Lighting Design

Lighting is one of the most powerful and flexible of the theatrical arts. It makes the stage visible, shapes what the audience sees and feels, sculpts space and bodies, and can transform a scene instantly without moving a single object. This lesson introduces the functions of stage lighting and the tools designers use to control it.

Functions of stage lighting

Lighting serves several overlapping purposes. Its most basic job is visibility, ensuring the audience can see the performers and action as intended. Beyond that, lighting establishes mood and atmosphere, warm and cool tones and different intensities create very different emotional climates. It directs focus, drawing the eye to what matters through brightness, isolation, or a pool of light. It suggests time and place, dawn, midday, ni