Justin Townsend Lights Acclaimed Jagged Little Pill with Elation Lighting posted: 30/07/2018
The Chorus of Jagged Little Pill.
Theatrical-grade Artiste Picasso moving head, ZW37 wash luminaire light record-breaking pre-Broadway run at American Repertory Theater
Lighting designer Justin Townsend is using Elation Professional lights more and more since his first experience with them on the Broadway musical A Night with Janis Joplin. The multi award-winning and Tony-nominated LD was recently one of the first designers to use the new Artiste Picasso LED moving head, employing them along with the company's ZW37 LED moving head on the record-breaking premiere of the musical Jagged Little Pill, featuring the music of Alanis Morissette.
Lauren Patten as Jo and the company of American Repertory Theaters Jagged Little Pill.
The world premiere of Jagged Little Pill ran for 79 sold-out performances - May 5th to July 15th - at American Repertory Theater's Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the longest run of any production at the theater. The show, which incorporates music from Morissette's 1995 Grammy Award-winning album such as Ironic and You Oughta Know, is an original story that deals with some of today's most significant issues like opiate addiction, gun control and gender identity.
Special show, special lighting
Directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus, the show received tremendous reviews throughout its run. LD Townsend calls it simply a very special show. It's really a very special piece, he says. It combines the explosive energy of a live concert with the deep profound story telling of great theatrical drama. There are some big issues that come out in the play, real moments about what's happening in the world today. Alanis Morissette's album is amazing in its own right and [Academy Award-winning screenwriter] Diablo Cody has created an amazing script with songs weaved in to the narrative. It stays very honest to Morissette's material.
The special show included some special lighting as well. The light of the production used bold, strong ideas working with the action of the play and the mood, Townsend explains. Playing a prominent role in the lighting rig were 42 LED source Elation ZW37 beam/wash moving head effects that the LD had lined in angled overhead trusses in the iconic shape of a roof. Working with set designer Riccardo Hernandez, we created a world of light- the iconic shape of a roof of a house became the unifying design idea and we hung three trusses full of wash lights to create an overhead structure. The units acted as both powerful lights to compose each scene, but also created a unique theatrical architecture- activating the scenic design idea. This ceiling of light flew in and out during the action, creating compressed spaces as well as completely flying out to the grid, creating a giant black void.
Elizabeth Stanley, Celia Gooding, and Sean Allan Krill as MJ, Frankie, and Steve Healy in Jagged Little Pill.
The designer complemented the look with Artiste Picassos, the first use of the new LED moving head in a theatrical environment. Townsend was elated to have had the opportunity to use them. When I found out I would be able to schedule them into the rig for this production, I was blown away, the designer stated. They were real workhorses on the show and did everything asked of them. In terms of punch, clarity, reliability, they were excellent. I could depend on them for the fine and specific lighting fitting of a Broadway musical.
Part of Elations award-winning, theatrical-grade Artiste series, the Artiste Picasso houses a 620W Cool White LED engine and advanced optical system for a powerful, crisp output and extremely uniform field of light. Townsend had nine Artiste Picasso units at his disposal and used them as top light for color shading and on occasion for texture onto the deck. He also used them as cross light, where the designer said the 23,000 lumen moving head had real punch.
They also have dependable, clean shutters, he said of the unit's 4-blade framing system with +/- 45-degree individual blade rotation. The speed is great too and they make little noise. In theatre, there are explosive moments but then the next moment can be tender and quiet. These fixtures work well in that environment with no fan noise.
Lauren Patten as Jo in Jagged Little Pill.
Townsend, who also uses Elation gear when he teaches lighting design at the Brooklyn College Department of Theater in New York, a city school that has the same strict requirements as Broadway level musicals, says both places need top notch gear that is dependable. Elation offers that, he says. The gear is solid and the quality is excellent. It should be used all over!
The Elation fixtures for Jagged Little Pill were supplied by lighting rental company Christie Lites with Townsend sending special kudos out to Christie account rep Chris McMeen, who provided him with fixture advice and support.
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
Justin Townsend Lights Acclaimed Jagged Little Pill with Elation Lighting posted: 30/07/2018 
