Lighting Design

Principles of Lighting Design - IB Theatre Teacher Support Material Lighting is the most ephemeral and abstract design element, and aspiring practitioners will need patience and an open, creative mind to master this unique form of communication. - Lighting Designer, Berklee Career Community Careers Profile

Stage lighting can help you capture the audience’s attention and enhance a stage production by:

Illuminating the stage - the performers, sets and props - so the audience can clearly see everything they’re meant to see onstage.
Highlighting different areas, helping you direct audience members’ eyes where they should go.
Setting the scene, creating the visual you want in a scene - sometimes even creating optical illusions with lights.
Controling the mood by matching the lighting to the content of the show to encourage the right emotions in the audience.
Creating a composition by making pictures that are both beautiful to look at and functional for the scene.

Look on this page for links to articles, videos and websites with information about lighting design and designers.

Production Elements
The IB Theater course divides production elements into scenic (costume, set, props, make-up, etc.) and technical (lights, sound, multimedia, etc.). Think of the individual elements as “tools of the trade”, each tool purposefully deployed in order to craft moments of theatre and to have an effect on the audience. This document gives ideas for how you can experiment with the different production elements. IB Theatre Teacher Support Material

What Does a Lighting Designer Do?

"Lighting designers devise and often manage the lighting for plays, musicals, operas, concerts, tours, television and movie sets, and art installations, to name just a few."

Lighting Designer (Also Called: LD) - Berklee

Lighting Designer - Berklee Career Communities Profile
This page answers the question, What does a lighting designer do? Topics covered include the typical career path, finding work, professional skills needed, interpersonal skills need, and work life.

A Guide for Lighting the Stage - eBook and posters

Electronic Theatre Controls (or ETC, a manufacturer of lighting equipment) has published an eBook available for download: Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.

The company has also created a set of posters that summarize the concepts presented in the eBook. See below for links to the eBook and posters.

Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction
This eBook covers the objectives of lighting design, the controllable properties of light, types of lights, lighting angles, color, lighting systems, and planning your design. Presented by ETC, an American lighting technologies company.
Objectives of Lighting Design Poster
Presents the five objectives of lighting design that can guide the lighting designer through the creative process: Visibility, Revelation of Form, Mood, Setting the Scene, and Composition. Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Controllable Properties of Light Poster
Explains the four controllable properties that you can manipulate to achieve the five
objectives when creating your lighting design: Intensity, Color, Movement, and Distribution. Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Types of Lights Poster
Explains what each of the five types of light can do and how they can be used: Floodlight, Par, Fresnel, Profile, and Moving Lights. Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Lighting Angles Poster
Presents the pros and cons of placing lights in different positions. "Most lighting designs will have lights rigged in a number of different positions and each one will deliver a different effect which, when used together, help achieve all the design objectives and create beautiful stage pictures." Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Lighting Systems Poster
Provides layouts for simple and complex lighting systems, along with definitions of key lighting terms. "In any lighting system, you will find luminaires, a power control system, a lighting desk, and a network of power and data cables that link everything together.". Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Acting Areas Poster
An explanation of the nine zones that proscenium stages are typically divided into, along with illustrations of other typical stage layouts. "All these positions are named from the actor’s point of view when facing the audience." Also included is a list of stage components with definitions. Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.
Color Poster
An explanation of additive color mixing, subtractive color mixing, complimentary colors, and choosing colors. "Color can create atmosphere, set the mood, tell us about time of day, and even dramatically change the way something appears on stage." Poster created by ETC to accompany the eBook, Stage Lighting Design: An Introduction.

The Basics of Good Stage Lighting Design

The Basics of Good Lighting Design: Lighting Them Up
This article introduces some principles of lighting design and the ways they can enhance your production. "At a basic level, your lighting should make it easy for the audience to see what the director wants them to see, and when done well, it is both practical and creative." Written by Andrew Koch for Dramatics, a publication of the International Thespian Society.

Storytelling Through Lighting

Storytelling Through Lighting: A Student Technician on Designing with Light
A student lighting technician writes about how she approached her role in theatre productions at her high school. Topics covered include 'Putting the pieces together', 'Developing the light plot', 'Instrument selection', 'Palette of gels', and 'Power of Patterns'. Written by Abigail Whitford for Dramatics, a publication of the International Thespian Society.

Science and Magic : Illuminating the Stage with Lighting Design | Jessica Greenberg

(9:55) How does theatrical lighting shape the way an audience experiences a performance? How do designers use technology on stage to tell a story? Learn more about the hidden art of theatrical lighting design and the ways that light affects our everyday lives.

With more than 80 designs to her credit, Jessica Greenberg's work includes lighting for off-Broadway venues such as 59E59, ART Theaters, and La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Utah collaborators Salt Lake Acting Company and SB Dance, and academic guest designs at Amherst College, Smith College, and Yale University. Winner of the Design Arts Utah Juror’s Award in 2016. BA: Hampshire College, MFA: UMass Amherst. Member of USA 829.

Working in the Theatre: Lighting Design - American Theatre Wing

(23:06) A technician, an artist, a magician... What does a Lighting Designer do in the theatre? American Theatre Wing dives deep with Tony Awards -winning lighting Designers Natasha Katz and Howell Binkley as they explore the assortment of creative and technical goals in developing a story through lights on stage. Learn about the history of the field, the equipment, and the artistry of design as Natasha Katz and Howell Binkley show us their work at the PRG: Live showroom and onstage at Hamilton: An American Musical and Aladdin - The Musical.

Mike Wood - Lighting Designer

Mike Wood - Lighting Design / Direction
Website of Mike Wood, American lighting designer and art educator. Go to the Portfolio tab to see photos from many of Mike's theatrical productions. Mike is currently the Director of Production and Resident Lighting Designer for City Springs Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia.

Alex Vásquez Dheming: Lighting Designer, Production Manager

Alex Vásquez Dheming: Lighting Designer, Production Manager
Website of professional lighting designer Alex Vásquez Dheming. "My work is informed by the double-edged belief that performing and entertainment arts can be both a catalyst for change and regeneration, as well as a positive opportunity for escapism and beauty." Click the "Live" link to see examples of her work in stage lighting design, events, and projection design.

Stage Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know

Stage Lighting 101: Everything You Need to Know
This blog post from Illuminated Integration covers the basics of stage lighting, including the goals of stage lighting, stage lighting terminology, the types of stage lighting fixtures, lighting positions, lighting colors and textures, dividing the stage, and hanging light fixtures. Illuminated Integration is a lighting design firm in Pennslyvania.

Color and Light: Understanding Building Blocks of Lighting Design

Color and Light: Understanding Building Blocks of Lighting Design
The article discusses the differences betwen color in pigment and color in light, and how that affects the use of primary and complementary colors of light. Also discussed are is mixing light colors, specifically additive color mixing, subtractive color mixing with filters, and "CMY" subtractive color mixing. Written by Joe Beumer for Dramatics, a publication of the International Thespian Society.

Lighting the Way: Learn lighting design tricks to illuminate any production

Using Color in Lighting Design
The article explores how the principles of additive color mixing and subtractive color mixing principles are used on stage to help tell a story and unify a production. Written by Joe Beumer for Dramatics, a publication of the International Thespian Society.

IB Theatre - Production Proposal (first assessment 2024): Lighting Design