lead // Kevin Moyer

The Poe Down Throw Down

Lead Electrician/Technician

Produced & Created by Janet Hershey // Lighting by Janet Hershey // Photos by Kevin Moyer

The Show

The Poe Down Throw Down: The Story of the Telltale Heart was a rave based on The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. The show featured a set performed by Jake Delferro, with live projections and of course a mirror ball.

The Mission

The goal with this show was to make a swift transition using the same equipment from the previous show, with limited time and hands to do so.

The Execution

I divided the space into two regions each with their own universe, and networked each fixture to act as an output node to each region. The fixtures were pre-addressed on the ground to accelerate the process. By networking the initial fixtures, it was possible to ensure that console placement remained flexible as the space changed while other work was taking place.

The Results

Her Sister

Lead Electrician

Written by Kendra Phillips // Dir. by Jonathan Strayer // Scenic by Tom Ryan // Lighting by Adam Boyer // Costumes by Priscilla Kaufhold // Sound Design Tony Taylor // Photos by University Theatre

The Show

Her Sister by Kendra Phillips was premiered in 2022 by Millersville University of Pennsylvania as a part of their Conference on The Holocaust and Genocide. The show is a memory play told through the perspective of Margot Frank, traveling through the last few years in her life from her home in Amsterdam.

The Mission

Prepare for and execute lighting design with specialty practicals for a show in a small found-space blackbox theatre.

The Execution

My initial focus was on updating inventories and testing equipment during work calls leading up to the point at which we received the design. This included training technicians to perform testing and small repairs to fixtures, as well as working with one of the manufacturers to verify warranty and receive repair on one of our LED fixtures.

For execution of the plot, I broke the space into three separate bays defined by the rafters of the building. Each bay was given its own universe, and addresses were broken down within. Initially, control was based on running the first moving fixture in each bay on network, with each fixture acting as an output node to the remainder of the bay. The fixtures, however, had a firmware issue that resulted in flickering on the output, so a dedicated control line was run from the console to each bay.

This show featured a mix of real and fake candles. The fake candle had a Multiverse receiver fitted to allow the lighting designer to control the intensity of the flame, with specialty high capacity 9 volt batteries specced to ensure that the candle would last for the duration of the show under the high current draw of the receiver.

The Results