Cupid and Psyche was produced by The Themantics Group at Altered Stages/29th Street Rep in the Spring of 2006. It has been nominated by the Innovative Theatre Awards for both Outstanding Scenic Design and Outstanding Lighting Design. NY Theatre.com said "One cannot even begin to discuss The Themantics Group’s latest production, Cupid and Psyche, without first mentioning the glorious technical team. Michael Moore’s set is a delightful symphony of white, with a large gold frame at the back of the stage. The mortal world is confined by the frame, while the immortal world has all the space and unconstricted movement of center and downstage. Erin Elizabeth Murphy’s bright and colorful costumes offset the white netherworld of the gods, and the subtly powerful lighting design (especially the soft candle lights that hang from the ceiling, almost like stars) by Lucas Benjamin Krech really bring this mythological world to life. It is an impressive and astonishing achievement." The play presented a number of lighting challenges, not the least of which was the vast number of locations we had to address in a single unit set. Delineation of location was placed on the lighting, and Michael's fantastic white set provided an excellent canvass upon which to paint these locations. The character of Cupid is one of a brooding youth. Until Psyche falls in love with him at the end of the play he is tortured and angst ridden. When not in teh Palace, he resides on his cloud, a cold and sad place that was lit with rows of fluorescent tubes hidden underneath the fabric walls. The palace where Cupid takes Psyche to woo her was lit with 23 bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The bulbs were all tear shaped and of various sizes. Aside from giving a wonderful soft glow in the space, the bulbs reflected eachother and gave the impression of an infinite star field reflecting itself. The human world was confined to a narrow slot upstage of a large gilt picture frame. They were lit in a very flat plain way, that contrasted quite nicely with the much more dynamic looks of the rest of the play. Hell was dimly lit with footlights providing shadows and repeating on the wall the fight on stage. In addition to differing locations we wanted to address the power of the gods in the lighting. With Aphrodite and Apollo we literalized thier conflicting powers in the lighting. Two lightboxes, one a sickly yellow and one "porn star pink" hung on either side of the stage. These provided much of the illumination in the scenes between the two warring gods. In order to achieve a clear delineation of location it was necessary to create a visual language that told as diverse a story as possible. Every look had to transform in terms of color direction and quality of light. The opposing forces of Aphrodite and Apollo were very chromatic, but the rest of the lighting was variations on white light. Still within this we found great diversity as we transitioned from the cold and lifeless fluorescent clouds to the warm glow of the palace. Working with Michael's set was a lot of fun as it gave the full effect of these lighting transitions and truly allowed us to address the multiplicity of location with the lighting. Images Courtesy Michael Moore and Erin Murphy