It’s opening night, and after weeks of tech rehearsals and endless run-throughs, lighting designer Fiona Farris awaits the audience’s reactions. “When we finally get it right,” she shares, “you see everyone be like ‘whoah!’ Those moments are pretty cool.”
For Farris, an alumna of the University of California, Irvine and New Swan, now a working professional in Southern California theater, these moments guided her journey to shape live theatre through light.
Farris discovered her love for theatre technology during her time at UCI. “When I first started school, I wanted to do musical theater. New Swan was my first experience with lights.”
She learned a lot participating in UC Irvine’s independent student productions. “It was a lot of trial and error, because we were all trying to figure out, how do we actually put on a production?”
It was New Swan, however, that shaped her endurance and helped build the attention to detail necessary to excel in professional theatre. She began with New Swan as a costume intern and then worked as a lighting technician. “It was my first time working on a long-running show,” she said. “It's a different muscle.”
She highlighted her flexibility in the professional world of theatre, noting that “my work is a tool for directors to be able to help tell their story.” She explained further, “I wouldn’t describe myself as an artist. If I do my job right, then the audience really shouldn’t notice.”
Looking back, she offered a bit of advice to her younger self. “Just trust your gut more. Trusting myself has always made me happier, so I now just tell myself to do that more. And to take advantage of my meal plan!”
“It's good to have a life outside theater,” she commented. “I think it makes doing theater better… when you're less in it, you can appreciate it more and step back and look at things with fresh eyes.”
As Farris continues her work in theatre here in Southern California, her path reflects the path so many artists take after college. From working at New Swan to now professionally telling stories through tech, she discovered that theatre is most meaningful when audiences and artists connect. After months of collaboration, the story is brought to life--and into the light.
--Article by Melissa Telliano, English major and New Swan intern