IN POST PRODUCTION

Produced by Rainlake Media, and currently in post-production, PLAY THE LIGHT is the first full-length documentary to tell the story of the Joshua Light Show — called “the most psychedelic light show of all time” by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2012 — and explore its central role not only in rock and roll history, and in bringing to life the iconic design style of the 1960s, but also in the burgeoning popularity of projected light art around the globe today.  Pioneered in 1919 by Thomas Wilfred and made world famous in 1968 by the mind-bending visuals of the Joshua Light Show at New York’ Fillmore East, this arcane practice continues to draw innovators today, working at the intersection of art, science and human perception.

Dubbed the “forefather of VJ culture,” founder Joshua White pioneered rock and roll theater lighting with his uniquely crafted artistry at the age of 25 with a young group of collaborators. Together they performed transcendent shows with all-star headliners including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Who and many others. A hallmark of the Light Show was the group’s real-time improvisational use of handmade liquid projections, common reflective objects, and repurposed theatrical lighting apparatus.

The Joshua Light Show was regenerated in 2004 when, at the invitation of the Anthology Film Archives in New York, Mr. White teamed up with artist and Emmy-winning Pee Wee’s Playhouse set designer Gary Panter, using the original techniques and 40-year-old gear. Since then, over numerous engagements from LA and New York to London and Berlin, the show’s sophistication and stunning effects have continued to evolve with the participation of a multi-generational group of artists who bring a new dimension and a shared passion to Joshua White’s vision. These recent shows have been called “abstract cinema,” “visual music” and “living artwork of organic complexity.”

PLAY THE LIGHT tells the history and legacy of the Joshua Light Show through beautifully filmed behind-the-scenes access as Josh White and his team rehearse and stage major performances at San Francisco’s Exploratorium in 2014 and at New York University’s Skirball Performing Arts Center in 2017. Additional scenes, including with ensemble members in their studios, with Wilfred collectors Eugene Epstein in Los Angeles and his nephew AJ Epstein in New York, professor of handmade cinema Greg Zinman, Yale Art Gallery curator Keely Orgeman, and at the New York Historical Society, will reveal the origins and secrets of this unique and timeless arcane art.

For more information, contact: kelly@rainlake.com

Click here to support the telling of this significant history through a donation to the project’s 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor
Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV).
Your donation will be automatically earmarked for “Chasing Curiosity” and is fully tax deductible.