ORFEO Yale Baroque Opera. 2019. University Theater, Yale University Directed by Toni Dorfman Lighting by Solomon Weisbard Projections by Camilla Tassi
He Creates Bold New Worlds on Bare Stages
Set Design by Patrick Huber Philip Boehm at Upstream Theater hired me for this show, with a larger budget than any I had done. The shop that built and painted the set does scenery for Broadway shows and major films. I was playing with the big boys. The show was staged at the Yale University Theater MainStage. The concept of the show was that it was being performed by the passengers and crew of an 18th century French sailing ship.
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atrick Huber and I sat in his backyard in University City on a beautiful spring afternoon recently to talk about his impressive career as a theatrical scenic and lighting designer. As I sipped my La Croix grapefruit bubbly with a splash of agave juice - his favorite refreshment - I looked around at his exquisite garden and bird feeders and realized I was sitting in an outdoor set that was perfect for Patrick. He admitted that his wife, Emily, is really the brains behind it.
If you have ever seen a play at one of the smaller theater companies here, then it’s a sure thing you’ve seen Patrick’s work. He is a master of scenic design and lighting design. Yes, those are two separate crafts, but they work together to create the world of the play or musical. Scenic and lighting design are frequently unnoticed by the audience, except when the curtain or lights go up and they get their first look at the stage. That’s always been a magical moment for me. I know I’m about to spend the next two hours in this temporary but fully realized world. After that, I accept it as a reality.
The actors take me through their story, the mood enhanced by the lighting cues and accents that carry me along until the final curtain. I must admit I am a theater junkie and especially love the productions of the smaller companies in St. Louis. That’s one of the pleasures I have missed most during this long COVID intermission. Maybe you’ve seen one or more productions by those companies. It’s an impressive list, and all of them are on Patrick’s resume’. They include - hold on, it’s a long list - St. Louis Actors’ Studio, Upstream, Max and Louie, the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Orthwein
Theater Company, Union Avenue Opera, Washington University Opera, Hothouse, Shattermask, and - reaching back to 1983 - City Players. That’s an impressive resume, covering almost forty years. And he’s not about to slow down. Last year, Patrick won the St. Louis Theater Circle Award for Best Lighting Design for the play “Indecent.” In 2019, Union Avenue Opera Company won that award for “La Boheme” as “Best Production of an Opera,” for which he designed the scenery and lighting. It all began when he was a teenager. Patrick grew up in South St. Louis, and learned through school and church that it’s disrespectful of all religions to try to practice just one view. He lives that today. He needs ritual, and a time and space, to be sacred. From the saying you’ve probably heard about “people who are gathered in my name,” he believes that’s where the spirit lies and is at the core of theater. Patrick views theater as a community. Actors, directors, wardrobe, scenery and lighting designers, sound design, carpenters and painters, tickets and programs - and the audiences. These are large and small communities. The one quality that brings
