Stuart Wheaton

The World’s Brightest Glowing Thing

In reviewing the requirements for a dance piece dealing with the life and music of Jim Momson and the Doors, Northern Illinois University Resident Lighting Designer Mark C. Williams casually remarked, “and then the dancer holds up ‘The Worlds Brightest Glowing Thing.’” Marks objective was to symbolize the short, bright candle of Momson’s life with an effect that had the intensity of burning magnesium. But the Lighting Designer’s objective left the Master Electrician (me) with two questions: “What is The World’s Brightest Glowing Thing?” and “How is it powered?”

The Thing was to be smuggled onstage by a dancer in the corps and passed to the crouched Morrison figure, while the rest of the dancers ...

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