Behind the scenes at University Theatre: Lighting and sound designer Patrick Mathis

In any theater setting, lights control the crowd. When the house lights go down, the audience gets quiet in anticipation of the first glimpse of the set, actors and story about to play out in front of them. With the first illumination of the stage, the tone is set. 

This spring, NC State University Theatre is taking on “The SpongeBob Musical,” set to open March 31. Patrick Mathis, assistant director of lighting and sound, amongst the rehearsal and set construction madness is trying to bring Bikini Bottom to light in Thompson Hall. 

“Lighting is the last little bit,” Mathis said. “Scenery is going to be set. Costumes are going to exist. And then lighting is the thing that makes the world gel or mesh, where you try to pull it all together into a cohesive picture of a living place.”

Mathis works on sound programming and lighting design for all University Theatre productions and says that both are vital to recreating atmosphere and emotion for every scene. Though their purpose first and foremost is to ensure you can see and hear the actors, the real stars of the show are the lighting choices and sound effects that subtly manipulate the climate of the stage to reinforce the believability of the story.

Mathis works in a program called Club to create a sequence of preset sound effects, projections and lighting. Before they do any direct programming though, Mathis carefully goes through the script to cover any explicit stage directions pertaining to lighting or sound effects. They then work closely with the show’s director Mia Self to ensure that all elements on stage are cohesive.

For many scenes, Mathis and Self work together to first pinpoint the exact mood of the story and characters in that moment before Mathis does any direct design. For example, one scene, according to Mathis, feels like a distinctly Beach Boys, mellow, chilled-out groove come to life. Mathis said having tangible comparisons like this is important to their designing process.

“It’s super cool to have people that can articulate what they’re feeling and seeing for you, who know what their artistic vision is,” Mathis said. “They’re interpreting people’s feelings in a way.” 

Mathis uses spreadsheets extensively to keep lighting and sound cues organized and in order for the entire show.

The lighting process extends beyond just programmed and projected spotlights and into the set design. Onstage lighting plays an important role in creating atmosphere, particularly when recreating such a vivid setting. It also provides Mathis with the opportunity for creativity in their design. 

“[The set has] a lot of recycled stuff,” Mathis said. “That gives us the capacity to say ‘Hey, let’s put lights in that. What if we put LED tape in X? Or what if we tried to illuminate these milk jugs in this way.’ The way that light plays with recycled materials has been really super cool.”

There are two main roles to fill on the sound side: programming and mixing. While Mathis takes care of programming with pre-recorded sound effects, Kevin Wright, the assistant technical director for event operations at University Theatre, works with sound mixing. Mixing deals with the live aspects of the show and involves making sure that everyone’s volume levels are appropriate. It also ensures that the orchestra and singers are balanced and audible, and generally makes live modifications to keep everyone sounding their best in the moment.

Mathis, who came to theater in a roundabout way after originally studying computer science as an undergrad, said that one of the coolest parts of their job has been getting to teach and share their knowledge with self-motivated and passionate students. According to Mathis, one of the things that makes University Theatre special is that it is heavily supported by student volunteers who bring a passion that they haven’t always seen in other theater settings.

“Teaching in theaters and seeing people volunteering who want to do things, they’re so incredibly excited about being a part of it that it reminds you why you’re there in the first place,” Mathis said. “It kind of re-sparks the magic of that for me. It gives me some perspective into how cool this is because sometimes it’s like ‘Well now I gotta build this stupid moon and bring it with lights,’ but then there’s someone like ‘Oh my God, this moon glows!’” 

Mathis is excited about this production, saying that it has brought forward a surprisingly timely examination of human experience, adding dimensionality and depth to what to most is just cartoon entertainment.

“It’s a nice way to say ‘Yeah [some stuff] happened over the past couple years, but we’re here,’ which is sometimes enough,” Mathis said. 

Check out “The SpongeBob Musical” for bromance, dancing Squidward, and squirrels in cowboy hats.