A Papal Mass on Sacred Ground - PLSN.com

very pleased with the final result. “The beauty
here was that I had a huge support team
— including Edward Pierce.”
From Concept to Reality
PLSN
Pierce, the event’s scenic designer, was
brought in to realize Lagler’s vision. “There
weren’t a lot of changes from concept to reality,”
Pierce said. “It was more about preserving
that initial concept to the best of our ability.”
Pierce said they worked closely with Hudson
Theatrical Associates, which built the décor,
and Mountain Productions, Inc., which handled
the understructure for the stage. “There
was a lot of AutoCAD work, and every aspect
had to be considered in every different way.”
On the pitchers mound, an 18-foot diameter
platform featuring the Vatican’s coat
of arms was suspended in the air. Radiating
from the platform was an array of gold
and white fabric provided by Rose Brand.
Then there were “a lot of chairs,” Pierce said,
for the Pope’s huge entourage. “There were
800 field seats — 300 chairs for priests, 200
for bishops, 14 for Cardinals and one Pope
throne.” The chairs for each group were colored
according to hierarchy.
Pierce added that with a positive mental
attitude and good planning, they were able
to get everything done in time…almost. “The
last remaining thing was the fluffing of the
flowers, and that was the only thing that really
didn’t get done.” Otherwise, “It was a beautiful,
technically impressive achievement and
one that was very safe in every respect.”
Look for the Union Label
PLSN
Hudson Theatrical Associates had the
daunting task of putting together the labor
force. Hudson’s Sam Ellis was the labor
supervisor and he said it was a long process
to figure out how many hands were
needed. “At any given time during the
load-in and set up, there were 200 or 250
Local 1 hands working on this. But the total
number of people involved was closer
to 490.”
Everyone involved emphasized that
the planning was critical. “First we had to
sit down with all the people in charge of
the individual elements — the video people,
the lighting, the staging — and figure
out how many people they each needed,”
Ellis said. “Then we assimilated all that into
a gigantic schedule.” For example, they figured
they needed a dozen electricians at
a certain point, and they needed a certain
amount of time to make it happen. “The
first five hours was just laying the flooring,
so we had to figure out what we could
do while that was happening. In this case,
start putting the chairs in and hanging
lighting trusses off of the front of house
balcony rails.”
But more important was choosing the
right people. “First of all, you pick the captains,
the heads of the departments, and
that was very important to us,” Ellis said. “It
was important to us that they be the best,
because they had to go reach out to their
best workers.” Ellis stressed that the best
were found in the unions. “There are critics
of union labor, but in our instance, only
by using union workers were we able to
accomplish what we needed to do. So in
addition to union stagehands and technicians,
we also used teamsters to load and
unload the trucks. We had 70 or 80 trucks
to unload, and we were very happy with
their professionalism.”
“It was an amazing team of union
workers,” echoed Doug Pope. “IATSE Local
1 especially and also IBEW Local 3 did an
amazing job. They knew their crafts and
they didn’t mess around.”
Production crew members weren’t expected
to walk on water, but they couldn’t
walk on the grass, either. To protect the sacred
turf, the crew used Terraplas, a patented
system of breathable sheeting capable of
handling light-duty loads. For vehicles, there
was Bravomat. “The entire warning track
was covered by 1,400 pieces of 4-foot-by-8-
foot Bravomat, five inches thick, heavy-duty,
capable of supporting loaded forklifts,” said
Stansfield. “The first 4-1/2 hours of the load
in was just laying that track. So we really only
had 45 hours to build the performance and
altar stage and decorate the stadium.”
Competing with the Sun
PLSN
The lighting designer for the Pope’s visit
to Yankee Stadium was Alan Adelman, who
is best known for his theatrical, television
and film lighting design work — not outdoor
venues subject to any kind of weather
conditions.
Even a cloudy day that gave way to
sunny skies could pose problems lighting
the Pope, who started the <strong>Mass</strong> in the shade
under a roof. “Alan had to make sure the
lights chosen could effectively be constantly
shifted to keep up with the shifting clouds,
keeping the Pope lit perfectly,” said Edgren.
“It was a daylight job, and the challenge
there is always balance,” Adelman explained.
The sun can produce about 12,000 footcandles,
and for the Pope to be seen, “you’re basically
trying to make up that sunlight. Otherwise,
on wider shots the Pope could be in
the black. We needed something at least in
the 5,000 to 6,000 footcandle range.”
