A scene from Anthony Davis’ “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” Alex Jainchill, faculty member in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, was part of the creative team on the production as lighting designer. (Photos by Marty Sohl / Met Opera)
How do you illuminate the powerful story of civil rights leader Malcolm X on the opera stage? It was a challenge that lighting designer Alex Jainchill couldn’t pass up, working on a groundbreaking opera at the renowned Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Jainchill, assistant teaching professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Drama, is part of the creative team for “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” which had its Met debut on Nov. 3. The production is highlighted as part of the Met: Live in HD Broadcast Series. It will be airing at Regal Cinemas Destiny USA Theater on Saturday, Nov. 18; presale tickets are on sale now.
This production of Anthony Davis’ opera, which premiered in 1986, is directed by Tony-Award nominated director of “Slave Play” Robert O’Hara. The opera is described as imagining “Malcolm as an everyman whose story transcends time and space.”
Alex Jainchill
Jainchill, who teaches lighting design, says the artistic team behind this restaging saw the production as one that should be influenced by Afro-futurism—with elements that included a spaceship crash-landing onstage. This ambitious concept created some challenges in developing the environment, but for Jainchill, the biggest challenge in creating this production was in living up to the legacy of Malcolm X.
“As our director, Robert, so nicely put it during the Met production, we must earn telling this story every night. I was very motivated to help tell this story as well as I could,” Jainchill says. “Through my research it became evident how brilliant and charismatic a person Malcolm was. And how sadly relevant many of his ideas still are today.”
Jainchill, who teaches lighting design, frequently collaborates with O’Hara. He was the lighting designer for last season’s “Richard III” (Shakespeare in the Park) featured on PBS’ “Great Performances.” His other work includes designing a Lortel Award-Winning Production of “A Raisin in the Sun” for the Public Theatre; world-premiere musical “Gun and Powder” at Signature Theatre; and “Macbeth” at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He is a longtime collaborator with the Berkshire Opera Festival in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he has lit productions of “Fallstaff,” “La Bohème,” “Don Pasquale” and “Three Decembers.” He has two associate lighting designer credits on Broadway: “Old Times” (American Airlines) and “Significant Other” (Booth). He was also the associate lighting designer on the world premiere of “Dear Evan Hansen.”
His latest work with “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” marks his first time on a production at the Met. In this Q&A, he shares a behind-the-scenes look at the creativity in putting together a masterful opera production.