Behind the scenes lighting design
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This summary provides an overview of the key events and details from the multi-paragraph document: Greek life organizations at Ohio University held a food drive competition during homecoming week, collecting over 5,700 cans of food for the Athens County Food Pantry. Various fraternities and sororities donated cans from 11am to 3pm as part of their homecoming activities. The Student Alumni Board organized the drive with the goal of supporting the local food pantry. One freshman dropped off 15 cans to support the fraternity he is rushing. The food drive highlights how Greek life participates in philanthropic activities to help the local community.
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Behind the scenes lighting design
- 1. Zach Weeks seemed to be shout- ing to himself in the Forum Theater in the Radio-Television Building. Hold there. Lock it, he called out. With the house lights off in the the- Many students drive around campus with maybe a few text- books bouncing around in the back seat and a half-eaten sand- wich on the dashboard. On Tuesday, the sisters of Al- pha Omicron Pi drove over to Kon- neker Alumni Center with almost 1,000 cans filling the car, accord- ing to the Student Alumni Boards Vice President of Student Out- reach Allison Zullo. Pack the Pantry, run by the Stu- dent Alumni Board with partner- ship from Greek life, was held at the alumni center Tuesday, where members of Greek life donated 5,774 cans of food to the Athens County Food Pantry, according to Amanda Moline, a junior studying strategic communication and the vice president of philanthropy for the Student Alumni Board. Pack the Pantry is an annual food drive for all students to par- ticipate in during Homecoming Week, but this year was the first time a separate food drive was held for members of Greek life, said Katrina Heilmeier, the asso- ciate director of campus relations and the advisor for the Student Alumni Board. Greek life members could donate from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to participate in the competition. As part of the Greek organiza- tions Homecoming competition, Heilmeier said the different teams of fraternities and sororities each named after a young adult book series dropped off canned food. Tim Clark, a freshman studying sport management, dropped off 15 cans in the box representing Beta Theta Pi, the fraternity hes rush- ing. He said he knows a lot of other members were dropping off cans, too. Im happy to do it. Its for a great cause, Clark said. The Greek teams competed to bring in the most cans. The Stu- dent Alumni Board has a plaque University ups price to $50 for Halloween guests staying overnight in residence halls The best things in life may be free, but not when it comes to having a guest for Halloween in Athens. The cost to have a guest stay in a dorm room during Halloween week- end has increased from $35 last year to $50 this year, Pete Trentacoste, Ohio Universitys executive director of Housing and Residence Life, said in an email. The fee has not been increased since 2012 and expenses were ex- ceeding the revenues generated by Halloween Guest registration, Tren- tacoste said in an email. In 2012, OU raised the fee from $25 to $35, which was the 鍖rst time the university had increased the cost to stay on campus in four years, ac- cording to a previous Post report. The new 2015 rate is double what guests paid in 2011 for the Halloween weekend. The fee for having guests stay in the residence halls is used to fund Alcohol.edu for students and to off- set the cost of managing Halloween, Trentacoste said in an email. In past years, the university had extra staff members on duty for a majority of the weekend in the resi- dence halls watching doors to make sure no one snuck in, according to a previous Post report. Caleb Jacobs, a sophomore studying biological science, was in- spired to start a petition against the increased fee upon hearing about the $50 charge from his resident as- sistant. He said last years fee of $35 was pushing the limit. Any other time of the year they dont charge us to have guests in our room and we are already paying thousands of dollars to stay in the dorms, Jacobs said. Jacobs plans on having at least one friend come down for Hallow- een, but he doesnt know if they are going to be able to now because of the increased fee. They are driving already two hours to come down here to have a good time, not including paying for gas money, food and everything else, and they have to pay $50, Jacobs said. Its like a hotel or something. Trentacoste said in an email that the university only charges for guests who check in to the residence halls on Halloween weekend, which is normally about 80 percent of reg- istered guests. Jacobs said he is considering tak- ing his petition to Housing and Resi- dence Life and saying look, this is not fair and a lot of people agree. His petition, launched Monday night, had nearly 150 signatures as of press time. Dozens of letters sent each month to guardiansofstudentsarrestedinAthens By JULIA FAIR of The Post staff By MEGAN HENRY of The Post staff Some students weekly call to their parents or guardians can in- volve discussions about classes, significant others, internships and sometimes an explanation of why they were arrested. Each month, the Athens Police Department sends out about 30 letters home as part of its Let- ters Home program that informs parents or guardians of any ar- rests their student may hold. The program began in the early 1990s and continues today as a way to inform parents. It was presumed at the time that they were funding their chil- drens education, (and) they might be engaging in high-risk behavior that their parents might want to know about, Athens Po- lice Chief Tom Pyle said. When the program was initiated by a previous police chief, Pyle said most letters were sent out for al- cohol violations, but sometimes it would be due to a DUI or a serious assault arrest. Studentshangfromceilingstolight uptheaters,setambienceofshows By MERYL GOTTLIEB The Post culture editor Post photo by Patrick Connolly Haleah DeMio, a freshman studying theater, works on hanging and focusing lights for an upcoming production of The Penelopiad in the Forum Theater in the Radio-Television Building. The lighting grid is about 22 feet above the stage and houses more than 200 lights. (continued on page four, LETTERS) (continued on page four, MUSIC) (continued