Marriott Theatre, Linconshire IL | April 2018
Projection Design
Direction Aaron Theilen
Lighting Kevin Depinet
Scenic Scott Davis
One of the finest examples of American Musical Theatre, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, OKLAHOMA!, returned to the Marriott Theatre in a special 75th Anniversary Production. This production had more than a dozen projectors creating an unbroken 360 degree screen on old grain sacks to create a really beautiful environment inside this arena theatre.
“The designers Kevin Depinet and Anthony Churchill have come up with a circular projection at the rear of this theater in the round, here used to create a sense of endless flat land, of flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom, of the possibilities of pasture. It's not cutting-edge technology — it reminded me of the old display in the visitor's center in Gettysburg, Pa. — but it's done well, and it has not been done here often.
The ribbon became visible as the orchestra struck up a new set of orchestrations with more of a country flavor — heavier on the acoustic guitar and fiddles — and it connected one slice of statehood prairie in one time to another on the brink of becoming a territory. All around me, arms snaked around the backs of partners.”
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
photos by Anthony Churchill
