BATTLEBORO, VT – As soon as he set foot in Stone Church, Brian Courchine, the lighting designer for Pink Talking Fish, knew he was in for a different kind of experience. “I’ve been to live music venues with the word ‘church,’ in their name,” he said, “but this place is genuine — literally a renovated church with all the architectural features you would expect to find in a church.”
Indeed, it is! Opened in 1875 as All Souls Unitarian Church, the sturdy building, made of granite from a nearby mountain, features a variety of architectural influences from Gothic to Celtic, to Scandinavian folk in keeping with its inclusive heritage.
Courchine seemed to draw on them all when lighting his client’s show at the site, which was converted to a live music venue in 2016. Touched by his light, every facet of the room, from the altar columns to the pipe organ is drawn into the overall set design.
“This room is beautiful,” he exclaimed “Sure there are moments when the music wants you to just light the upstage, and you do — but this place begs for your attention. You can’t have a show here without significant moments of highlighting the architecture. The stage isn’t a traditional set up in terms of the way it is shaped, as it used to be an altar. I suppose it still is in a sense. Because of this, I strayed from my normal setup. In this case I think it worked out great.”
Drawing on the color rendering power of a rig that features 29 CHAUVET Professional fixtures, Courchine played off the distinctive features of the former church to create deeply evocative looks. Among his favorites was during one haunting old Pink Floyd song when he had a simple slow gobo wheel scroll lift up and illuminating the arches and pipe organ.
There are moments when he endowed the center or the altar area with an ethereal look by blending different colors from his Rogue washes with splashes of amber or white. At other times he created bolder vibes by directing shafts of his light out from the center of the alter and had them reach out to cover the entire room.
Throughout the show he strove to join the moods in the music and the room with color. “I choose colors that emphasized the feel of the song, jam or moment,” explained Courchine. “Everything has a feel and it’s up to us to interpret. It’s up to us to create an environment that encompasses the vibe of, not just the band, but the audience as well, so the whole room is embraced.”
Reflecting on his experience at Stone Church, Courchine had this to say: “This was my first time at this venue and I’m looking forward to heading back there.”
