The Washington herald., 1921-07-17
LIGHTNING EFFECTS
BIG FEATURE OF
PILGRIM PAGEANT
Huge Field at Plymouth
To Be Illuminated by
Powerful Installation.

PLYMOUTH. Mass, July 16.-Co-
| incident with the announcement
| from Paris that by the manipusa-
ton of colored lights stage settings
can be changed without actually
/. moving the scenery. it was learned
here today that Munroe r. Pevear.
| in charge of lighting arrangements
for the Pilgrim tercentenary page
ant. has been conducting similar ex-
periments in chromatics and will
give a partial demonstration of his
findings at the opening performance
of the pageant next Wednesday. The
try-out in this country will take
several weeks before the discovery
of Nine. Boutkovsky has its first
public trial at the Theater Ealava
in Madrid in Barrie's Mary Rose"
Under the direction of Mr.. Pevear.
a young scientist of Boston. the
mammoth "land-water" stage will
be illuminated by the equivalent of
5000 ordinary house lights. From
two towers behind the grandstand
on historic Coles Hill. where the
Pilgrim Fathers buried their dead
in the first winter of the settlement.
the stage, $50 feet wide mad 400 feet
deep, as well as Plymouth harbor
where the replica of the Mayflower
is now at anchor. will be turned to-
day by ninety powerful reflectors
containing 1000 and 1.500 watt
lamps of special manufacture.
Loo Actors in Cast.
While the aim of Mr.. Pevear will
be essentially to light only certain
parts of the twenty big scenes in
tine pageant one at a time. conceal
ing the other tableaux of the 1,4O0
actors upder cover of darkpess, he
will demonstrate in a measure the
results of his research in the reac-
ton of primary pigment colors
when acted upon by the primary
colors in lights. As the pageant is
almost Elizabethan in its lack of
stage settings. Mr.. Pevear will con-
fine his light effects to harmonizing
the coIorful costumes to the motif
particular historic scene.
Instead of changing a palace to a
rocky cave. as is reported achieved
in the experiments in Paris, the
young lighting director will stress.
for example, a blue-green wash to
bring out the grewsomeness of the
pestilence which wiped out the In
dians: cold steel-blue to visualize
the chill despair of the Puritans in
fleet prison. London: the cold, dank
lilac dawn of the sailing at Delft
shaven and a straw yellow glow
for the solemn signing of the COM
pact in the cabin of the Mayflower.
Another effective scene which has
worked out successfully in rehear-
sails is that in which Pilgrim
rcysterers fire the colony at Ply
mouth.
Have zoo Separate Circuits.
The lighting arrangements for
the pageant constitute a radical de-
parture in this phase of pageantry
in America. Instead of Flooding"
the field. as is customary, the light
ing chart for the dramatic action
has been worked out so minutely
that although practically the entire
cast will be on the stage during a
considerable portion of the perform
ance, the 10000 spectators will not
be aware of the presence of more
than the group under the beams
from a particular set of refIectors.
With the vast area to be lighted at
all angles and distances the manipu-
latioH of TIE controls of the 200
separate circuits calls for the most
exact direction and reduction to
zero of the chances of lighting a 4