Colored lights can be used to isolate certain performers, give the performance a sense of ambience or simply add a dynamic effect to a performance. When using lights of a variety of colors be sure to balance all of them properly, and do not pick colors that clash unless you have a reason to do so. When lighting, less is often more, and the use of color sparingly may have a larger effect than using too much.
Adrian V. Samoiloff was a magician in the 1920s. He devised a way to use color to create optical illusions. The Samoiloff effect describes the creation of scenery and costumes that change color when exposed to different colors of light. For instance, combining complimentary colors such as red and cyan in a costume will result in radically different colors if the costume is lit evenly with colored lights. Blue lights will make the objects seem more blue, red lights more red.
When a production is taking place on a proscenium stage, or a raised stage in front of an audience, one technique used is known as dividing the stage. This means that the stage has a center, left and right, or more subdivisions if the stage is especially large. Lighting will be focused on these areas independently so that a lighting crew can focus on one portion of the stage, depending on where the performance is taking place.
Certain kinds of projectors can be hung from a stage in order to create water or fire special effects. These projectors will typically be hung in the same location as the rest of the stage lights and will shine down onto the scenery of the stage. These projectors can be used on the wall, ceiling or floor. Though these are not the most realistic effects, they can add to the ambience of a performance.