Saturday, April 01, 2006

Johnny Longhorn: DIY Designer



Interview by Followspot
(pdf)
April 1, 2006

Humongous effects on zero budget. And not a fresnel or footlight to be found. That's the Johnny Longhorn lighting design style. Artists, critics and audiences agree there's nothing else like this distinctive style of do-it-yourself enlightenment. It's imaginative, resourceful and as far removed from artifice as it is creatively indulgent.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah, baby, I saw Fonik's "Moon Below, Ground Above" and it was like a revelation. How they ever managed not to clip anyone's hairs with that giant propeller ... and anyone who witnessed David's performance --well, it was priceless.. It twisted my brain inside out. And that guy can really sing, too!

Johnny's lighting -- was that a lighthouse lamp, Johnny? you know that's just a giane fresnel, don'tcha? -- it was wild. all over the theater. Cool.Cool. he's quite clever.

Anonymous said...

Just don't let Johnny near matches. Or your green plastic soldiers. But give him a flashlight and some window blinds and you've got yourself a haunted house (I was his housemate for a while and speak from experience.)

Anonymous said...

DIY lighting designs sometimes leave me in the dark.

But the "Milanese" play nearly blinded me.

Johnny, learn to use a dimmer!

Anonymous said...

don't forget to change your clocks tonight, Johnny -- i don't wanna see you late for tech tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

What I love about Johnny is that he is so easy going to work with. Usually, when you come across dynamic, avant garde designers like him, they are totally full of themselves and often refuse to bend their "vision" and condescend any request for changes you make as a director. Johnny is just an amazing collaborator and I can't wait to work with him again.

Anonymous said...

plus, he's great in the sack. in my humble opinion.

Anonymous said...

A man after my own aesthetic; and how many gig's he's stolen from me I'll never know. Cheers, Johnny!

Anonymous said...

Remember that one show, when each audience member's program was bound into an old book, and each book had one of those little read-in-bed booklights clipped to it? And they would keep going on and off ... Johnny's crazy like that.

followspot said...

Not sure what was going on, but the PDF and thumbnail were missing for a while today.

Everything should be working now.

I pity the fool who doesn't know Johnny Longhorn. :)

Anonymous said...

I reckon Johnny Longhorn is bound to be a modern-day legend.

Anonymous said...

I love that Johnny budgets for beers instead of bulbs.

Anonymous said...

His design of "The Geometry of Grotwoski" was quite breath-taking. Did anyone else see that?

Anonymous said...

Hire him!

Anonymous said...

Johnny better win the Drammy this year!

Anonymous said...

And the winner of the longest drawn out April Fools Joke is......

Anonymous said...

Well, Icenogle and Zrebski got over 50 comments, so I have a ways to go.

Anonymous said...

This was clever. i was fooled.