Donor Insider Technical Interview

We sat down with Assistant Technical Director Scott Wolfson and Technical Coordinator Stephen Snyder to find out how your contributions have made a world of difference backstage and what we can expect in our upcoming season. 

Donor Serenade: What are your responsibilities at Lyric? 

Scott Wolfson: We are the primary project managers for scenery. We also coordinate with other departments to execute events, concerts, and any other projects that utilize the stage and rehearsal spaces at Lyric. 

Stephen Snyder: We also travel to offsite venues when Lyric performs in communities around Chicago. 

DS: How does the technology you use allow you to enhance the audience’s experiences during an opera? 

SS: It enables us to present truly cutting-edge productions. The turntable we purchased using funds from Breaking New Ground (BNG) allows us to carefully program rotating scenic elements, which is not only safer for the performers and stage crew, but is able to be duplicated night after night. We are also able to link our new projection software with the automation system that controls the turntable to make sure our projections track exactly in time with scenery, as was evident in our productions of Les Troyens and The Magic Flute last season. This creates a seamless visual experience that perfectly accompanies the music. 

SW: Our new modular high-speed stage lifts currently being utilized for the new Ring cycle have enabled us to place a lift anywhere on the stage floor, allowing flexible staging per the needs of the production. We are then able to combine axes of movement with our point hoist motors to create complex choreographed scenic moves. 

DS: What new technology will you be incorporating into the productions next season? 

SW: Next year, the sheer amount of scenery onstage across all productions requires us to use each and every one of our new technologies to allow us to efficiently move from one production to the next. Not only will the motors and lifts be featured in the productions, they will make switching between shows faster, safer, and more cost-effective. 

SS: New productions always push us to our limits. Die Walküre of course will once again use our stage lifts as part of the visual language of the production. Faust will be further realizing the capabilities of our new projection system. 

DS: What exclusive production secrets can you share with our donors about next season? 

SW: There will be many exciting moments using our new technology this year. Wotan’s spear will fly through the air using a new high-speed point hoist in Act II of Die Walküre when he destroys Siegmund’s sword. We will be using two of our new spot motors at the end of Act I to almost unnoticeably move a patch of grass from upstage to downstage during the scene where Siegmund and Sieglinde realize they are siblings; they close the act by making love on the grass which seems to have suddenly appeared. Our old motors were incapable of moving this slowly and would not have had the same seamless impact. 

SS: Many of the effects are purposefully subtle; that’s the magic of theater! As in Les Troyens, our new projection system will coordinate directly with the motors in Faust. Several times in the production when scenery is lowered from above, it will be lit with projection exactly as it is descending into view. Previously to achieve this effect, we would have had to wait for the scenic elements to stop moving before projecting onto them. The new, synced technology allows us to create a beautiful sequence that doesn’t interrupt the drama. 

DS: What do you think sets Lyric’s productions apart from other opera houses? 

SW: A commitment to excellence. Whether it’s restoring classic productions to their original splendor, or realizing a director’s new vision, we hold a high standard to our artistic product. 

SS: I enjoy the daily challenge to exceed expectations and create the most beautiful product possible. Unique to Lyric is the constraints of our physical space which requires us to be incredibly innovative in using our large fly space to the utmost advantage by maximizing our vertical capacity. 

DS: What item can you not live without? What do you wish you had more of? 

SS: To go along with our two 32’ personnel lifts, we recently invested in a more compact scissor lift. The reduced size allows greater versatility, reaching all corners of the opera house, and it is used extensively in the rehearsal rooms and lobby. Onstage, it is incredibly useful in navigating around scenic units. It makes day-to-day operations so much easier! 

SW: I wish we had more real estate. We are using every nook and cranny of the spaces we own in the opera house, which in addition to the theater and backstage areas includes office spaces on the 4th, 7th and 8th floors. We also own a plot of land on the south side of the city where we have a warehouse full of scenic items and costume pieces. Accessing these items is logistically challenging and costly. If we were able to store more of these items on site, we would able to pull from stock inventory with greater ease.