To develop projections for the stage, she draws from years of experience in video editing, computer-generated imaging and even programming. The results will be projected on a total of seven different displays on the set, with the biggest one approximately 16 feet high.ĭixon is uniquely qualified to handle these kinds of challenges with her background in interactive media, a trade she plied in New York for 25 years before coming to Richmond in 2007. “I would talk to Rick about the details and we would have to think, ‘how do we build that?’” Then there are her poems that are punctuated by important moments where reality is transformed,” she explains. “It starts almost from the beginning when December enters and it’s a magical event. That was before she even got to the most challenging part of the project.

Tennessee Dixon has been wowing audiences for years with her set, video and special effects designs, but she says this play might be one of her most complicated.

“There's quite a lot of intricate coordination that has to happen with transitions that overlap each other.” Dixon says when she first read the script, she created a huge graph plotting moments where a projection might be needed there ended up being about a hundred of them.

Dixon has been wowing audiences for years with her set, video and special effects designs but she says this might be one of her most complicated. To create a setting where reality can be manipulated live on stage, the production’s director, Rick Hammerly, called on Richmond’s projections wizard, Tennessee Dixon. One of the impacts involves time fluctuation, an issue that portends a potential disaster and kicks off the thriller aspect of the plot. The unusual woman in the story is a poet and, when she recites her work, it starts to cause changes in the world around her.

Playwright Bo Wilson wrote 'After December,' which has its world premiere this week in Richmond.

Premiere slideshow