Summary:
- MASARY Studios transformed standard opera by blending scenic design, animation, and projection, moving text beyond simple translation to become an active element of the visual storytelling itself.
- The elaborate production was powered by Epson large venue laser projectors, providing the high-impact visual clarity needed for large-scale stage environments.
- The project highlights a multidisciplinary production strategy, seamlessly merging traditional theatrical set design with modern digital animation and projection mapping.
Opera has long relied on translated subtitles to make its stories more accessible. When Boston Lyric Opera prepared to debut its first production at its new Opera + Community Studios in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, it invited MASARY Studios to help reimagine the role of translation. Working across scenic design, animation and projection, the MASARY Studios created “supertitles” to accompany the opera, integrating larger-than-life animated typography into the set that was powered by Epson large venue laser projectors, making the words part of the storytelling itself.
[Projection Mapping Lights Up the White Cliffs of Dover]
“Operas are sung in Italian, German, and French, and translation has always been treated as a utility, something to be read rather than experienced,” said Sam Okerstrom-Lang, co-founder of MASARY Studios. “You’re listening and reading all at once, which can disconnect the viewer from the richness of the performance. Our goal was to make the supertitles expressive, to animate the type itself and embed it into the scenery, allowing the words to carry the emotion of the story rather than just explain it.”
As neighbors in the same Fort Point building, Boston Lyric Opera saw MASARY Studios’ projection and media expertise as an opportunity for its new theater and scenic design installation. The collaboration began not with a technical specification, but with the idea that translated text, traditionally handled away from the main stage, could become an integral part of the scenery. MASARY Studios designed animated typography for a story centered on three characters, with fonts styled and paced to match the emotion of each passage. The typography appeared in varying styles and moved in time with the singing, so the translation became expressive alongside the performance.
“We approached this as scenic design first and translation second, which meant the typography had to perform alongside the singers,” said Okerstrom-Lang. “By stylizing and animating the phrases, and timing the text to the music, the words became an expressive scenic element through video projection.”
“MASARY’s work and their use of Epson technology brought a new dimension to the opera-going experience,” added Bradley Vernatter, BLO’s Stanford Calderwood general director and CEO. “The text design, animation and movement kept audiences inside the world of the show and underscored the emotional center of the work.”
The production required a projection system capable of maintaining color and contrast across two very different surfaces. Two Epson large venue 4K 3-chip 3LCD laser projectors, converged into a single image, carried the “supertitles” across the set. A third projector, the 10,000-lumen 4K EB-PQ2010W fitted with an ultra short throw snorkel lens, powered a rear-projected window built into the set. The window became a portal through which singers could perform, while lighting and projection transported audiences between scenes, settings and moments in time. This content ran through a media server, while the projectors’ interchangeable lenses and Epson Projector Professional Tool (EPPT) enabled the design team to converge, warp and fine-tune each image from a browser rather than a handheld remote.
As Okerstrom-Lang explained, theater venues are often unforgiving, creating challenges in working around sightlines, throw distances, and whatever is already hanging in the room. One example was an HVAC unit in the theater that wasn’t in the drawings and blocked the planned projector placement. That led to Okerstrom-Lang quickly re-rigging the system, swapping the lensing, and adjusting the image without compromising the design.
“MASARY Studios saw creative potential in what audiences had long accepted as a limitation, transforming translation into an expressive part of the performance,” said Chris Teguh, product manager, Epson America. “It’s inspiring to see how thoughtfully typography, music and scenic design were brought together, and we’re grateful our projection technology could play a supporting role in bringing that vision to life. Projects like this demonstrate what can happen when artists are given the freedom and tools to explore new ways of telling stories and connecting with audiences.”
