, and fighting to improve arts access for the Deaf community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wiegand is one of the only\u2014and was probably the first\u2014Deaf lighting designers in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was no precedent for me,\u201d says Wiegand, speaking through an American Sign Language interpreter. \u201cIn the last 10 years I\u2019ve been working as a professional lighting designer just trying to make my way through\u2014and I\u2019m still trying to figure it out today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Seeing in a Different Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As the summer heat picked up, Wiegand was emerging from a pandemic bubble. With 15 of her students and three guest artists, she\u2019d been cloistered on the Gallaudet campus for a production of\u00a0<em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ntd.org\/deafenstein-announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Deafenstein<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> a new play by Anna Wood-Jacobowitz. The entire cast and crew had quarantined for two weeks before pushing through production in three. As a faculty advisor to the play, Wiegand was a production manager, lighting designer, and COVID safety lead. She says it was exhausting\u2014and emotional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAfter almost a year and a half of being distanced, suddenly coming together for a very short time and this kind of project, there were a lot of emotions in that room,\u201d she says.\u00a0<em>Deafenstein<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of two Deaf sisters producing a film version of\u00a0<em>Frankenstein<\/em>\u00a0with a Deaf monster. \u201cIt was really exciting. The script had a lot of valuable themes, and themes that are important to the Deaf community.\u201d The filmed stage performance was a coproduction with the National Theatre of the Deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wiegand has been teaching at Gallaudet since 2014\u2014and full-time since 2019\u2014and says one of the reasons she went into education is to help \u201copen up the field, technical theater, to Deaf individuals.\u201d Despite some progress toward diversity in recent years, white men still hold a significant majority of lighting designer positions\u2014as they do most offstage roles in theater. Very few of them have a disability, and Wiegand remains one of a small number of Deaf people in any backstage job. \u201cThere\u2019s an entire field of work\u2014and an entire field of possibilities\u2014for Deaf individuals,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91557\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2021\/10\/MostAlive0024r_KalenEdit-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>In Playwrights Horizons\u2019 2018 production of&nbsp;<em>I Was Most Alive With You<\/em>, one hearing and one Deaf cast simultaneously performed the play on a stage split into two levels. Wiegand\u2019s challenge was to make sure actors on both levels had proper lighting. Joan Marcus\/Courtesy of Playwrights Horizons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:250px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer alignfull has-secondary-background-color overlap-top-250\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Many theaters, large and small, have a long way to go to improve accessibility for Deaf cast, crew, and audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take the obligatory headset. Most backstage crew have one, orders and cues flying from ear to ear to keep the show rolling. It\u2019s practically useless for Wiegand. She can talk into it, but requires an American Sign Language interpreter to relay any responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny technical theater artist relies on a headset, and that\u2019s something I\u2019m still trying to figure out because not every Deaf individual can speak and use their own voice,\u201d she says. Headsets are so embedded in theater culture that imagining a world without them requires \u201ca large systemic change if we\u2019re going to talk about communicating in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever Wiegand starts on a new show, she lets everyone know what she\u2019ll need: an interpreter and more frequent team meetings. \u201cHearing artists can have their head down, do their work, and their ears are still open to picking up those sorts of things that I don\u2019t have access to.\u201d With more regular meetings, she can also join in with the little jokes and throwaway comments that pull a team together\u2014and spark creative ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She recognizes that improving accessibility can be a challenge, especially when so many arts organizations are battling tight budgets. But, she says, there are grants and sponsorships targeted to theaters aiming to hire diverse artists. And having a more diverse staff leads to a better, more creatively exciting end product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote magazine-block-bu-pullquote alignwide has-image-focus-center-middle has-secondary-theme\"><div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote-inner\"><figure><\/figure><blockquote><div class=\"container-lockup\"><div class=\"container-icon-outer\"><div class=\"container-icon-inner\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container-text\"><hr\/><div class=\"quote-sizing\">I more strongly rely on my eyes and relate to the world visually, so I think that gives me an advantage sometimes\u2014I see things in a different way than hearing designers do.<\/div><footer class=\"caption\"><\/footer><hr\/><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI more strongly rely on my eyes and relate to the world visually, so I think that gives me an advantage sometimes\u2014I see things in a different way than hearing designers do,\u201d says Wiegand. She gives the example of making lighting adjustments during a production: most hearing designers will wait for an actor to speak a line to cue the change. \u201cI always cue on visual elements\u2014such as an actor\u2019s movement onstage or a scenic change\u2014sometimes that changes things for a stage manager. It\u2019s just one example of how my work is different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Elevated with Light<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Wiegand\u2019s path to BU started in Des Moines, Iowa. She grew up a couple of miles from a large community theater in the state capital, where she started taking dance and mime classes at around age five. The dramatic arts were \u201cinfused in me since a very young age,\u201d she says. She also studied theater at school, then at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. After graduation, she tried her hand at just about every backstage job: electrician, stagehand, costume stitcher, lighting designer. The last one stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLighting is the glue for a production,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have beautiful set designs, costumes, amazing actors, but it doesn\u2019t exactly come to life until you add the light in. The light gives you the layers you need to tell a story: it helps you know who to focus on, where to focus on the stage; it helps you with emotional undertones and cues; it tells you about the time of day. Everything feels more elevated with light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the things that pulled Wiegand into CFA\u2019s lighting design program was the promise of accessibility. \u201cI felt like with other schools and programs, I needed to fight a little bit harder to gain the access that I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At BU, she studied with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/profile\/mark-stanley\/\">Mark Stanley<\/a>, an associate professor and resident lighting designer for New York City Ballet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe first thing I noticed about Annie\u2019s work was her sense of color: Her portfolio for MFA admission showed a heightened awareness of color and how to use it effectively in telling stories,\u201d says Stanley. \u201cHer designs have always built on that sensitivity. Annie is also very aware of the text in a play. She has a unique understanding of the perspective of the playwright and can zero in on the mood and dramatic intent that is behind the words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the pandemic, Wiegand was finally starting to get some industry recognition. After years of being offered fewer shows than her hearing peers, she was beginning to match them. She hopes that continues\u2014or perhaps even picks up a bit. And she\u2019d love to work on more musicals. \u201cBecause why not?\u201d she says. \u201cI can, it\u2019s totally possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And with more organizations getting serious about diversity, equity, and representation, more paths are emerging for other Deaf people looking to break into the theater business. There wasn\u2019t a precedent for Wiegand, but she\u2019s making sure there will be for those who follow her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBe stubborn. Be stubborn for what you\u2019re passionate about\u2014and what you want to do\u2014and find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>American Sign Language interpretation provided by Cara Schwartz with support from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/disability\/\">BU Disability &amp; Access Services<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And if lighting one show is hard work,&nbsp;Annie Wiegand&nbsp;once had to figure out a way to light two\u2014at the same time, on the same stage. In Playwrights Horizons\u2019 2018 Off Broadway&nbsp;production&nbsp;of&nbsp;I Was Most Alive With You, two casts\u2014one hearing, one Deaf\u2014performed the play simultaneously on a stage split into two levels. Wiegand\u2019s challenge was to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6245,"featured_media":91551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[191],"magazine-article-category":[372,378],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[381],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/91550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91550"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/91550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93067,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/91550\/revisions\/93067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=91550"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=91550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}