| EVENT REPORT 03.30.06 9:00 PM |
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| Science Center Ball Borrows Theme From Comics |
| The museum's eighth annual event took its decor cues from the Marvel superheroes on exhibit there. |
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| A big budget may top any sane event planner's wish list, but be careful what you wish for. Indeed, the California Science Center blessed the in-house planner of its eighth annual Discovery ball with adequate funds, but Christina Sion, vice president of event services, considered the budget something to be handled with care, especially since this year's party celebrated the state museum's youth-oriented exhibition devoted to Marvel comics. The dance between money and fantasy needed to be a delicate one since the party was designed for grown-ups. As Sion put it, "Our biggest challenge was making sure that this elegant black-tie event didn't look like a bar mitzvah on steroids." |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | The look of the California Science Center's eighth annual Discovery ball was inspired by the museum's youth-oriented exhibition devoted to Marvel comics. |
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 | | The museum's Christina Sion reimagined the lobby as a rooftop dinner party above a Manhattan penthouse. |
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 | | Near the bar area, dancers boogied behind a scrim. |
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 | | Guests had their photo taken with some of the seven actors dressed as Marvel superheroes who circulated throughout the evening. |
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Sion essentially created three parties in separate environments, a moveable feast that took 750 guests from cocktails to dinner to an after-party. The event began with cocktails in the Lorsch Family Pavilion, the semicovered rotunda outside the main entrance. The cocktail party had its own theme, super heroes in Hollywood, which beamed down from two screens on either side of the rotunda, showcasing film clips from Spiderman and Fantastic Four. Surrounding the screens were posters featuring various superheroes. The Hulk got his own bar because Sion thought his jaunty green color would be a fun color for a drink. Bartenders mixed sour apple martinis in glowing green cups served with Hulk napkins. Guests had their photo taken with some of the seven actors dressed as Marvel superheroes who circulated throughout the evening.
The party moved inside for dinner, where the Science Center had been decorated as an extensively researched facsimile of Marvel's universe. Marvel's superheroes often hang out on rooftops and alleyways on the lookout for crime, so Sion reimagined the lobby as a rooftop dinner party above a Manhattan penthouse. Gobo projections re-created the New York skyline on the walls while silk cherry trees surrounded by box hedges were interspersed among the tables. On the tabletops, Sion used black tablecloths, frosted glassware, and white plates in the shape of squares and rectangles from Classic Party Rentals.
After Kensington Caterers' dinner, some guests watched Deep Sea 3D at the adjacent Imax theater, while others moved on to the after-party, which Sion dedicated to the superheroes' quarry. The Villains' Lounge in the Loker Conference Room was designed as an underground club that was literally underground. Using a black and red palette, Sion created atmosphere with props including a subway train front, a Coney Island sign, street lamps, and prison bars strewn with plastic handcuffs.
Dancers boogied behind a scrim near one of the bars while a skimpily dressed girl lounged on a table tempting with other intimations of sin—chocolate desserts. The band Splash kept people dancing until 1 AM, and by the end of the evening, party organizers realized that the decor had been more of a hit than expected. Hurricane urns filled with 150 plastic handcuffs that had been intended as decoration were empty. "All the handcuffs were missing at the end of the night," Sion said. "People just helped themselves."
—Irene Lacher
Photos: Nadine Froger Photography
Posted 03.31.06
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