on page four, CANS) (continuedon page four,HALLOWEEN) OU Greek life collects 5,774 cans to bene鍖t Athens County Food Pantry for competition By MADELEINE PECK For The Post Make-shift studioslet localartists record tunesclose toAthens By ELIZABETH BACKO of The Post staff When Water Witches began re- cording its latest album, the band had to get a little crafty. We took big quilts and put them across little clothing racks and put that around the drum kit or around me with my guitar so we could block the sounds, Ethan Bartman, a gui- tarist in the band, said. Musicians in Athens have differ- ent resources available for creating an album or producing sounds, but its up to the musicians to decide how they want to achieve an end product. Water Witches decided to record its album outside of a studio to cut costs, but also because Bartman had some experience in audio engineer- ing, Charlie Touvell, the drummer, said. I think it 鍖t for the aesthetic we were going for, Touvell said. If we were going (for) a clean, studio pop aesthetic, I think it wouldnt have been as ideal. But we were going for something a little more organic something a little more in the dirt. The group went to 3 Elliott Stu- dio, the closest recording studio to Ohio Universitys campus, to mix its album following the recording. The studio began in 2000 in a garage but has since developed into a 鍖ve-room facility, Josh Antonuc- cio, an owner, said. The studio has remained busy for the past 15 years and has brought in students as well as local, regional and national mu- ater,hiscrewisalmostinvisible.Theyre also about 22 feet above him in the grid. Weeks is the lighting designer for the Division of Theaters second mainstage production, The Penelo- piad, and he and his staff of about a dozen had to focus more than 200 lights for the show. These lights are housed in the grid, which is directly above the audience. Lighting design is more than just illuminating the actors and the set, Jeremiah Stuart, a third-year gradu- ate student studying lighting, said. Its about the atmosphere and the ambience (of a show), Stu- art said. You have to light the air. Whenever you start thinking about it in those terms, theres a lot more to it. Our job is to shift the light and sculpt what the action is. To highlight the action of The Pe- nelopiad in the desired and planned way, the team spent nearly 24 hours focusing the lights during the past weekends lighting priority. We take about two minutes per light, and when we have over 200 lights, it slowly adds up over time, Weeks, a third-year graduate student studying lighting, said. The amount of time spent focus- ing the lights highlights how much time and effort goes into lighting de- sign as a whole. (People think lighting design- ers) just hang lights and theres not a whole lot of thought that goes into it, Weeks said. When in fact, we spend hundreds of hours thinking about where to put just one light some times. Ive been working on (The Penelopiads lighting) plot since May. Each lighting crew has a pro- grammer who works on a board that can remotely position lights, howev- er, most of the lighting instruments must be manually arranged. This is where the lighting grid comes into play. Located about 22 feet above the stage, the lighting grid is a chess- board of square frames covered by metal grates, which shift, clink and rattle as the crew walks overhead where the audience will soon sit. The lights hang below these grates, which have numbered columns and lettered rows. New students are typically timid about walking on the grid, so Stuart said he jumps on the grid to show its sturdiness. To focus a light, the grate must be removed and a worker essentially stretches down to position the light accordingly. You have to be really careful up there, but I get a little bit of a rush doing it, kinda hanging out of the grid, Kata- rina Radujkovic, a second-year gradu- ate student studying lighting, said. What we have to do is just lay on our stomachs and hang out down there. In trying to focus a larger unit that might not be easily reachable, Radujkovic said shes had to get cre- ative. Ive actually had someone hold my ankles and gone in, she said. The unstable surface, low ceil- ings, a sea of pipes and an I-beam that only leaves one-to-two feet of clearance make the grid an inher- ently dangerous environment, Jeff Russell, the director of the Science and Health in Artistic Performance program, said. Because the SHAPe Clinic most commonly sees patients with con- cussions, Russell said this year saw a mandate that people wear hard hats while in the working space, es- pecially if people are in the grid. Wed rather prevent an injury than treat it, he said. Being that the grid is entirely metal and the lights use a high volt- age, Russell said there is also a risk for electrocution. One of the biggest things that can help prevent injury is communica- tion, Stuart said. Thus, the crew of- ten shouts safety calls to make oth- ers aware of what someone is doing. Previously, the grid was not struc- tured to allow for the metal grates to be down at all times nor did it have more than one entry and exit point a ladder backstage. But about eight years ago, Lowell Jacobs, master electrician and master audio, said in an email that the school updated its safety procedure and welded the grid into its current square structure and installed a door on the 鍖rst 鍖oor of the Radio-Television Building. I feel that we are being proactive about creating our own policy, as opposed to waiting for policy to be mandated, Jacobs said in an email. The Division of Theater part- nered with the SHAPe Clinic to run training drills for removal of an indi- vidual from the grid in an emergency situation. If I hadnt had that training time, I dont know how I would react (in an emergency situation), Emily Griswold, a 鍖rst-year graduate stu- dent studying athletic training and the lead athletic trainer for theater in SHAPe, said. My very 鍖rst time up there, it was scary. You can see through the 鍖oor. Its intimidat- ing, but once I was up there, I be- came more comfortable. Despite the potential dangers, Weeks said the craft is irreplaceable. Light, to me, is I guess sort of life, he said. Without light there is no life, so you have to keep enough light to keep the action and it lively on stage as well as in real life. ohio university athens, ohio wednesday, oct. 7, 2015 vol. 106, no. 32 H O M E C O M I N G T H R O W B A C K W E E K | T H E F R O N T P A G E C I R C A 1 9 7 7