The Ghostlight
Theater has many wonderful old backstage traditions, rituals, and superstitions. The Ghostlight is typically an exposed light bulb on a stand, in a wire cage, left illuminated when the theater is otherwise closed. A light for no one, except those spirits that live up in the lighting grid. Maybe the Ghostlight prevents them from falling off the edge of the stage when they come down to sing secret arias in the middle of the night. Perhaps the light intimidates prankster ghosts that might cause mischief while humans are absent. Of course, I’m embellishing. The Ghostlight serves a practical purpose by providing safety to people coming in to open the theater. Just don’t tell that to the ghosts!
“Ghostlight” (acrylic on canvas, 12”x12”), private collection, Margie Jervis, 2020.
I am an Artist and Designer for Theater. Symbols are a cornerstone of my work. The color of a costume or a certain type of chair will tell a story. The paintings shown throughout this article are my immersion in thoughts of light, necessary to carry, during a most difficult and frightening time.
I work for Creative Cauldron (https://www.creativecauldron.org) just a 15-minute drive to the center of our Nation’s Capital. Creative Cauldron, founded by Producing Artistic Director Laura Connors Hull, is a small 92-seat theater with a full schedule of live theater and music offerings and educational opportunities, held together by Laura and a lean staff of 4, with additional help as needed. I am the Resident Scene, Costume, and Puppet Designer and Visual Arts Educator.
“Glowing Bulb” (acrylic on canvas, 12”x12”), private collection, Margie Jervis, 2020.
The story of Creative Cauldron’s Ghostlight began in 2017 during the presidential inauguration. Over 500 theaters, large and small, expressed solidarity in “The Ghostlight Project” (Viagas, 2017). To join the project, theaters publicly placed a Ghostlight in the window as a symbol of commitment to the values they posted in this message of unity:
“(We) pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”
A Ghostlight in the window declared the theater as a welcoming and safe place, respecting ideas and differences to the general social norms.
Our theater does not usually make public statements about political topics. But, January 2017 was not an ordinary political year. With the new president moving into the White House, so much of the campaign rhetoric, attempting to normalize fear and hate, could now shockingly become the basis for laws and public policy.
Laura felt, and the rest of the staff agreed, it was time to do our part in voicing our views. She introduced the Ghostlight Project to our board of directors. Their enthusiasm and passion was unanimous, “Where do I sign?!?” I made a ghostlight to be kept in our theater’s front window, continually lit, night and day, along with a copy of the pledge. The Ghostlight was kindled permanently.
“Streetlamp” (acrylic on canvas, 12”x12”), private collection, Margie Jervis, 2020.
A Theater’s Creative Response to the Pandemic
About one year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic caused performing arts venues all across the country to close indefinitely, by state health department restrictions. All theaters, from Broadway to small venues like ours, suddenly faced potential failure and erasure.
The Ghostlight was once again a unifying symbol for theaters. CBS News picked up the story https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keeping-broadways-lights-on/. Across our nation, the Ghostlight now said, “Our spirit is still here and we will be back!”
“Ghost Candle” (acrylic on canvas, 12”x12”), private collection, Margie Jervis, 2020.
The day Creative Cauldron Theater closed to the public, Laura made the announcement in the theater’s lobby, amidst a group of worried parents and disappointed children. Our children’s Learning Theater production was scheduled to open a ticketed, 16-performance run. Our Spring Break Arts Camp for kids was going to start in 2 weeks. A series of professional shows was about to go into rehearsals. Everything we did professionally was suddenly so vulnerable. In spite of this major derailment, was there a way to complete all this work, meet these goals, and retain any income? Could we use Zoom? What the hell is Zoom!? I would learn much more than Zoom in the months that followed.
We had to evolve, learning new ways of reaching our audiences. Around the world, and now at our door, feelings of distress, uncertainty, and isolation were happening to all of us. Laura and the board immediately secured all government financial assistance available to small businesses. We had work to do to provide connection, solace, and uplifting opportunities, continuing to build community for our audiences. Laura initiated special donor Zoom nights with guest musical theater artists performing within the frustrating limitations of Zoom, programmed and emceed by the theater’s Artistic Associate and Resident Composer, Matt Conner. We all agreed our education programs would not be delayed, and we all learned to adapt our teaching styles to video and Zoom.
The cancelled live children’s Learning Theater production was transformed. We would make a movie, recording all our cast members on Zoom. Nicholas Goodman (Production and Operations Manager, sound and lighting tech, and accounting) organized curbside pick-ups of the costumes, props, and black neutral backdrops so the 22-actor cast could set up individual home studios. A professional video editing company was consulted, however it proved too expensive to use their services. Ellen Selby, our Managing Director and playwright for many of our original productions for children, already had basic video skills. I did not. As the visual designer for our work, that was a handicap.
I began, swiftly learning as I went, developing an editing style overlaying Zoom footage onto illustrations I made, creating the fairy tale world of the movie. Other contributions to editing were by our dance educator Jessie Schull and graphic artist Kerry Hull. Our summer music series would be done outdoors, and scouting began for a low-cost venue allowing space for a masked, physically distanced audience. Longer range, as we became aware this pandemic would be worse not better, I favored transforming our space into a television studio, which all of us agreed was important, though costly. We would have to install air-quality equipment and develop safety protocols to make it work. Laura, a master of understanding how organizations work, and grant writing, found the funding, and the expertise.
