Questions on the history of lighting design

[Syphilis]

I'm currently writing a paper for school (somewhere between 8 and 15 pages) about the history of lighting design and technology in America from the early 1900s to 2010. My plan is to base my analysis around two productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, one that was performed around 1900, and another that I saw in 2010 (put on by the Actor's Shakespeare Project in Boston), and focus on the differences between them. I suppose what I'm trying to determined is what the major changes in lighting technology were over the past hundred years (a HUGE question, I know, but I'll just focus on a few) and how designs changed because of it.

I've a few questions that I thought CB could help out with.

First, have any of y'all light designed a production of Dream? What major choices did you make (realistic vs abstract, how did you handle lighting the fairies vs. the mortals, etc)?

Second, I'm still searching for a specific Dream production from the early 1900s. Does anyone know one?

Third, do you have an opinion on my thesis question? As in, any thoughts on how newer technologies have changed lighting design, if they have at all?

Fourth, what technologies do you use most often, what's your favorite lighting invention of the past century?


I'll add more as I think of them. It's a lot to answer in a single post, but any small thoughts you have would be a great help. Thanks.

 

[JBrennan]

Hey Syph,

Something that might be helpful is to focus more on the advancement of the technology from 1900 to now which really was the factor behind the creation of a lighting designer and lighting design.

Stanely McCandless is usually given the credit as the first to develop a unified theory of a "good" lighting design and to pass that on as a college level professor. I also recommend looiking into Gene Rosenthall and,my personal favorite, Tharon Musser. As some of the first really well known and influential lighting designers.

Tharon Musser, for example, gets the credit as the first person to use a computerized lighting board on a Broadway show, Chorus Line I believe, something that was unheard of and controversial in its day. Mostly because the advent of the computer lighting board potentially put hundres of union operators out of work when they no longer were needed to operate the large on stage dimmer racks and controls.

She also was the one person who lobbied, demanded, and won that lighting design be a category next to scenery and costumes in the TONY awards. Which it was not until long after the field was established and integral on Broadway and around the country.

Musser also took McCandless above and beyond and to places he never would have gone in abandoning and more so adapting his strict rules, one quote I read was she once told him that the McCandless style was, "only A method of lighting, not THE method."

I could go on and on about this since I also wrote a few papers on the history of lighting design for school and studied the technological advances over the century. Ultimately though it comes down the advent of electricity, and after that the computer, which allowed for infinitely more safety, and most importantly, control. Lighting came to be seen as infinitely adaptable and as integral as scenery and costumes and not something the Tech Director, Set Designer, or Stage manager for a show could take care of on their own as was often the case through the early decades of the 19th century and even into the 40s and 50s.

Hope that rambling helps at least a little bit. USITT put out a great retrospective and book on Tharon Musser 2 or 3 years ago if you can find it. It really tracks her life and advancements in the "modern" age of lighting design as she essentially bridged the gap from there being no lighting designer to the position being what it is today. You should also be able to dig up older reviews and interviews with her in theatre mags and reviews online. They will give you a really good background of the changes that were taking place in the field in the 60s and 70s with new technology.

Oh yeah, also the continuous development of dimming systems, which happened along side and before the control systems. The dimming systems got safer/smaller so the control systems got smaller/safer/easier so the options for lighting positions, instruments, intensities, reliability, expanded exponentially. I mean, can you believe they used to use salt water dimmers which consisted of passing current through different salt water baths to control the intensity of lights on stage? I'm sure it made sense at the time but seems unbelievable today.

 

[SteveB]

First, have any of y'all light designed a production of Dream? What major choices did you make (realistic vs abstract, how did you handle lighting the fairies vs. the mortals, etc)?

Second, I'm still searching for a specific Dream production from the early 1900s. Does anyone know one?

Third, do you have an opinion on my thesis question? As in, any thoughts on how newer technologies have changed lighting design, if they have at all?

Fourth, what technologies do you use most often, what's your favorite lighting invention of the past century?


I'll add more as I think of them. It's a lot to answer in a single post, but any small thoughts you have would be a great help. Thanks.

My first thought was why go back to the 1900's ?. Seems that's so long ago that finding any kind of documentation would be near impossible. I immediately thought of the Mid Summer done by Peter Brook on Broadway in '71 as it was a bit different, done on a 3 sided all white set, with resulting difficulties getting the lighting to work (bright walls vs. not as reflective actors faces). At this point, Broadway was still using D.C resistance dimmers, thus the design style was vastly different then today. Here's an IDBD link A Midsummer Night's Dream | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information

One reason for only going back this far, is up to A Chorus Line, not much had changed on Broadway - lighting wise and in terms of technologies, since the 40's or 50's. The advent of electricity was major, as was the ellipsoidal spotlight and finally the advent of a dedicated Lighting Designer around the early 60's (Abe Feder, Jean Rosenthal, etc..), but a HUGE jump was made with ACL with AC power, computers, SCR dimming and a steady adaptation of R&R technologies for moving lights, scrollers, trusses, motorized scenery, etc...

