Stage lighting design has its roots in the open air theaters of the ancient Greeks. Without electricity to aid stage effects, theater designers used the position of the sun to determine the timing of a production. Throughout the history of early theater, lighting for the stage integrated natural and artificial sources, such as candles, gas, oil lamps, lanterns, torches, lime lighting and electric arc.
According to Stanley McCandless' 1933 text, "Objectives of Stage Lighting," the central objectives achieved by theatrical lighting are mood or atmosphere, visibility, composition and naturalism. A lighting designer combines these elements at different points in a production. A drama may demand more natural lighting than a musical spectacle, while visibility is key in intimate scenes between a few characters.
The key feature of effective theater stage lighting is its power to use visuals to trigger certain emotions in the audience. A lighting designer uses the tools of intensity, color, form, movement and direction to create effect. Bright lights can heighten mood, while color gels on lights can be more flattering to the skin tone and help to reduce shadows on the face. Lights may lead the action, stay centered upon a scene, or follow the actors. The physical possibilities of light (refraction, reflection and absorption) help a designer make his decisions about lighting options.
Every theatrical production has its singular lighting design, determined by the needs of the playwright, actors, director, producer and light designer, as well as by the limitations and possibilities of the venue. Typical strategies employed by lighting designers include the single source, point source and multi-source methods, which determine the number and location of lights. Other considerations for theater stage lighting are background lighting, area lighting, and the techniques of toning and blending, which can aid transitions between scenes.
Jody Briggs is the author of the "Encyclopedia of Stage Lighting." This reference book contains over 1,500 entries about theater stage lighting, addressing lighting equipment, techniques, concepts, the process of designing for the stage, principles of electricity, the characteristics of light and information about operating a light board. Illustrations and photographs complement this practical primer to the technical side of theater.