Head Over Heels | Ithaca College | 2021

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Head Over Heels is a story of growth and acceptance, that takes place in the ancient Greek city of Arcadia. It is a jukebox musical with music from The Go-Go’s, and the entire show bases its emotion off of the beat of the music, which we get from the Go-Go’s song “we got the beat”. As the citizens of Arcadia become too orderly and less accepting, they “lose their famous beat”. In the end, the characters are forced to reflect on themselves and become a more open and welcoming community.

Our lighting goals for the production were to reflect the state of the “beat”, while also nodding to the concert style music of the Go-Gos, and show its progression from passionate and lively, to weak and fading, and back to passionate. 

To achieve this, I developed a plot with rock concert lighting elements that could emphasize the intensity of the characters, while also allowing there to be moments of intimacy. I also decided to create a physical manifestation of the beat, so that we could visualize how the emotion onstage would ebb and flow.