Take 5 with SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal

A regular member of The Umbrella Stage Company design team, SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal began this season as Lighting & Projections Designer on Network, and later on Now. Here. This. which runs in rotation in the Black Box. We caught up with him to ask him about the especially dzzling use of multimedia and projection on Network, under the direction of Ashley Kelly Tata.

TUA: What excites you about the opportunity to design lighting for Network?

The lighting design for Network was interesting because there are so many locations that the story takes us, and we have to capture all those locations on one stage. Inspired by the film, the play moves very cinematically. We are in the studio in one scene and then in an office the very next. Lighting was key to setting these locations around the stage.

TUA: This show also incorporates multimedia elements not often used on our shows in the past?

This is by far the most significant video design The Umbrella Stage Company has tackled. We utilized modern digital technology along with more antiquated analog technology from the 80s and 90s. We utilized three cameras, nine monitors, and a projector to complete the design. Determining how they would all work together took a considerable amount of planning and trial and error. 

TUA: What were some of the considerations or challenges translating or updating elements from the original film and the original stage adaptation?

A lot of the translation and updating came in the storytelling. We took some liberties when recreating the studio elements from the oversized projection surface behind the performers to the more modern cameras. We then made sure to show the content of the period to mask some of the more modern elements.

TUA: Where did you find inspiration as you try to design for this as a 70s period piece?

So much history has been digitized and become accessible because of the Internet. Especially the news. I was able to capture the heightened anxieties of the time and use them to show the audience the world beyond the studio. I did enjoy the research for television commercials of the period. It was fun comparing them to the commercials we see today.

TUA: Anything else you’d like to add about working on this production?

This is the second production by The Umbrella Stage Company that feels like it was written for today. It speaks to the importance of theatre as an artform and how powerful stories written almost ten years ago can maintain a strong presence in the world.

Network runs through November 3, 2024.