Showing all posts tagged #scenicdesign:


Coaching Stage Design

Posted on September 3rd, 2020

So, I’m coaching a Worship Director friend in a consultation thread about the design updates they want to implement on their stage. Here’s a copy/paste of the last message I typed in the thread:

My encouragement to you in thinking about design is to build a mood board of things that you’d like. I can then help you in designing something that is true to your taste and feels current and that will look good for in the room as well as for the lens.
And I definitely encourage not gathering any more than 50% of your inspiration from HOW. Honestly, I recommend staying beneath 10 or even 5% if possible.
The "church scene" is sadly very derivative. Don’t make a copy of a copy of a copy. The best design in the world is inspired by nature and original eureka ideas. If choosing existing work to be inspired by, I suggest studying great architecture, flipping through an art history textbook, or watching a broadway show. Watch the Grammys or some top name as well as highly creative indie concerts if you want something that is more live production. Watching other churches is far too often simply copying people who have copied many people before.
Also, it’s never about specific gear. It’s about the feel that you want to have things look like and the budget and existing inventory that you have access to.


And then I just read this related thought in the book, Disrupt by Luke Williams.


Dinner With A Perfect Stranger

Posted on August 21st, 2012

Scenic & Lighting Design

This was one of my earliest theatrical designs. It was a privilege to be invited to this project and bring the book to life on the stage. The following illustrates the process of creation:
  1. Read the script (still in rough version adapted from the book)
  2. Ideate with the Producer and Director
  3. Research Italian restaurants
  4. Sketch concepts
  5. Development and refinement
  6. Scale drawings
  7. Texture, paint, functionals, decor
  8. Custom table design tilted downstage slightly for audience
  9. Lighting Design
  10. Additions of floor and pillar
  11. Sign off on build process and finishing details like paint, texture, stain, electrical, etc.
  12. Transportation entire set has to transport in trailer, fit through standard doors, and setup/strike quickly for multiple venues
  13. Oversee setup and lighting focus
  14. Program lighting


Eric G Wolfe

Creative Director | Process Architect. Design Strategist. Leadership Coach.