Interview: Director/Set Designer Jeff G. Rack Deliciously Sparking POWER AND LIGHT at Theatre 40

The world premiere of John Strysik’s Power and Light is currently running in rep at Theatre 40. Jeff G. Rack directs this story of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla in the beginnings of electricity with the cast of David Hunt Stafford, Eric Keitel, Warren Davis, John Combs, Richard Large, Bailey Castle, Mandy Fason and Kurtis Bedford. Jeff graciously made time out of his multi-tasking weekend to answer a few of my queries.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Jeff!

You bet, Gil. I appreciate you taking the time to do the interview.

You have a history with Theatre 40. How long have you been their resident set designer? 

I would say at least 18 years. Wow, I actually didn’t realize it had been that long. That’s a lot of plays and sets.

Power and Light will be your seventh Theatre 40 production you’ve directed. How does a set designer morph into a director? 

I’ve been directing longer than most people realize. When I lived in Ventura (Santa Paula), I did both set design, acting and directing. It’s all storytelling to me. Here in L.A., I directed quite a few pieces with my Unbound Theater group and our Wicked Lit plays, many of which I also wrote. Artistic director, David Stafford, has been very supportive in terms of allowing me to direct on their stage. I like certain kinds of material, so I only direct pieces that truly excite me and that I feel I can add my vision to.  

What aspects of Power and Light made you want to direct it? 

I was surprised to learn about Nickola Tesla a number of years ago, as he was never mentioned in our history classes. Basically, he had been buried by the establishment. I immediately read everything I could about him and found him to be one of the most fascinating men, and truly one of the key creators of the 20th century and beyond. When I read Strysik’s play I knew he had something special, and I knew I could help bring it to life on the stage in an engaging way and create a little theatrical magic along the way. I think my design team and I have done that.

What would your three-line pitch for Power and Light be? 

Four years in development, what I hope is that audiences will walk away not only learning new things about this crazy power struggle that formed our world, but also be deeply moved at the end, as well as see some theatrical magic that even I have never attempted before.

Whom of the cast and creatives have you worked with before? 

Quite a few of them. I like to surround myself with people whose work I respect and who I enjoy creating with, so everyone on the design team, except costumer Michael Mullen who I love and who always delivers. Derrick McDaniels is the resident LD at T-40, but he also did the lighting for two shows I directed at the Whitefire Theatre - Villainy, Strysik’s play about serial killer H.H. Holmes, and also Martians – An Evening with Ray Bradbury. Gabrieal Griego did the amazing projection design work for Martians, and I knew I had to get her on this, as Edison created the movie projector, so yes, it is a bit meta, but appropriately so. You will be wowed by what she has done. Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski is my go-to sound designer. For me he is the best in the business, and always comes up with an intelligent, conceptual sound design, as well as writing beautiful original music, which he has done both for in this show. We worked on a production of The Birds together and he created what we called Birdnado, which scared the holy crap out of the audience. He’s amazing! Judi Lewin (hair & make-up) has done every L.A. show I’ve directed, so ‘nuff Said. Ernest McDaniel, Kurtis Bedford and my fantastic stage manager, Don Solosan, also contributed the cool props (except the 12-foot Tesla coil, which Jeff made).

Eric Keitel, who plays Tesla, and I have collaborated on many shows over the years. He is the actor I go to most often to help me create something special. He always brings an intelligence to his roles as well as just being a damn fine actor and a great collaborator. I’ve also directed David Stafford (Jekyll & Hyde), John Combs (Stories from the Zone) Kurtis Bedford (It Is Done), and Richard Large (Wicked Lit) and they always make any show better. Mandy Fason and Warren Davis are Theatre 40 members, so I had enjoyed their work, and Bailey Castle just came in and blew me away as Anne, so if I sound happy about my cast and crew, I am. I hope that’s not too long of an answer, but the show wouldn’t be what you will see without all of them.

Are you doing the set design for Power and Light? 

Yes, I have, and as it is running in rep with Into the Breeches, it also had to work for that show. In P&L alone, there are 25 different locations, as well as a fever dream sequence, that all occur from 1890 to 1943, so it was a nice challenge to be sure.

This is not your first script by John Strysik you’ve directed. You directed his Death, With Benefits in 2022. How involved was John in pre-production of Power and Light? 

P&L is the third play John and I have collaborated on together. Besides the development of this play, including multiple live and zoom readings, John has been present through almost all of the rehearsals, making changes, cuts, and revisions all the way through the process. John knows that you have to see and hear the words up on their feet and coming out of the actors’ mouths. It is a very important phase in creating a new play. John trusts me to bring his words to life and I think he is an amazing writer and a great creative partner. We make a pretty special team and plan to continue working together on other cool projects.

You’ve also fabricated Universal Studios’ Back to the Future ride and were the lead model maker on Armageddon, Con-Air, Might Joe and other projects. What did you want to be growing up? 

A magician – or a comic book artist/writer, and I’ve actually kind of become both. Film or stage visual effects are definitely a form of magic, and with theater it is happening right in front of you. No CGI. Tesla – and even Edison must have looked like magicians or sorcerers in their day, right? So, being able to recreate Tesla’s electrical demonstrations was a joy and a fun challenge. I knew they had to be in our play presentation and John agreed. Also, I am currently working on an extended graphic novel that I’ve been writing and developing for over 30 years. Jeremy Russnak is my incredible artist, and I will be doing some special art for it as well.     

What was your initial reaction to finding out the Voyager aircraft you designed would be hanging in the Smithsonian? 

I was obviously honored knowing that something I had contributed to would be displayed there. To set the record straight, I did not design the Voyager, I just helped to make elements of the aircraft. If you look on the tail, you will see a TASK Research sticker on it. TASK was one of the first five backers of this project when it was just an idea.

You’re co-artistic director of Arcane Theatreworks. What’s next on their schedule of events? 

My partner, Charlie Mount, and I are discussing what’s next for us. During COVID we did a number of horror-related radio plays, which you can listen to by going to our website or on other podcast sites. We even won some awards for them, so definitely give them a listen. I kind of consider P&L an Arcane project as it fits perfectly within our definition of the type of shows we do.

What’s in the near future for Jeff G. Rack? More directorial stints? More set designing? More model making? 

Strysik and I are shopping around his play about the mystic and alchemist to Queen Elizabeth, John Dee. I am very excited by the possibilities of what we can create on the stage to bring this incredible man’s story to life. Yes, I will continue to design sets for plays and hope to direct a very fun and spooky play for Theatre 40 next year. We shall see.

Thank you again, Jeff! I look forward to seeing your artistic contributions to Power and Light. 

I am excited to have you see what we’ve created, and I hope your audience comes out to enjoy it as well. Live theater took a big hit through COVID, so it is my joy to be doing it again, and I’m grateful to the people who are coming back out to have that live experience with an audience and all of us magic makers.

For tickets to the live performances of Power and Light through April 30, 2024; click on the button below:

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