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L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
November 19 - December 7, 2016
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What is your role here at Lyric, and
how long have you held the position?
I’m the lighting director, and I have
held the position for three years.
I’m responsible for the lighting,
projection, and special effect needs
for the shows on Lyric’s stage. I
personally act as lighting designer
for a handful of shows each year,
but most productions have outside
lighting designers come in, and it’s
my job to coordinate and provide
them with everything we can to bring
their artistic vision to life.
What led you to work at Lyric?
I was serving as lighting director at
San Francisco Opera, but my wife
and I are both from the Midwest.
When she landed a job here at Lyric, we moved to Chicago and after a
year, this position opened up and it seemed like it would be a great fit.
What’s a typical day like for you?
During the summer season, we do what’s called “summer tech”; each
show gets three 8-hour days where we write and test lighting and
scenery cues. Once the season opens, we arrive in the morning, take
down the show that was up the night before, and prepare scenery and
lighting for the show being presented that night. By the afternoon, we
start working with the lights and projection and checking to make sure
they are correct for that evening’s performance.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
I try to make the visiting lighting designers feel like we are working on
their show alone, even though we might be working on many different
shows at once. It’s my responsibility to ensure they can do their job
as designers without worrying about anything else; their creative
process should be uninhibited by reality. But I also have to manage the
realities of the stage (financial concerns, scheduling conflicts, etc.). That
balancing act can be very challenging at times.
What keeps you committed to the
work you do?
I’m a perfectionist, which means I
like when everything runs smoothly.
One of the most important aspects
of my job is anticipating a problem
before it happens. So what keeps me
committed is the challenge of trying
to figure out what could possibly go
wrong, and fixing it before it does!
What’s something about your job that
people might not know?
When you watch an opera or a
play, people might not realize all
the lighting that’s involved. The
best lighting is lighting that no one
notices. It should support the story
while not getting in the way. The
typical opera lighting design has between 400-500 individually focused
lights. Yet the best lighting design is when you can’t tell the lights are
changing because you’re too engrossed in the story.
A favorite Lyric moment?
The scene change between Act Two and Act Three of
The Merry
Widow
last season. It opened up to Maxim’s lounge, which was a very
complicated thing to pull off. My team worked on it until a few hours
before opening night. The sequence was only about a minute long,
but it had over 20 light cues alone. There was a lot going on behind
the scenes to get it right, but in the end, the final look made all the
hard work worth it.
Beyond opera, what are your other passions?
I like to travel and I enjoy going sailing. Chicago Cubs fans may not
like to hear this, but I was born and raised in St. Louis, so I’m a die-
hard Cardinals fan!
—
Kamaria Morris
Lyric Public Relations Specialist
BACKSTAGE LIFE: Up close and personal at Lyric
Chris Maravich