The LD for Mid Summer in '71 was Lloyd Burlinghame, the (I believed) retired former chairmen of theater design at NYU, in NYC. I would contact the department to see if he's available and/or can be contacted (I believe he's still alive).

FWIW, Lincoln Center in NYC has a terrific Library of the Performing Arts and I'd bet there's some resources on-line that would be of use.


My most used and favorite technology is the computer and the computerized lighting console. It's changed everything and makes our jobs immensely easier.

 

[Footer]

As others have said, you are going back way to far. In 1900 they were happy to have the stage lit. You won't find any info on how the stage was lit besides the fact that it was. In the Vaudville period you had the same issue for the most part. As Steve said, things did not really take off until the 70's, and they took off fast.

I would also suggest you shy away from a Shakespeare show. In the 19th and early 20th centuries very little Shakespeare was performed. It was not until the late 30's and early 40's that it was brought back.

You might want to look at the act of design in the early century compared to the later century. I suggest you read "The Dramatic Imagination" by Robert Edmond Jones. He was a designer in the first part of the 20th century. Back then there was no scenic designer, lighting designer, or costume designer. One person did it all. You could easily write an entire paper on Jones, Musser, and pick your current favorite designer.

You might also want to look at something a bit more popular as time passed. Othello was produced by Stanislavski in 1896 and he wrote a book about it. I have no clue whats in the book, but its there. He was one of the few people that did write about the shows he produced that survived. He might spend a page or two discussing lighting choices if your lucky. Jones did the show in the '40s and wrote about it. I am sure it has been revived again the the last 5 years or so by a Rep company somewhere in the country.

 

[mstaylor]

Not to pile on but going back to the 50 to 70s up to present day would make a pretty good difference. I got into lighting in the seventies using autotransformer dimmers and have pregressed to the present day DMX fed boards. Lekos and fresnels to Source four and movers. I don't know I would tie it to a particular show but instead just the technology itself or as suggested some the designers.

 

[SteveB]

Not to pile on but going back to the 50 to 70s up to present day would make a pretty good difference. I got into lighting in the seventies using autotransformer dimmers and have pregressed to the present day DMX fed boards. Lekos and fresnels to Source four and movers. I don't know I would tie it to a particular show but instead just the technology itself or as suggested some the designers.

Michael makes some good points as to time line, as the invention of the transistor in the early 50's drove the solid state device to be utilized in new ways. That resulted in SCR dimmers, remote control lighting systems (preset consoles) and computers. As well, a lot of new and revolutionary gear was being utilized outside of the West End/UK and Broadway/NY markets, namely in universities and new facilities being built for regional theaters.

Maybe a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or Waiting for Godot, or something that was modern and "avant garde" at the evolution of solid state dimming and control, and would have stretched and explored the boundaries of the "new" systems, would be appropriate, as compared to a current century version.

 

[SHARYNF]

lloyd Burlingame (no H) is still alive, is blind with a seeing eye dog called Kemp

I will PM you his address/phone

Sharyn

 

[Syphilis]

Thanks Sharyn. I'll have to gather my thoughts a bit, but I'll definitely get in contact with him.

Based on what I've heard, the early sixties sound like a good place to start. I only decided to go with Dream because I've just seen an ASP production of it, and I know the TD personally. But I'm also super familiar with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and if I get better sixties sources for it than Dream I'll switch gladly (wikipedia reveals that Stoppard put up the first production in 1966, so that works nicely).

Brennan, that salt water baths thing is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[JD]

Oh! Recent history! Well, you miss all the great stuff about gas lighting, Kerosene projectors, and Hydrogen / Oxygen Limelights! You know, the days when working a theater was akin to working as a firefighter, complete with days where the two jobs overlapped! Looking at some of the equipment used (especially the limelight), you get the idea that you would not want to be closer that two city blocks away to watch a show back then!

 

[PMWest]

It's also important to remember that prior to A Chorus Line much of the west side of Manhattan (and the theatre district) had only DC current - a result of the turf wars between Edison and Westinghouse - which made the use of SCR dimmers impossible. Broadway was stuck with the resistance-plate ("piano") dimmer boards until well into the 70s. Does anyone out there know the story of the conversion of the Booth Theatre to AC? Perhaps Marilyn Rennagel or Gordon Pearlman could weigh in on this.

Another bit of technology trivia for your research: Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe (1882) was the first electrically-lit production at the then-new Savoy Theatre in London. In it, the Queen of the Fairies sings an aria to the Captain of the Fire Brigade ("O Captain Shaw") to reassure the audience that firefighters were standing by in case the new technology proved unsafe.

 

[gafftaper]

If you have questions about Tharon Muser and that famous production of A Chorus Line drop @STEVETERRY a private message he was there running that board. Keep your questions brief and to the point he's a good guy but he's also busy.

Also read this thread and this thread

...and when you are done think about posting some of what you learn here in CB's Theater history forum.