Set design and lighting are critical aspects of creating a mood for a film or theater production, and such skills are now being taught to interested residents of Navajo County.
Northland Pioneer College Technical Designer and Production Manager Patrick Day is a former Hollywood lighting designer who not only teaches those skills, he shares his talent by assisting with the productions held at the Silver Creek Campus Performing Arts Center.
Day has several credits to his name, including lighting director for the Fox NFL (National Football League) set, but one of his greatest accomplishments came in 1999 when he was awarded an Emmy for his lighting direction on the set of the daytime soap opera Sunset Beach.
While many people strive for the limelight, Day finds value in the work he does. “I think a lot of people don’t understand how many jobs there are in performing arts,” he stated. “It’s not just about acting. In my opinion, there are a lot better jobs in performing arts than acting.”
Day got started in the business because a friend of his father’s was willing to give him a job when he had no experience. At that time there were no instruction programs like the college offers, and he was fortunate to have gotten his foot in the door at a place where he learned skills unique to set lighting and design.
“I worked in Hollywood for 23 years as a studio electrician and then as a lighting designer,” said Day. “I’m so happy that I finally get to do lighting in a theatrical setting.”
Some of the trade skills offered at the college by Day include constructing set designs, lighting design and even sound engineering, each of which apply Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) principles currently being embraced in the education systems as future growth sectors.
“Even if you’re not interested in acting, working in performing arts is a lot of fun,” he added.
Living in Northern Arizona wasn’t always the plan for the Day family. He initially scoffed when he and his wife saw an ad in the Los Angeles Times back in 1993 for 40 acres of land and a cabin in Northern Arizona. About a month later an intense earthquake helped them change their minds. At first they supported themselves by selling homemade rubberstamps online until his wife became a teacher. Day soon followed suit and spent the following nine years working as an English teacher at Snowflake High School.
About two years ago he began working at the NPC Performing Arts Center where speech and theater instructor Dr. Michael “Doc” Solomonson had been doing much of the work on productions by himself.
Their first collaboration, which required creating a difficult lighting design, was for the college’s production of Treasure Island. Thanks to these efforts, the rural community college is now able to provide world-class entertainment.
“These are unique productions in the White Mountains and (at $6 to $8 a ticket) the best entertainment value in the area,” Day noted.
A number of departments and teachers at Northland Pioneer College are collaborating to bring the production of Machinal to the stage in April. With each production the department finds new ways to incorporate assistance and learning opportunities to other programs within the college.
This year’s production also incorporates the technical assistance of three Sound and Film students, headed by teacher Mark Ford, to create background music and footage for a green screen that will be part of the set. A green screen removes the background and allows separately filmed background to be inserted into a scene. Determining how to light for the green screen is presenting a new challenge for Day, who noted, “there’s a lot of planning involved.”
In addition, parts of the set are being engineered and manufactured by the Welding Department at the Saint Johns campus.
As a German Expressionist piece, Machinal follows the infamous story of Ruth Snyder and promises to be a unique experience. “It’s based on a true story of a woman in a loveless marriage and she plots with her boyfriend to kill her husband,” Day explained. “It’s about a young woman who feels forced into meeting other peoples’ expectations and how she feels trapped in her role.”
At the end of May, Day will also participate in the NPC Kids College production of the Lion King.
The class runs for three weeks, with the first week consisting of training adults to coach the kids, who only have two weeks once they start to rehearse before performance night. “I do a lot of fun things here, but that is definitely the most fun,” he said.
To learn more about the courses offered under Speech, Theater and Film, visit the college website at NPC.edu.
