Kaylie Davis, one of two actors who plays Anya/Anastasia in the Elgin Opera House production of “Anastasia,” rehearses in November 2023.

ELGIN — The Elgin Opera House performance of “Anastasia,” playing through Dec. 23, is the first musical performance to use the theatre’s $26,000 professional digital scenery technology.

“We just completed a full digital scenery upgrade that allows us to do a complete 180 (degree) scenic backdrop from one box seat all the way to the other box seat,” said Terry Hale, Elgin Opera House artistic director.

This is accomplished by means of seven high-lumen projectors aimed at various areas of the stage and wings, adding artistic value and the illusion of reality onto the stage. The digital scenery is a cost-effective method of adding richness and a pop-out effect to the stage set without having to spend weeks painting and building elaborate sets with wood and nails.

“We invested money from the Elgin Opera House Improvement Fund that we’ve been saving for this, and we used a $11,800 grant awarded to us from the Wildhorse Foundation,” Hale said.

When Hale put “Anastasia” on the schedule of performances, he knew it would be a big digital show because the opera house received the musical almost directly from Broadway. The Broadway company allowed the opera house to rent the actual projections or stage designs from the Broadway productions to make the audience feel like they are in the world being portrayed.

“That’s what we’re using now with this run of ‘Anastasia,’” Hale said. “It’s complex and a huge leap for us, but we have the help of our technical director, Nathan Harris.”

The presentation software allows a lot of flexibility in how the screens are used and how it’s shaped around the screens, Harris said.

“It’s really a very sophisticated presentation software that can be used to create artistic wraparound scenery and set designs,” he said.

This makes “Anastasia” a lot different from any other show audiences have seen at the Elgin Opera House, Harris said. He said audiences are awed by its 3-D imaging, and unlike direct lighting, which casts shadows and doesn’t cover all stage spaces, the digital scenery software can manipulate the projection to completely cover a space, front and sides, like paint.

Harris said the next show — “Big Fish,” which opens April 5, 2024 — will be another performance conducive to digital stage designs, so audiences can expect to see more of these illuminated stage sets going forward.

Hale and Harris will design their own digital files for future performances. This involves traditional image manipulating and color matching, but over time they plan to build their own file bank of digital scenery. Hale and Harris said they welcome volunteers who have skills in this kind of digital technology.

‘Anastasia’

The Elgin Opera House presents “Anastasia” through Dec. 23 with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays at the opera house in Elgin, 104 N. Eighth Ave.

For details and tickets, visit www.elginoperahouse.com or call 541-663-6324.