December 16, 2019 – “Automagically” is the way Gainesville photographer Wes Lindberg describes how his multi-media collaborative theatre production, “Radiant Light,” is coming together for its world premiere in the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. With projected images, actors, dancers and live music, “Radiant Light” explores the universal human experiences of birth, life, love and loss.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for University of Florida students with a UF identification card, seniors over 60, and children 12 and under; $5 for Santa Fe College (SF) students with an SFID; and free SF faculty, staff and retirees with a valid SFID. For information or tickets, call 352-395-4181 or visit sfcollege.edu/finearts.
An associate professor of digital media technology at SF, Lindberg is a visual storyteller who expresses his creative visions through film, photography and digital media. Light as a metaphor for life came easily to him; he described “Radiant Light” as a culmination of his life’s work. “My ultimate goal has always been to change the world by the millions,” Lindberg explained, “and in ‘Radiant Light’ I’m using light, photography, dance, theatre and music to invite everyone to contemplate their purpose on the planet.”
The inspiration for “Radiant Light” came from several photographs Lindberg took of the stained-glass windows at Gainesville’s Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. By moving the camera, he created a streaming light effect that he said “speaks to people.”
“This show is the story of life from before birth to ascension,” Lindberg mused. “I believe we come from white light, we lead colorful lives, and we eventually go back to the white light.”
“Radiant Light” begins with the recorded heartbeat of a baby still in the womb and moves into images of sacred spaces and stained-glass windows. Lindberg then captures streaming light and paints with that light, using dancers as brushes. Each figure is photographed in motion and contemplation while the radiant light shines through and around them, illuminating the spirit within. Lindberg calls these images “symbolic light paintings.”
“As the images are projected above the stage, you’ll see what you witnessed but didn’t really see,” he said. “In front of us all, every day, there is more happening than what we perceive.”
After the premiere in Gainesville, Lindberg has been invited to take “Radiant Light” to Tokyo, India and Brazil, where the production will use local dancers, actors and visuals photographed and filmed on location to create a unique show in each place.
Lindberg’s collaborators on “Radiant Light” include his friends and students, faculty and staff of the SF Fine Arts and Digital Media departments, which recently merged. “This show is a direct result of our merger and collaboration,” Lindberg explained. Thaís Torrens Fernandes is choreographer and assistant creative director, Sarah Harkness-Sebastian of Dance Theatre of Santa Fe is staging the dances, and harpist Jennifer Downey will be playing live on stage. Lindberg also mentions retiring SF President Jackson Sasser and Fine Arts and Entertainment Media Department Chair Alora Haynes as supporters of his work.
“Radiant Light” is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Media Department.
For more information about “Radiant Light,” call Lindberg at 352-395-5587.