The Stone Wife

I had a chance to shoot Helen Pau’s original play, “The Stone Wife” at the Berkeley City Club. The challenge of this show was that it was theater-in-the-round, which meant that I had to cover the performers from 360 degrees. In addition, I had to do so in a very confined space.

I was allowed to shoot an early dress rehearsal as a test run and to get familiarized with the actors’ blocking so I could make sure I was in the right spots at the right times to capture the best of the performances. The prep shoot helped quite a bit–the first time around I found myself photographing the actors’ backs more than I would like to admit. It was definitely one of the bigger challenges I’ve faced so far, because even though the performance was happening in a relatively small space, there was a lot of movement to keep up with.

After seeing the performance and getting to test shoot it once, I found that I was better prepared by the time the final dress rehearsal came around and all makeup, wardrobe, set pieces, and lights were in place. The director and producers were happy with the results.

See the whole set here.

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