We transformed all our work–the community outreach, the performances and classes–into light waves coming out of computer screens into the homes of our audience. Due to the determination, creativity, flexibility, and intelligence of Laura, the board of directors, and our tiny staff, we stayed vibrant and employed. Although it took time to convince people what we could offer online could be valuable, especially for young children, our dedicated audience and our committed students stayed with us and supported us, and new people found us. The comment “You are keeping us all sane during the pandemic,” came our way often.
We learned our value to the community. They came through for us.
“Idea Bulb” (acrylic on canvas, 12”x12”), private collection, Margie Jervis, 2020.
The Ghostlight and Lights Paintings Series
As winter approached, Matt Conner had the brilliant idea of hosting a fundraising telethon. It would be a fun way to kick off the Creative Cauldron Theater’s transformation into a live-streaming television studio. Yes, that dream idea became a reality. To tie into the winter holidays as the season of light, we chose the theme, “Don’t let the lights go out.”
Matt invited many musical-theater performing artists who had graced our stage to contribute music and songs to the 5-hour telethon. With another surge of the pandemic, the live guest artists had to send in video messages and performances instead. These were so sincere and heartfelt, real outpourings of love to our supporters. Laura delivered her opening remarks illuminated only by our Ghostlight.
We would need a bit more variety to the program, and I had an idea of how I could contribute color and energy to the evening. Originally, I intended to be on the set of the telethon, painting throughout the evening. Matt could occasionally play piano while I painted for the camera. We could talk about what I was doing. Instead, I videoed myself creating the paintings, and I edited it to music Matt composed. The videos were aired throughout the telethon. At the final hour, the paintings were given as gifts to randomly selected donors, signed on the back with a message of gratitude, “Thanks for keeping the Light of the Arts Shining.”
Light is used in many phrases that describe aspects of the Arts: A beacon of hope, the light bulb flash of the brilliant idea, an eternal light guiding constancy of spirit, the illumination of the intellect.
When I painted, I thought about all these phrases, and our Ghostlight in the window of the theater. The paintings all depict a different kind of light source. Each light source, whether candle or lamp, is human-made. There are no natural light sources represented, not the sun, not a star, not a bolt of lightning. We humans have the power to create light.
The light of the Ghostlight, now signaling survival and hope, will be with us as we emerge from the dark days, lighting the way to the health and vitality of spring. I hope this story, of how our theater contributed light during a dark time, will light your lamp of hope, creativity, and positive action.
References
Viagas, R. (2017, January 19). Over 500 Theatres Across U.S. Unite for Ghostlight Project Jan. 19. Playbill. https://www.playbill.com/article/over-500-theatres-across-us-unite-for-ghostlight-project-jan-19.
I am very grateful for my opportunity to work with Creative Cauldron since 2009, considering it my artistic home. I am the Resident Scene, Costume and Puppet Designer creating the visual side of design catalogued at upwards of 60 shows and projects. I am also a Teaching Artist for “the Cauldron’s” educational programs. During the summer, I teach daily art classes to children, ages 4-13, as part of every day of the summer in our mythology-based arts camp. I have profound joy in seeing the children we work with in our education programs grow and develop.
Throughout the year, I also teach evening classes for adults.
Other design credits include: Scenery and Puppet/Costumes for Charlottesville Opera, and Washington National Opera and costuming with Keira Hart Mendoza of Uprooted Dance.
I received in 2010 and again in 2017 the Strauss Artist Grant Award from the Arts Council of Fairfax County, for outstanding professional achievement in design for theater.
My art training began at the Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in 1978 in Sculpture with a specialty in Glass, where my collaboration with fellow student Susie Krasnican began. Both of our families were from the Washington DC area and we decided to continue working together after graduation and established a studio in Falls Church, VA. We worked together for the following 7 years, building a career focused on art made with Glass as the primary material. We had exhibitions annually at Heller Gallery in New York City and our work was shown at many galleries across the country and internationally at museums by invitation and through competitions. In 1980 we were awarded an NEA Craftsman’s Fellowship grant. Our work is in many museum collections, the most significant at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In the mid 1980’s the collaborative work included some gallery installation aspects and my personal interests for work evolved to the goal of designing for the theater stage rather than the gallery setting. It would be a long journey to make this transition as I had not come up through the typical path of education for the theater design field. At the time, Seattle had a vibrant arts and theater community. There was room to get involved and rent was still affordable. The Seattle Opera was forming a team of scenic artists to embark on a major project and my fine art portfolio was enough to get my foot in the door. I began learning about the theater design and production process from the inside out. I worked for both the Seattle Repertory Theater and Seattle Opera in the 1980s and 90s in scenery production with a specialty in painting and sculpture. I became the Scenic Artist in charge of the Seattle Opera Studio for 5 years, producing work for designers from the international world of opera. In 1997 I became the Associate Designer to Set Designer Tom Lynch (then of NYC) on the Seattle Opera’s 2001 Wagner Ring Cycle.
I returned to my home town on the east coast in 1997 to be closer to my aging parents and start a family of my own with my husband, Paul Taylor, who I met in Seattle. He became Technical Director of Opera and Theater productions at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Our son Noah Taylor is now a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
I continue to live with my husband in a nurturing spot in Virginia surrounded by nature. I enjoy my connection to my Jewish roots as a member of “The Kolamites” a multigenerational musical group for my spiritual community, playing rhythm guitar and singing harmony.