The Family Copoli

Written by, Andy Colpitts

Musical Score by, Michael Wookey and Andy Colpitts

Introduction to the work:

The Family Copoli is a new post-apocalyptic burlesque musical performed by the Copoli family in the hopes of convincing their audience to reproduce and improve the declining human population. Many years after the solar flare destroyed the world as we know it now, humanity is living very differently. The sun’s rays are now toxic meaning people can only venture out at night. This, unfortunately though understandably, takes quite the toll on emotional and mental health as well as physical of those living in this time; people stop having children, not wanting to bring them into this scary and dark world. The Copoli family, who span 4 generations with the leader of the troupe being Ferdinand, who is one of the few remaining people who experienced the solar flare first hand, take it upon themselves to inspire people to continue expanding the human population through their traveling theatre. Though their show may seem lighthearted and exciting, the family themselves might be struggling behind the scenes with problems of their own.

Challenges and Goals:

The main challenge with this show was to create two very distinct spaces using the same area on the stage, the “onstage” and the “backstage.” We achieved this through the set by creating a rotating flat that was to be pushed manually by the actors with the “onstage” view allowing the audience to see the “proscenium” of the family’s little stage, and the “backstage” view allowing the audience to see what goes on behind the curtain. My job as the lighting designer was to make the spaces feel drastically different; the “onstage” being very performative and colorful and the “backstage” feeling more true to life. The biggest challenge with this was when the two had to blend when tensions rose and what was happening “backstage” began creeping into the performance “onstage.”