Kabuki Uses Nexeras to Delight Colorado Audiences

The recent production of "Peeru Gunto" at the University of Colorado-Boulder displayed a magical array of Kabuki-style surprises, beautifully lit with Wybron Nexera lighting.

Much to the delight of audiences, the Ibsen adaptation featured colorful costumes, Japanese instruments, singing, dancing, puppets, and more.

"Peeru Gunto" is a variation of "Peer Gynt," a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the play Ibsen explores an important question: What does it mean to find oneself?

While Ibsen's original 1867 version is steeped in Norwegian folklore, Peeru Gunto is based on Japanese themes, giving the strange journey an alluring quality.

The play was adapted and directed by Dr. Cecilia J. Pang, known for the critically acclaimed "Alice in Wonderland – Or Not!" Pang, who studied the Kabuki style of theatre in Japan, introduces cultural themes in the form of vibrant costumes and colorful scenery representing locales ranging from Japan to the American "Wild West."

The superhuman-sized, spectacularly lavish style of Japanese Kabuki theatre required imaginative stage lighting. Robert J. Shannon, Senior Instructor and Lighting Supervisor at CU's Department of Theatre and Dance, explains his choice of Wybron Nexeras to compliment the rich hues of the costumes and the variety of scenery.

"I decided to light the show in the manner of a dance production, except that I did not have good positions available for low-angle sidelight. But I gave myself total control of my top, highside, and front washes, using a channel-per-light hookup."

"The final piece of the puzzle, however, was the Nexera washlights. I instantly had bright, soft edged, re-focusable, color-changing units, which gave me exactly the flexibility I needed for this 36-scene, two-act production."

"About three weeks before the show opened, the number of painted drops in the show was going down from seven to three. I was asked to do something with our light gray leno filled scrim to make the missing drops not so missed."

"The answer for me was to mount three Nexera profile lamps in the only position available that would not cast the actor's shadows onto the scrim, load them with a template, and "paint" the scrim."

"The beautiful rich color provided by the Nexeras enabled me to give each of those scenes with the missing drops a unique look. It frankly just would not have happened if I had not had those units."

"In the end, my choices and the Nexeras' superior brightness and rich colors pulled it all off for us. Ms. Pang's comment to me on the second week of the run summed it up; she called the lighting in many of the scenes "exquisite," and I agreed."

Photos by Steven McDonald