On With the Show

Liomar Mercedes-Sosa

SET DESIGNER

 

 

Tell us a little about yourself and your role in local theater. How did you get started?
As an alumnus, I worked with the Center for Creative Arts to design and support the students in building theater and musical sets. We worked on carpentry and painting skills. Outside the classroom, I’ve worked on costumes and set building with the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Recently, I’ve enjoyed partnering on projects with Barking Legs Theater on their garden space, and “Thoughts of a Colored Man” was my most recent set.

 

What draws you to this aspect of production, and what do you enjoy most about what you do?
I love making ideas something you can touch. The feeling of seeing progress happen visually is really satisfying.

 

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work?
I’m really interested in multiple art forms, so I like to experiment with how I approach different parts of the production process. Initial ideas and thumbnails are really influenced by the animations I watch and the sketch artists I follow on social media.

 

Do you have a favorite show you’ve worked on – or one that’s still on your theater bucket list?
I got to help put up the “Hamilton” set when it came through. I loved seeing how everything went together and the way the pros approached the challenges.

 

How would you describe the local theater scene in Chattanooga?
It’s been steady for a long time, but I’m excited for the growth I’ve seen recently. A lot of people are telling great stories, and the community keeps showing out to support.

 

What’s one piece of advice you would give someone interested in getting involved in community theater, whether onstage or behind the scenes?
Take pictures of literally anything you work on with your hands, and try explaining the process. This is how your portfolio gets built. Understanding how you do what you do is the main thing I focused on.

 

HEATH AUSTIN

SOUND & LIGHTING DESIGNER

 

 

Tell us a little about yourself and your role in local theater. How did you get started?
I was born and raised in Chattanooga and grew up in a family of professional theater artists. My mom is a musician and director, and my dad is a performer and technician. I was surrounded by theater and the performing arts literally from birth. I’ve performed in many roles, which I think has made me a better designer. My first was “The Music Man” in kindergarten. I had one line: “Good morning, Mayor Shinn!” My dad was involved with a lot of local productions, especially schools, which gave me the opportunity to start designing as a teenager. Because I’m a native Chattanoogan, I’m really passionate about educational theater and the local arts community.

 

What’s one thing audiences probably don’t realize about your role?
Many people don’t realize how much work goes into technical design. I’ve worked on shows with hundreds of lighting fixtures, and for every cue, I have to tell each of those fixtures what I want them to do, when to do it, and how to do it. I’d encourage any audience member to try to notice how many lighting shifts there are just in a single scene or song. It takes hours to build these cues, sort of like a painting. It’s not uncommon to only have a couple of days to do this, so it’s a very intense process.

 

Is there a particular production that you’re especially proud of?
I designed for a production of “Our Town” recently, and it was a sound playground! Thornton Wilder’s script has clear guidelines for what was needed, and I wanted to make it feel very immersive. I ended up using surround sound so I could place different sound effects in areas of the room. Children were laughing and playing behind the audience, while chickens were heard to the right, and the church bells were ringing as the train passed from left to right. It was a technical challenge but really painted the picture of a small town that wasn’t visually present at all. It brought attention and beauty to the small things we never really notice, which is what the play is about.

 

Is there anything you’d like to add?
Even if you don’t consider yourself a theater artist, you’re still important to the tapestry of performing arts. Theater is nothing without its audience. Buy tickets and support the arts! Go see your local middle school production of “Seussical Jr.!” You’ll be better for it.

 

DENISE DYE

COSTUME DESIGNER

 

 

Tell us a little about yourself and your role in local theater. How did you get started?
I’ve always loved crafting and creating things – I’m a Martha Stewart wannabe at heart. My husband, Dale, directed plays when he was younger, and then our daughter, Suzi, got involved in musical theater in high school. Before long, theater became a family affair. Dale directs and helps with set design, Suzi choreographs and does the lighting design, and I take care of the costumes.

 

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work?
Inspiration comes from everywhere – the script, other productions, our production team, and even our existing costume inventory. A big part of the creative process is asking, “How can we use what we already have to bring the team’s vision to life?” Finding creative, budget-friendly solutions is one of my favorite challenges. I can look at a single piece of fabric and see a cloak for Fairy Godmother, a pirate shirt for Blackbeard, or even an earthworm costume – all you need is love, luck, and a hot glue gun!

