The Origin Story Of Rosco’s New African Mud Cloth Breakup Gobo Designs

Sherrice Mojgani is a Washington DC - based theatrical lighting designer who often uses gobos to create a visual language for storytelling in her designs. For the past few years, Sherrice has searched for African-inspired gobo patterns to use in her designs. After coming up short, she recently decided to take matters into her own hands and created a pair of Custom Gobos that fit her needs - which have now become standard designs in the Rosco Gobo Catalog! Below, she shares her process to encourage others to “get creative instead of getting frustrated.”

A few of Sherrice’s favorite Rosco gobos that she has used in previous lighting designs.

I have a few favorite Rosco gobos (R77563, R71005, and R77411) that I have used with great success in my designs. However, in the last year, I’ve designed about five shows where I would have loved to have used an African-inspired breakup pattern. One of them was Baltimore Center Stage’s production of Tiny Beautiful Things. After searching through Rosco’s gobo collection, I couldn’t find anything to meet my needs for the design. I’ll admit, I was frustrated, but a glimmer of hope passed over me after seeing the African Mud Cloth Fabric patterned light panels designed by Set Designer Simean “Sim” Carpenter.

The light panels were a perfect pattern, exactly what I was looking for in a gobo! I decided to create my own gobo since I wasn’t finding what I needed in any standard offerings. Sim generously agreed to let me use the base of his designs to create the custom gobo pattern to use in the future, as it was too late to create one for this production. With his blessing, I started editing the pattern in Vectorworks.

The "Mud Cloth" gobo patterns designed by Sherrice Mojgani

After reviewing several African Mud Cloth pattern references and considering the fabric patterns are hand painted or the paint is applied using a stencil, I decided to incorporate slight variations into the symbols in the pattern. I also thought it would be a good idea to have a variation of the pattern that was less dense – which turned out to be the gobo I had made for Round House Theater’s production of The Mountaintop.

Renea S. Brown and Ro Boddie in The Mountaintop

Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg conceived of an afro futuristic heaven, and we wanted that vibe to take over the space when the characters, King and Camae, manage to connect with God. We used the less dense custom gobo design to completely transform the space. It was everything I dreamed of! My research and editing, plus Sim’s original design, created the perfect African-inspired gobo pattern for me to use in this production and for future designs.

Renea S. Brown and Ro Boddie in The Mountaintop

Shortly after designing the custom gobo, I reached out to Rosco directly to express my frustrations regarding their lack of diversity in gobos. My input was well received, and they offered to add my gobo designs to their standard offerings! I’m proud to announce my designs are available now as these Standard Rosco Steel Gobos:

• #R78546 African Mud Cloth Breakup (Small)
  
  
• #R78547 African Mud Cloth Breakup (Large)

Although this process was sparked out of frustration, it taught me to never give up even when it seems there’s no solution. I hope my experience will inspire others to think outside the box and to take action when faced with limitations.

Sherrice Mojgani is an award-winning lighting designer whose credits include productions at Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Guthrie, and The Old Globe. To learn more about Sherrice’s work, visit her website at smojgani.com.   If you’re interested in creating your own gobo design, visit the Rosco Custom Gobo webpage or you can also explore our online Custom Gobo Design Tool.