Lightwire: A treat and puzzle to the eyes

On February 16, the Viterbo Fine Arts Center hosted a brilliant spectacle for people of all ages. Families flocked into the auditorium to witness the brain child of Ian Carney, Lightwire: The Show.

The show relied less on dialogue and more on stunning its viewers while presenting a story through nothing but music, movement, and a breathtaking display of lighting technology.

Using the complete darkness of the theatre, the Lightwire group was able to bring luminescent wireframe creatures to life, controlling how brightly they glowed, the colors they displayed, and the movements of all their appendages. The actors behind the massive glowing puppets were completely shrouded in shadow, giving the illusion of a quirky animation happening right before the audience’s eyes.

The show kicked off with a slight amount of light in the center of the stage. It helped illuminate a well-dressed man as he proceeded to do an intense dance number involving mesmerizing glowing gloves.

As the man finished, the true story began. Wireframe birds soared across the stage, preceding a neon-blue wizard as he brought a dinosaur to life. The rest of the show was mostly about the dinosaur’s quest for friendship and love, as well as his brawl with a horrifying red tyrannosaurus rex that was terrorizing the local land.

Lightwire had anything a child could have hoped to see on the stage. From cute characters to impressive creatures to lightsaber duels, it would have been nearly impossible for any of the viewers to leave feeling disappointed. Without a single word, the Lightwire gang was able to impress and engage an auditorium stuffed with the dropped jaws of hundreds.

Zane Rader, a vocal performance major at Viterbo, had the opportunity to not only watch the show, but also assist the actors backstage throughout the performance.

Rader was stunned by the unique display, stating, “The lighting effects they used and the puppeteering were really cool.”

Continuing this thought, Rader spoke on about his favorite part of the performance: the glowing, 16-foot tall prehistoric birds. According to Rader, “Those ones were very impressive to me. Just the height and their ability to move every part of [them] was incredible.”

Rader shared that another favorite experience of his was the opportunity to see the different creatures closer up as he assisted in loading the pieces into the groups moving truck. “Seeing everything starting to get taken down was very interesting because, with these creations looking very complex, seeing them being broken down to much smaller parts is intriguing,” Rader stated, adding, “It gets you curious about how those creations must work.”

The theme of the night was not just inspiring heart, but also curiosity. Such is the case with massive, astounding, and seemingly impossible theatrical works. As a whole, Lightwire: The Show truly shines amongst the impressive amount of incredible works the Fine Arts Center hosts.