That challenge, combined with the need
for “a system where you’re able to constantly
fill in shadows, accommodate for the sun
which might go behind some clouds for
a few moments,” was “daunting,” Adelman
said. The configuration of Yankee Stadium
didn’t make things easier.
Long Throw Distances
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“The throw distances ranged from 200
to 300 feet, plus there was a strict limit on
seat kills. It would have been easier to put all
the lighting at the front of house,” but that
was out of the question. “So additional, special
rigging was bolted into the upper deck
to carry extra lights.”
Adelman used a dozen Vari*Lite VL3500
Wash units and another dozen VL3000
Wash units in conjunction with Arri 6000
HMIs and 12 Zap Technology Lil’ Big Lite 3.5
units. “They are automated and offer a very
high intensive, very narrow beam. We hung
12 of them, six on each side on the trusses
on the upper deck, each on a 30-inch truss
with special breakers. They were intense —
they were blinding in daylight.”
Programmer Paul Sonnleitner controlled
the lighting with a grandMA from
MA Lighting. A wireless DMX512 provided
by Scharff Weisberg “worked flawlessly,”
Adelman said. Along with Yankee Stadium,
Scharff Weisberg supplied lighting packages
to support broadcast coverage of the
Pope’s visit to the World Trade Center site
and to the Chapel at St. Joseph’s Seminary
in Yonkers, N.Y. The Scharff Weisberg team
included Chris McMeen, Chris Komischock
and Ian Healy.
LYN PARKER
“Yankee Stadium didn’t open the doors for us until
12:01 A.M. Friday morning, and by 1:00 A.M. Sunday,
Secret Service locked it all down for a security
sweep.” — Patrick Stansfield, co-producer
LYN PARKER
Erin Siegal
The papal coat of arms served as a fitting backdrop to the altar. Riggers needed to anticipate inclement conditions… …but the weather cooperated, as if on cue.
Advertising and baseball stadiums
go together like Oscar Meyer Wieners
and Coca-Cola. Like most sports venues,
Yankee Stadium is normally the architectural
equivalent of a NASCAR chassis,
plastered with ads. But at wishes of the
Vatican, it all had to disappear.
“I’m especially proud of how we were
able to cover up all the advertising in
the stadium,” said lighting designer Alan
Adelman. “The day of the <strong>Mass</strong>, at dawn,
when it was still a little cloudy …it was
transformed into a Cathedral.”
He gives a lot of credit to gaffer Tom
Blancato. “He did a great job. Tom does
a lot of big shows, but logistically, this
was something else. And it’s a tribute to
Patrick [Stansfield] and Doug [Pope] that
it came off so well.”
Scenic designer Edward Pierce said
that the massive undertaking meant
more than just throwing some fabric
over the signage. Over 12,000 square
feet of soft goods were used to cover it
all. It required creative rigging and some
customized digital prints of the Vatican
coat-of-arms. “All that work involved a
team of 20 and was completed in a day
and a half.”
Yankee Stadium doesn’t have the flying
buttresses that adorn and support the
world’s great Gothic cathedrals. But as an
outdoor venue, it could serve as the launching
point for flying special effects — far
more appropriate for a celebration of <strong>Mass</strong>
than pyrotechnics or confetti cannons.
“The icing on the cake was the release of
several hundred live doves of peace,” said coproducer
Patrick Stansfield. “It was done in
coordination with the kids running, circling
the stadium with doves made of lightweight
foam, each suspended by a fishing pole. At a
dramatic point, we released 200 live doves.
They circled the stadium twice and then
flew back to their home in New Jersey, just
like they were supposed to.”
About a week before the big event, an
advance team of doves, made up of a lead
dove and some dutiful lieutenants, were
brought to the stadium from their home
in New Jersey. They checked out the stadium,
and then the lead dove circled the
stadium twice and flew back home, lieutenants
in tow.
On the day of the big event, two hundred
other doves were released with them,
and following the team leader, executed
their assignment with aplomb.
Some mysteries remain, however. Were
these doves in the union? And what was in
their rider? How, exactly, does one get to
be the lead dove? Is it based on merit and
hard work, or just a matter of who you coo?
(Maybe they have to fight for the honor, but
then again, probably not.)
Producer Stig Edgren chuckles and
sighs. “Oh yeah, there were a lot of dove
jokes — even the secret service guys got
on it saying they needed to frisk them and
check their beaks.”
2008 JUNE PLSN 29