Sondheim play gets a high-tech treatment in Des Plaines

Georges Seurat's famous pointillist painting "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" is the inspiration for what Big Noise Theatre Co. says is its most ambitious musical yet, opening Friday in Des Plaines.

This production of Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Sunday in the Park with George," playing off the Art Institute's most famous painting, explores art, emotional connection and community.

In 1884 Paris, Seurat is immersed in single-minded concentration while painting his masterpiece. The people in his life provide inspiration for the characters in the painting. Then, 100 years later, his great-grandson George, also an artist, struggles in the world of modern art.

To make the painting come to life on stage, Director Rick Frendt, a chemical engineer by day, learned software and animation techniques to create the animated characters and landscapes, which will be used in conjunction with live-action video, green screen filming and a unique lighting design. Seven 10,000-watt projectors will help create the work of art.

While similar techniques have been used on Broadway, this will be a first for Chicago area audiences, said Nancy Flaster, artistic director for Big Noise Theatre Co. Frendt worked nine months on the technology before bringing the actors on board.

"Seurat, because of his early adoption of pointillism, is often considered the artistic originator of the 'pixel,' and revered by those who currently work in digital media," Frendt said in a news release. "Seurat's every paint stroke and pencil sketch can be seen to come to life before the eyes of the audience, becoming characters in themselves."