THE PIANO TEACHER

The Pear
Pear Theatre - Mountain View, CA

Director: Reed Flores
Lighting Designer: Sonya Wong
Scenic Designer: Sonja Mejers
Costume Designer: Marisely Cortes
Sound Designer: Larry Tasse
Projections Designer: Sinjin Jones
Stage Manager: Kelly Weber

Photos: Mario Ramirez

Performed in repertory with Three Tall Women, Julia Cho’s The Piano Teacher tells the story of Mrs. K, a lonely widow who likes to reminisce about her late husband and the students she used to teach as a piano instructor. One day, she feels compelled to call her former students, and the visits from two of these former students force her to confront aspects of her past that she had been previously unwilling to consider. The lighting for this play helped guide the audience through Mrs. K’s exploration of her past through her mind and memories. Stark and isolated lighting was used when Mrs. K spoke directly to the audience, conveying how we are in the void of her mind. The lighting opened up during her interactions with other characters, reflecting how her subconscious was pulling up those memories and reconstructing those scenes in her mind. Though these events did happen in reality, Mrs. K’s memories have been warped through time as well as her own perception of the events, tinging the lighting through unnatural color, texture, and angles.