Atomic Design Gives New Looks to Joyce Meyer, James River Assembly

Lighting and Sound America

October, 2006

With her television program, Enjoying Everyday Life, and her self help books, Joyce Meyer is the newest star in the evangelical firmament. Recently, her broadcasts got an upgrade, thanks to scenic designer Tom McPhillips and his company, Atomic Design.

McPhillips' involvement happened through a roundabout path. Having done an MTV Unplugged broadcast with Hootie and the Blowfish years ago, the designer had a relationship with Special Event Services, the North Carolina company that provided that group's staging and lighting gear. Later, the company expanded to handle a number of evangelical clients, including Meyer. Jim Brammer, of Special Events Services, brought in Atomic to do Meyer's touring show. McPhillips made use of a cellular cloth, a sloping grid that takes light beautifully, achieving a new honeycomb look. An overlay of stretch triangles completed the set. Next, McPhillips was retained to do a new set for Enjoying Everyday Life, a project that included refurbishing the studio space.

McPhillips says, "As a way of getting the design process started with the client, we considered various existing TV talk shows to find a look that might have the right complimentary feel for Joyce. My conclusion was that Ellen seemed like a good fit-it has a feeling of openness and light. But I was nervous about putting that idea forward, because Ellen [DeGeneres'] persona seems at odds with the evangelical aspect." However, when he broached the subject, he learned the Meyer team had reached the same conclusion. "They wanted that kind of airiness, as opposed to the Southern mansion look they had previously."

McPhillips notes that Meyer's previous set lasted five years, "so I wanted something that would be timeless." In addition, he says, "We gutted the existing space," he adds, "and rebuilt it to make the studio more user-friendly. We did an epoxy-poured floor, so the cameras could move everywhere. We put set pieces on wheels, so the stage could be configured for music performances or other shows. They shoot two or three shows at a time; then, for different events, they need different setups. We've given them something that's modular, that can change the look in the studio significantly. Each piece moves, apart from the video screen, which we wanted to keep in alignment. We worked with Scharff Weisberg to get a perfect screen for rear projection."

McPhillips brought in designer Abbey Rosen Holmes to redesign the studio's lighting rig. "We needed somebody with a good eye, who was sympathetic to Joyce's lighting needs. Abbey worked with the equipment they had, and made it work beautifully. They have a great day-to-day lighting guy, but Abbey positioned the rig and constructed a library of simple, flattering looks."

McPhillips has had a number evangelical clients, including the Gaither Family and Promise Keepers, but the company got drawn into the church market "when we discovered that 20-30% of our rental clients on a monthly basis were churches or religious events; it was unexpected, as it wasn't a market that we'd actively pursued. But we found our products particularly fitted them."

Atomic has also done a permanent installation at James River Assembly in Ozark, Missouri. "They asked us to come up with a solution to an architectural legacy," says McPhillips. "The building was put up between five and seven years ago. It's a curved auditorium with raked seats. It was designed with choir risers and walls that related to a big internally lit stained glass wall." However, the ministry felt it was too "churchy" for some events, especially live music performances aimed at a younger age group. "The challenge was to do something that could be lit in many different ways; it could be subtle but, with the right lighting, we could turn the place into a rock show. It was a perfect situation for one of my dimensional pieces that you can light either way. We came up with seven Wave Walls that are 9' wide and 30' high and fully deployable-you can raise them in and out, or use them at different heights. Tait Towers did the mechanism and we built the fabric elements."

It's a little strange," he adds, "because it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever done and it's in a church in Missouri, as opposed to being in a TV studio or a rock show. But it lights and works so well, they're looking to do more pieces to extend the range of looks further." He adds, "The way that people worship today is changing dramatically, so the space where that happens needs to change dramatically, too. In fact, that place doesn't have to be a church in the traditional sense all the time. These ministries do a lot of musical shows, and a design like this gives them the chance to completely change the architectural space and do something either absolutely raucous - in a devout way, of course - or absolutely transcendental."