Lightwire Theater’s “Ugly Duckling” brings family-friendly spectacle to Spoleto Festival

For Lightwire Theater, any hardware store or even recycling bin offers endless creative possibilities. PVC pipes, duct tape, election signs and other everyday items bring extravagant light-up creations to life, from dancing dinosaurs to glow-in-the-dark ducklings.

“My husband always says you really have to go into some place and say, ‘There’s a duck leg in here,’” said Lightwire cofounder Eleanor Carney. “You just kind of have to look at the world sideways.”

Since 2007, Lightwire has created a half dozen productions showcasing an innovative blend of intricate puppetry and dance, with electroluminescent lighting at the forefront. One of these productions, the group’s adaptation of “The Ugly Duckling,” will offer family-friendly entertainment at this year’s Spoleto Festival USA.

The New Orleans-based act, which has appeared on “America’s Got Talent” and traveled as far as China and Abu Dhabi, was conceived by friends and fellow dancers Ian and Eleanor Carney, and Corbin and Whitney Popp. Ian Carney and Corbin Popp were working on the Broadway production of Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out” in 2005 when they began experimenting with the electroluminescent wire, or “el-wire,” that lights up their performances today.

Their efforts culminated into an act where concealed, black-clad performers use lights and puppetry to make fantastical creatures come alive in the dark, like animated neon signs. Eleanor Carney said Lightwire’s aesthetic “was as if art met science.”

Tech gives an old story new life

“When Ian saw the wire, he felt that it was really interesting to be able to erase the dancer and make strange forms and different types of creatures,” she said.

According to the Lightwire Theater website, each of its characters requires up to 200 hours to build and may consume up to 16 double-A batteries during a single performance. Developing each show’s technical elements takes almost a year.

“If you’re in the dark, the tech is the big deal,” Ian Carney said.

Everything that Lightwire presents onstage is produced in-house. The technology and creatures are also individually controlled by the performers rather than a computerized system. “We are actually flying the airplane,” Eleanor Carney said. “We are in control over everything, which I think gives a much more artistic experience for the performer.”

Tierney Lawson, who plays the eponymous Ugly Duckling, said the Lightwire performers use puppetry, dance and lighting changes to create a form of nonverbal communication. “It’s kind of got a universal language of music and physicality to tell the story,” Lawson said.

This duck makes a real splash

“The Ugly Duckling,” which premiered in 2012, was the second show the troupe ever performed. It is also one of the few in its repertoire based on a prior work. However, Ian Carney said, the Lightwire version adds to its source material to expand its themes.

“The real story does not allow for the ugly duck to earn his place,” he said. “He simply is a member of the royal family, and that’s all you need to be.”

He said adapting the story “was a really great opportunity to have the duck just say something a little deeper.”

The story’s approachable presentation and messages contribute to Lightwire’s family-friendly atmosphere. For all the blood, sweat and tears that go into bringing its productions to life, Eleanor Carney said, young audiences’ reactions make performing a worthwhile effort. “There’s nothing like performing for five to six hundred screaming kids that are engaged with you during the performance,” she said.

Children belong at live theater

Over time, she said, Lightwire discovered that “one of our missions is that we are getting the next generation interested in the theater.”

Lawson, who has performed with Lightwire since 2009, believes these shows are an important gateway for children into the theater world. “We are exposing kids to a path and opening a door to the arts that is so important to keep physical, live theater alive,” she said.

“The Ugly Duckling” stands out as a notably child-friendly performance among Spoleto’s primarily adult-oriented acts. For that reason, Lawson said it is an honor for Lightwire to be included in the festival.

“I remember as a kid going to the theater for the first time and just how life-changing it was,” she said. “And to thinkwe’re in this incredible arts festival, and we are bringing family entertainment where adults and kids alike are going to enjoy their time there.”

Lightwire’s Spoleto appearance marks a long-anticipated first for the Carneys, who were previously unable to accept an offer to dance at a past festival with a different company. Performing with their own creation makes their debut even more meaningful.

“It’s sort of a special thing for us to finally get to perform at the festival, and it’s even more special that it is one of our own shows,” Eleanor Carney said.

Lightwire Theater will perform “The Ugly Duckling” on June 1 and 2 at the Charleston County School of the Arts’s Rose Maree Myers Theater. The company will stage three performances each day. For times and tickets, go to https://spoletousa.org/events/lightwire-theater/.

Ethan Stinson is an arts journalism and communications graduate student at Syracuse University.