Going Behind the Scenes with Legacy of Light at McCarter Theatre

Making promotional videos for McCarter Theatre always makes my work interesting, because I enjoy peeking under the hood, so to speak. Some of the videos I make for McCarter get to showcase the talented staff who work behind the scenes to make the theatre productions come to life.

For McCarter’s most recent play, Legacy of Light, I worked with the theatre’s marketing team to film a conversation between playwright Karen Zacarías and Director Sarah Rasmussen, along with several videos featuring those who create the costumes, design scenes and props, and ensure the lighting enhances the actors’ emotion on stage.

Legacy of Light asks the question, “What is the science of love?” The play responds to that question by weaving the stories of a modern-day, Princeton astrophysicist with that of Émilie du Châtelet, an 18th century French physicist whose ideas inspired Voltaire and Einstein.

In the first video, Rasmussen and Zacarías introduce us to some of the ideas in the show and discuss the intersection between art and science. In the second video, they dive deeper into their thoughts about women and their role in science, a topic that is a central theme of the production.

In another video, we meet Draper Sarah Romagnoli and Taylor Renèe Berthelette who got to immerse themselves in 18th Century French costumes, an uncommon time period of clothing to see on stage. The Costume Shop’s work is vital to creating an authentic representation of what people wore in a bygone era.

In another video, we hear from Props Supervisor, Michele Sammarco, and Charge Scene Artist, Sue DeConcini, who discuss how their two departments collaborated to envision and design the unique tree that is an important focal point for the characters. They explain in the video how the vision of the tree moved from sketches to 3D-printed prototypes to a fully realized, life-sized tree “growing” on stage.

A new experience for me while filming these videos was flying my drone inside the theatre. It can be quite challenging to fly a drone indoors due to things like walls and props. I used the drone to capture staff from the Prop Shop testing the installation of the tree’s branches. See for yourself, but I think working through the challenges was worth it to get behind-the-scenes footage showcasing a perspective most audience members might never see.

And in a play called Legacy of Light, the light itself becomes a character. Lighting is often something an audience member might take for granted as just part of the show. Lighting Co-Designers Jane Cox and Tess James, who collaborate often, explain in the video how a production’s lighting helps the audience make connections between the physical world and the emotional world of the characters on stage. As a videographer, I appreciate the work that goes into lighting a stage, because light is so critical to producing good video.

As you’ll see in the testimonial video at the top of the page, the audience really connected with Legacy of Light, finding different aspects of the show relatable and heartening.

Thanks to Austin Stracke, McCarter’s new Marketing Creative Director, who designed the graphics that you’ll see at the beginning and the end of the videos.

Legacy of Light runs through April 6 at McCarter.

Many thanks to Joe Ronca for filming the dress rehearsal with me.