College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Enlightening

For two nights in January, Jim Trenberth's work was on display at the Des Moines Civic Center.
Designing lighting for stage productions is nothing new for Jim Trenberth, assistant professor of theatre and the resident lighting designer and production manager for ISU Theatre.

After all, he has worked on numerous theatrical productions on campus. In the summer he has been a part of the companies at Shakespeare Festivals in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

And on one occasion at Iowa State, he designed the lighting for an opera, a campus production of "The Marriage of Figero."

But in mid-January Trenberth had the opportunity to work with the Des Moines Metro Opera, serving as the lighting designer for the opera company's production of "La Boheme." The classic opera was performed Jan. 12-13 at the Des Moines Civic Center. It was the first time the Des Moines Metro Opera has performed in that facility in three years.

"It was a wonderful opportunity to work for a highly respected company and to stretch myself a bit by working in a medium that is fairly new to me," Trenberth said.

Not only did Trenberth have to become familiar with a new genre, but he had to create an original lighting design for an opera that's become a classic. To prepare for the production of "La Boheme," Trenberth researched previous productions.

He purchased an audio recording of the opera and constantly listened to it in his Pearson Hall office. He also bought a video of the New York's Metropolitan Opera's version, watching it for ideas for the Des Moines production.

While he was finalizing the design, he would have Italian and English versions of the opera sitting side by side.

"You're always influenced by those who did a design before of a show like 'La Boheme'," Trenberth said. "But you try to do something new and unique.
Each show, regardless of how many times it's been produced, is different."

Trenberth also faced a challenge lighting for a new space. Although the Civic Center stage is similar in size to the stage at C.Y. Stephens Auditorium, it presented unique opportunities and concerns when Trenberth was designing "La Boheme."

"There's a huge learning curve anytime you going into a new space," he said. "And there's always a point with any show, and it was true with this production, that I wish we could have started over with the design.

"Some of the things I thought looked really good on paper didn't work really well when we got into the Civic Center," Trenberth continued. "However most worked just how I thought they would."