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Thinking Like A Lighting Designer

"Lighting affects everything light falls upon. How you see what you see, how you feel about it, and how you hear what you are hearing. Replace the 'a' with an 'e' and you get lighting effects."

- Jean Rosenthal, 'grandmother' of modern stage lighting design

Video Video Tips

Check out this video from the American Theatre Wing featuring Broadway designers Natasha Katz and the late, great Howell Binkley.

Natasha is a 6-time Tony Award winner who is well known for shows like Once, Aladdin, An American in Paris, and School of Rock.

Howell was a 2-time Tony Award winner famous for his designs for In the Heights, Jersey Boys, Come from Away, and Hamilton. He was also one of the founding members of David Parsons Dance Company in NYC. He sadly passed away from cancer in August 2020.

Working in the Theatre: Lighting Design Links to an external site.Working in the Theatre: Lighting Design

(Length 23:06) from the American Theatre Wing (2016).

Think The Guiding Questions of a Lighting Designer

Similar to the set designer, technique and skill as a lighting designer are vitally important, but will ultimately only get you so far. The idea and the intention behind what they are creating on-stage must be equally important.

As a result, it is important for the lighting designer to ask themselves questions like the following when they read the play:

  • What is this story about? What are the major themes, motifs, parallels, or symbolism that the playwright has woven into their writing?
  • What is the underlying internal action or mood of the play? Of the scene? Of each character? Within the world established by the play?
  • Why are we (the theatre, the creative team, the playwright, etc.) telling this story? 
  • What do you want the audience to take away from this story? To feel emotionally when they view it? Does that change over the course of the story?
  • What might the world of the play look like? Does it need to be grounded in reality? Is it abstract? Is it expressionistic?
  • What is the role of light in the story? Is it mentioned at all?
  • What commentary can the light give to the audience about the characters who exist in it?

The answers or further questions they come up with from these self-questions inform later conversations with the director, playwright, and fellow designers.