Ridgewood native brings art of lighting to Paper Mill show
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014
BY VIRGINIA ROHAN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Jen Schriever has a lot to keep track of with one set of eyes.
On Wednesday, hours before the latest opening night at Paper Mill Playhouse, Schriever — the Ridgewood-bred lighting designer for the musical “The Other Josh Cohen” — is simultaneously watching the actors onstage and the side-by-side computer monitors to her left. Seated at a long black table, midway back in the theater, she occasionally also glances down at her heavily notated script on the table in front of her. All this while quietly communicating with the show’s stage manager, lighting team and spot operators via a wireless intercom and a headset.
“It’s artistic. It’s technical,” Schriever says of the lighting designer’s job. “I think lighting completely supports the story in a way no other element can. … What I like to do has an emotional arc. … I think lighting really shapes the show in a way I think most people don’t recognize — which is good.”
The purpose of this “tech rehearsal” is to iron out the director’s last-minute tweaks of specific parts of scenes and songs.
“Our first run-through was last night, so we’re just reacting to a lot,” Schriever explains. “It’s like sifting everything and then it falls into place. It seems like chaos in the beginning. And then it all comes together.”
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