Undergraduate student wins best humanities poster
Audrey Visscher, a senior film and theatre double major, led the design of the “Silent Sky’s” lighting at URI and won an award for her work. PHOTO CREDIT: Nick Pierson
University of Rhode Island senior film and theatre double major Audrey Visscher won first place in the social sciences, arts and humanities poster board award at the Undergraduate Research Showcase about her lighting design work on “Silent Sky.”
The Research Showcase, held on Nov. 2, was a showcase of student research done at the University throughout the past year.
After the theatre department was unable to showcase the productions in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Visscher said she was given an opportunity to be the assistant director and lighting designer of “Silent Sky” production in late September 2021.
The play tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt, an astronomer at Harvard University in 1900 who worked with Dr. Edward Pickering mapping the stars, yet never received credit for her work.
After the show was finished, Rachel Walshe, Visscher’s advisor and an assistant professor of acting and playwriting in the theatre department, asked if she would be interested in presenting her work in the Undergraduate Research Showcase.
“I did have a poster and that basically had a lot of my research, pulled quotes from the text and a lot of diagrams because a lot of my work happened to be drafting and physically working with lights,” Visscher said.
Assistant professor of lighting and design James Horban served as another mentor to Visscher. He was impressed by her work within the show, which took 60 to 80 hours per week while the show was in production.
“What I found really inspiring about Audrey’s work is that it was her first lighting design, and she just threw herself into it, no fear,” Horban said.
He hoped for Visscher’s presentation to showcase the hard work that goes into lighting design and all of the work that went into “Silent Sky,” and felt that Visscher truly understood her vision for the play.
“She kind of had a strong foundation of knowing what her milestones were leading up to opening night and that freed her to be more creative with her thinking and with the actual queuing process because lighting is very much, you can kind of match it to the concept of painting a picture,” Horban said.
Visscher completed her undergraduate research project over a week and a half with a variety of historical research about early 1900s lamps and her personal lighting experience on “Silent Sky” to help viewers understand her design project.
“I think most people who came over had at least one question,” Visscher said
Visscher found that the most difficult part of the lighting design for Silent Sky was creating a custom star drop with approximately 200 LED lights that required cables all around the theatre.
“I’ve also heard from some of my friends who were in the show, but also watched the show, that they also really enjoyed it.” Visscher said. “I have a whole bunch of stars that I hung throughout the theatre that when they came on, I was told that some people shed a few tears just for the certain specific stars that came on.”
Horban noted that Visscher’s design work required a fair amount of electrical and data distribution engineering that can be used in future productions in the URI theatre department.
“With her stars, for example, we were seeking a higher and technical solution with the individual LEDs for each star, because the control systems necessary for that effect to happen within her design,” Horban said. “Those control systems can be used for multiple things within other shows.”
Visscher said she hopes that through the showcase, there will be more recognition given not only to the lighting for “Silent Sky,” but also to all of the other work done to make other theatre productions happen at the University.
“I guess I’m hoping for the recognition but there’s so much that goes into it and so much passion in everyone that designs and participates in theatre,” Visscher said
Following her work on Silent Sky and winning the Best Humanities poster at the Showcase, Visscher has been working on the props and sets of the next URI’s stage production of Clue; She was asked to be the Student Lighting Advisor at URI.