Behind the Scenes of Manifesto

Most of the performances presented at the Center for the Arts arrive with everything ready to unfold onstage. The lights go up, the pieces come together, and the magic begins.  But every now and then, a show arrives with a different kind of request.

When Stephanie Lake Company brought its production Manifesto to the center in March direct from Australia, they didn’t only need a venue, they needed a partner.

Some Assembly Required

Featuring nine dancers and nine drummers performing on elevated platforms beneath a towering pink curtain, Manifesto is a high-energy work of movement, rhythm, and visual spectacle.

Part of the show’s striking set, featuring bold, layered staging, would be built in Blacksburg by the center’s own production team. For a presenting venue where shows typically travel with everything they need, that’s a rare opportunity.

“It isn't often we build something as large as this,” said Forrest Harrell, the stage and rigging supervisor on the center’s production team.

In most cases, Harrell explains, touring productions arrive with detailed plans ready to execute — sets constructed, systems tested, and every element dialed in before a single item arrives. Manifesto was different.

“They gave us the parameters of what they were looking for and kind of left it up to us to work out how we were going to build it and what materials we were going to build it from,” he said. 

The center’s production team reviewed blueprints, assessed what materials were already available in-house, reached out to rental companies, and worked closely with Stephanie Lake Company’s production team to make sure every choice met both artistic and safety expectations. It was a process that unfolded over time and across continents.

Six Months, Two Countries, One Shared Vision

Planning for Manifesto began about six months before the company arrived in Blacksburg. Over that time, the Center for the Arts production staff and Stephanie Lake Company’s team exchanged a steady stream of emails, drawings, and specifications. Each department — lighting, audio, stage management, rigging — had its counterpart on the other side of the world. The only problem: Australia is roughly 16 hours ahead.

“This isn't something where you can ask a quick question or make a quick phone call,” Harrell said. “You had to think about when you were sending emails so you could get a quicker response.”

Even with careful planning, there was an element of trust. The company packed key components into a shipping container and sent them across the ocean, relying on timing, coordination, and a bit of leap-of-faith logistics to get everything where it needed to be.

Once the timeline shifted from planning to production, the work moved quickly.

Day one focused on infrastructure: rigging trusses and installing the lighting systems that would shape the visual world of the performance.

Day two brought the stage to life. The team rolled out a Marley dance floor (a specialized surface designed to protect dancers) and began constructing the risers that would support the show’s nine drummers.

Day three was all about the details. A custom safety rail system hidden behind the show’s signature pink curtain was built to ensure stability on the higher levels, and curtains were trimmed and adjusted to precise heights. Every element was fine-tuned in preparation for the company’s arrival.

“We made sure everything was as close to what they’re asking us as possible so that we can spend their first day fine tuning what we’ve already done for them,” Harrell said.

The Math Behind the Magic

To the audience, Manifesto reads as bold and immediate, overflowing with color, movement, rhythm, and energy. Behind the scenes, it’s also a feat of precision.

From the placement of platforms to the height of curtains, everything had to fall within tight specifications. And because the production team and the company were working in different measurement systems (in Australia, they use the metric system), even the math required careful translation.

“Everything down to the placement of curtains, the placement of the risers, the placement of the safety rail system, is all down to within an inch of tolerance,” Harrell said. “For a show of this magnitude, it’s really important that the math is correct.”

It’s these details most audience members will never notice, but are essential to making the performance feel seamless.

Why It Matters

For the Center for the Arts, projects like Manifesto are about more than a single performance. Having the flexibility and capacity to build, adapt, and problem-solve on this level allows the center to support a wider range of artists and ideas and to expand what audiences can experience, while also showcasing the depth of expertise within the center’s own team.

“We have a really good production team here with both students and non-students with people from a variety of different backgrounds, including engineering students,” Harrell said. “All of our team members are very smart, care about the finished product, and work hard to make sure that we provide a great entertainment environment and really take care of our facility.”

By the time audiences take their seats, the work is invisible. The platforms are steady, the curtains fall exactly where they should, and the lighting hits its marks. But behind that moment is a months-long collaboration, spanning time zones, toolkits, and creative approaches, brought together by a team willing to build something new.

Top image from the production of Manifesto. Photo by Roy VanDerVegt.
Other photos by Atoosa Sadeghi.