 

Can you share a memorable obstacle you had to overcome and how it all came together?
About five minutes before the curtain went up for “The Music Man Jr.,” two actresses had zipper failures. There wasn’t time for temporary fixes because both costumes were part of quick changes later in the show. Another seamstress and I immediately removed and replaced both zippers, finished just in time, and the audience never knew there had been a crisis backstage.

 

Do you have a favorite show you’ve worked on – or one that’s still on your theater bucket list?
“How to Train Your Dragon Jr.” wasn’t even an option until it was released this past May! Christian Family Theater is producing it this fall at The Colonnade, and I couldn’t be more excited. Creating the dragons, designing the Viking costumes, and bringing that whole imaginative world to life is going to be an incredible creative challenge. I’ve actually been preparing for months already – collecting faux fur, leather, and other materials whenever I come across them. I can’t wait to see it all come together on stage.

 

LINDSAY FUSSELL

CHOREOGRAPHER

 

 

Tell us a little about yourself and your role in local theater. How did you get started?
I started choreographing shows as a child – props to my grandmother for providing her basement as my theater! I’d outfit myself and friends in my mother’s and aunts’ old prom dresses, charging my family a quarter to “get in” to our shows.

I’ve studied dance since early childhood and first appeared in a musical at Chattanooga Theatre Centre (CTC) while in high school. After some years of appearing in many of my favorite musicals/plays there and getting cast in some dream roles, my mentor, the late great Nancy Lane Wright, recommended me as a choreographer to the board of what was then known as the Chattanooga Little Theatre. Having choreographed 150+ musicals at CTC, I continue to be associated with this highly successful community theater, both as a choreographer as well as a long-time dance
instructor (theater dance and tap).

 

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work?
Inspiration can come from a variety of sources, primarily from the visions the choreography gods send my way as I listen to a piece of music. It can also come from a Broadway musical that I loved; from my students or cast
members of a musical I might be working on; or even from one of the dancers making a “mistake” or improvising, which might inspire a different take on that particular section of a piece.

 

How do you collaborate with the rest of the production team to help bring a director’s vision to life?
We generally have weekly production meetings with the whole creative team where we share concepts, scenic design, prop requirements, costume needs, lighting, and other aspects involved in mounting a show.

 

Is there a particular production or moment in a show that you’re especially proud of?
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention CTC’s recent production of “Frozen the Musical.” I loved choreographing this show with its great variety of music and dance styles brought to life by an uber talented cast and creative team, led by director Josh Ruben! The wacky, slapstick number, “Hygge,” stands out as one of the more fun, comical dances that I’ve done.

 

GARY LEE POSEY

DIRECTOR

 

 

Tell us a little about yourself and your role in local theater. How did you get started?
For the last 20 years I have been the artistic and executive director for the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga (ETC), an organization I started back in the summer of 2007.

In the last 20 years, ETC has produced more than 120 productions, created five black box theaters across the city, employed close to 1,000 local artists, changed the conversation on artist compensation in the theater, paved the way for a number of similar organizations to be created, and contributed to the cultural landscape through partnerships and unique programming.

My first venture into the local theater community, however, was after seeing a production of “Dracula,” featuring Scott Fillers at the Chattanooga Little Theatre. Audience members had been invited to go onstage and chat with an employee about how they could get involved. I met Rodney Van Valkenburg (who would later become both an incredible friend and a mentor) that day, and he gave me a tour and talked about the different ways to volunteer.

 

What draws you to this aspect of production?
I enjoy helping artists find the different ways they possess to help better tell a story. I enjoy taking what some might consider really good and turning it into something even better. I enjoy sitting on the sidelines and watching the actors and audience make discoveries about the story, themselves, and their world.

 

What’s one thing audiences probably don’t realize about your role?
The amount of energy and time spent developing the story through visual representations. I like to ask, “If we turned the volume off and just watched the show with no sound, how much of it would we understand?” That is why so much effort is given to the organization of individuals onstage as well as the furniture and the set. Directors manipulate focus AND emotion.

 

Is there a particular production or moment in a show that you’re especially proud of?
In the production I just directed of “Oliver” up at the Signal Mountain Playhouse, the final moment of the show as written is the somewhat villain Fagin singing a reprise of a song where he is considering whether or not people change. Oliver has been rescued and reunited with his family, and the stage is cleared except for Fagin and a result of his treachery. Oliver runs onstage in the final bars of the music, gives Fagin a reassuring hug, and then exits with his new family. The simple gesture of apology, affection, and gratitude really sums up my vision for the story and turns something dark and sinister into something celebratory.