If you can’t change the paint, change the light. Booth Playhouse is one of Charlotte’s key theatres but its classic décor doesn’t satisfy everyone. Elizabeth from Charlotte Arrangements asked me to make the space warm. The event was with One Charlotte, an all glass sky scraper soon to start construction. One Charlotte’s architecture is ultra modern, so the Aqua 70’s style design didn’t flow well with the renderings of the future building.

What are warm colors? Any color scheme reminiscent of fire is considered warm: reds, oranges, and yellows. So I lined the 8’ walls with 46 Colorcast 14’s sweeping the color from a reddish orange to a yellowish orange creating a sunset effect. For the 20’ ceiling in the foyer, 8 Opti RGB fixtures stretched across the two story wall. The result was astounding. The space felt like a sunset at the beach. The unavoidable aqua took on the fiery colors of light. A hip oceanic sunset consumed the space.

Due to the importance of the event, the client wanted only necessary cabling aka she only wanted to see the light. The space needed to be as clean as possible. We eliminated most of the DMX cabling by using 3 DMX recorders for each area. The only space we couldn’t hide the power cables was at the 20’ entrance. Without tables, chairs, or coves; the cabling was completely exposed. So we cut some black fabric and covered the unsightly cabling with bunched up cloth. When we place the fabric flat, the junk underneath is too obvious. However, a little bundling covers a multitude of cables.

Finally we ordered a custom steel gobo from Rosco for a 26º Source 4 Leko. Cutting through the fire/sunset effect, the gobo both completed the image and also gave the design intent.