An ‘Electric Christmas’ will light up the Anderson Center

Nothing is more satisfying for Lightwire Theater performer Johnathan Whalen than seeing parents and children bond after a show by the New Orleans-based company.

“I like it when parents have that sense of awe and wonder,” Whalen said. “Adults have seen a lot and it’s hard to surprise them. It is so cool when they come to our show and their eyes light up just as much as the children’s eyes do.”

The eyes of the audience members won’t be the only things shining brightly when Lightwire Theater presents “A Very Electric Christmas” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, at Binghamton University’s Osterhout Concert Theater in the Anderson Center (tickets are $26 for adults and $16 for children 12 and under). The show features puppetry-based neon characters that showcase Lightwire Theater’s blend of electroluminescent artistry, dance, storytelling and musical scores.

“It’s a different experience from most shows,” Whalen said of Lightwire Theater’s productions. “We perform completely in the dark. We try to get the theater as black as possible. That allows people to focus on the show itself. The show is done with lights – you don’t see the performers. We tell the show through movement and mime.”

“A Very Electric Christmas,” which will also be held at the State Theatre in Ithaca at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, highlights the journey of a young bird named Max. The bird and his family are headed south for the winter when Max is blown off course and lands in the North Pole. There Max encounters dancing toy soldiers, caroling worms and performing poinsettias, all set to the holiday sounds of Tchaikovsky, Nat King Cole and Mariah Carey.

A holiday show was something that Lightwire Theater co-creator Ian Carney always wanted to do, Whalen said. The company premiered “A Very Electric Christmas” at The Joy Theater in New Orleans in 2013 and toured around the United States in 2014 and 2015.

“The timing was right for us as a company for expansion,” Whalen said of the production that is loosely based on “The Nutcracker.” “We had the time to build the show and put it together.”

“A Very Electric Christmas” became so popular that Lightwire Theater is touring two versions of the show this month. A third version of the show recently completed a tour in Singapore.

“It has been exciting for the company – exciting and scary!” said Whalen, who is one of six performers who will bring the illuminated characters to life at the Anderson Center.

“You learn to wear many hats,” said Whalen, who also serves as tour manager for the company. “Sometimes you do a solo scene, so you are the main character and the focus. But in the next scene, you may be fully in costume but we don’t turn the costume on. We call that ‘ninja work’ – handing out props, taking props away and turning things on for other (cast members).”

Another unique aspect of Lightwire Theater productions is that the company creates its own costumes and then uses black fabric and battery-powered electroluminescent wires to enable its characters to bring light and life to the story.

“We’re proud to say that we build everything in-house,” Whalen said. “A lot of our materials are things you can find at a sporting-goods store or a home-improvement store or even a toy store. We ask: What could they possibly be in our world? What need could they fulfill when we build a costume?”

The chemistry among the Lightwire Theater team (which consists of co-creators Ian and Eleanor Carney, Corbin and Whitney Popp, and Whalen, Stephen Charles Nicholson and Elizabeth Daniels) is essential, Whalen said.

“One of our first thoughts in creating a show is: Can we sit down and enjoy it as much as children?” Whalen said. “We want everyone of all ages to enjoy it. That goes for the physical jokes to the soundtrack.

“Our company is able to employ people from a lot of different performance backgrounds. We have had people who were professional cheerleaders, professional circus performers, dancers, actors and musical theater performers. Ian is open to hearing different points of view and trying to work those things into (the shows).”

Whalen, a New Orleans native with a musical theater background who joined Lightwire Theater in December 2010, said many people still recognize the company from its appearance on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2012. Lightwire Theater advanced to the semifinals of the show. In 2013, the company made the finals of the French TV show “The Best Le Meilleur Artiste” and took part in the 2014 truTV show “Fake Off.”

“It was a fun process,” Whalen said of “America’s Got Talent.” “It was definitely an artistic challenge for us because we are used to telling stories in an hour or 90 minutes. In ‘America’s Got Talent,’ you have 90 seconds for a story arc. It was a challenge to self-edit to that time!”

Lightwire Theater plans to bring its five classic shows to audiences around the United States and the world in 2017. As for the future, Whalen said he can envision concerts with recording artists or even a Cirque du Soleil-like residency in Las Vegas.

“Vegas offers such unique opportunities for artists,” he said. “With the technology available to theatrical artists, the sky is the limit. There are so many ways we could go.”

The company now has “several irons in the fire” and is open to artistic offers, Whalen said.

“We are always talking to people about taking us in new directions and what other mediums we can incorporate,” he said. “It could be working in television or film. We’ve performed at concerts like the Electric Daisy Festival. … We are always looking to challenge ourselves.”