Equipment and Facilities
Equipment and Facilities
Special Effects for the Prairie: Snow, Video and Fire
Cheryl Avenel-Navara: education, Worthington Public Arts Commission chair, SW MN Opportunity council; Judy Beckman: vocal music, Big Stone Arts Council, Big Stone County Historical Society, Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce CEO; Maggie Fuller: visual art, writing; Anna Johannsen: fiber artist, art teacher, Remick Gallery board, president of Windom Women's Investment group, treasurer of Cottonwood County Animal Rescue, officer of Cotton Quilters; David KelseyBassett: visual artist, musician, Hinterland Art Crawl board; Shawn Kinsinger: theater director, actor, musician, Palace Theatre executive director, Green Earth Players vice president, Luverne Street Music board member, Luverne High School Theater artistic director; Erin Kline, visual art, music, writing, education, SMSU Diversity and Inclusion; Darlene Kotelnicki: theater, city council, library board; Kylie Rieke: ceramics, murals, music, theater, T-Bird Community Arts Board; Kristine Shelstad: visual arts, Madison Mercantile art gallery, Madison Arts Council, Lac qui Parle Players; VFW; Gillian Singler, MN West Community and Technical College chair of Humanities and English instructor, Creative Healing Space volunteer, writer, theater director; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Pipestone Performing Arts Center board, Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB director; Jessica Welu: writing, music, SW Regional Development Commission; Mark Wilmes: Tyler Arts Council board president, actor/director, musician, reporter;
Cheryl Avenel-Navara, arts admin, SMAC board; Anna Johannsen, visual art, education, SMAC board; Tammy Makram, theatre, arts admin; Paula Nemes, theatre, music; Eric Parrish, music, theatre, education; Sheila Tabaka, theatre, education.
ACHF Arts Access
We are hoping for at least half of the scenes in our production to be improved by use of new equipment to create special effects, along with successful, safe, and smooth operation of the equipment during shows. A snow machine will carry the audience into the drama of four new winter scenes. A video projector will be used for rear screen slides and video that recap previous scenes or lead into the next for artistic transitions and safety. Recorded video will accent a near drowning in the creek, a train leaving the station, hordes of grasshoppers, and prairie fires. A non-flammable high output fogger will augment the fire scenes or show smoke coming from chimneys. All of these tools should push the design and production team to envision more ways to enhance the production. We will log activity during the season; gather anecdotal responses from the director, lighting and effects technician, cast, and crew; and gauge audience reaction via Survey Monkey responses. Successful results would include cast, crew, and audiences saying the added effects were an enhancement of the scenes rather than a distraction; performance uses of equipment being superior to rehearsal use in terms of timing, visibility to the audience, and authenticity of the effects; and a return of attendance numbers to the 4,500-5,000 range.
The new equipment gave us opportunities to add some creative effects to our shows. Though there were many challenges in setup, all crew and cast were excited to add these elements. As an example, our rear-screen projector displayed a crisp image and was u
Other,local or private