A PP presentation created for Rhetoric and Research class as Lee University.

1. By Emily Miller
Eng 110-14
THE ILLUMINATING LIFE OF
LIGHTING DESIGNER JEAN
ROSENTHAL

2. WHY IS LIGHT IMPORTANT?
There is an obvious answer: without it, we wouldn’t be able to see anything.
But lighting also influences other parts of our lives. It affects our sleep patterns (our
REM), our moods, and even influences how we hear sounds.

3. • Stage lighting embraces the effect light has on us
• Designers are able to control the light and use it to create moments that impact
audiences within all kinds of productions
• Changing the color of light, controlling angles of a light fixture, and controlling the
brightness of light are some of the main ways light is controlled.
• Jean Rosenthal was a designer who pioneered in the manipulation of light
LIGHTING IN THE PERFORMING ARTS
Lighting design for Julius Caesar in 1937 (left) and for Hamilton in 2015 (right)

4. • Born in New York City
• Lived 1912 – 1969
• She paved a way for women in
the technical side of performing
arts as one of the first stage
lighting designers
• In the 1950s and 1960s, Jean
was the most sought after
American lighting designer in
America and Europe
• Described by Lael Wertenbaker,
her persona was one of “vitality,
which refreshed rather than
tired you… her profound
courtesy, the provocative
originality of her mind...her
warmth...were characteristics
which made her a marvelous
friend to have” (Rosenthal, v).
Jean Rosenthal in 1940
WHO WAS JEAN ROSENTHAL?

5. EDUCATION
- She did not attend a conventional school in her elementary years
- She was sent to two avante-garde schools: Ethical Culture School in the Bronx
and Manumit School in Pawling, New York
- She then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater where
Jean met the inventor of contemporary dance, Martha Graham, and started
apprenticing under her as a technical assistant for productions
- Jean finished her education at Yale College where she studied under famous
lighting designer Stanley McCandless

6. • Jean worked at the Mercury Theater
with Orson Welles and John
Houseman before working on
Broadway
• She designed lighting for eighty-two
Broadway shows including original
productions of famous Broadway
shows such as West Side Story
(1957), The Sound of Music (1959),
Hello Dolly! (1964), Fiddler on the
Roof (1964), and Cabaret (1966)
• Jean designed for thirty-four of
famous dance choreographer
Martha Graham’s dance productions
• She opened two businesses in her
life: one for renting out stage lighting
equipment called Theatre Production
Service, Inc. and the other as an
architectural lighting design
consultant.
HER WORK
Jean’s designs for Errand into the Maze in 1948 (top) and West Side Story in 1957 (bottom)

7. Jean gave immense attention to detail as can be seen in a section of her project
A Photo Essay on Light
A PHOTO ESSAY ON LIGHT

8. JEAN’S PROCESS OF DESIGNING WITH
LIGHT
Focusing charts, equipment lists, and light plots

9. • Automation has changed the lighting industry significantly
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqMYsjHU5rU#t=19m00s
PERFORMANCE LIGHTING
TODAY
A conventional “leko” ellipsoidal light fixture
An automated MAC Quantum Profile light fixture
Both of these fixtures are used
in Conn Center!

10. • Though Jean did not live to see the
extraordinary advances in automated lighting
technology, her organization, documentation, and
designs revolutionized the stage lighting industry
methods that designers and technicians use
today
• On May 1st, 1969, Jean passed away from
cancer at age 57
• Jean was a 1969 special award winner of the
Outer Critics Circle Award for her innovations in
lighting design (Playbill.com)

11. • Imhoff, Matthew. “1940’s Lighting Design: Jean Rosenthal (1912-1969).” Modern Period
Resources, February 2, 2015,
http://modernperiodresources.weebly.com/1940s-lighting-design.html
• David Korins Design, The sett of “Hamilton.” Sullivan, Patricia. UMass: The Magazine of the
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
http://www.umass.edu/magazine/fall-2016/stage-presence
• Unknown, The Lighting Archive: Portrait of Jean Rosenthal, 1940. New York Foundation for the
Arts. 2013. http://thelightingarchive.org/show.php?show_id=24
• Rosenthal, Jean, and Lael Wertenbaker. The Magic of Light: The Career and Craft of Jean
Rosenthal, Pioneer in Lighting for the Modern Stage (1972). Print.
• Unknown, photograph. The Grand Street Building in 1916. Wikipedia, 31 December 1915.
Photograph.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_Playhouse_School_of_the_Theatre
• McCandless, Stanley. A Method for Lighting the Stage. Theatre Arts Books, 1958. Book cover.
• Unknown, Errand into the Maze, 1948. “The Lighting Archive: Jean Rosenthal.” New York
Foundation for the Arts. 2013.
http://legacy.thelightingarchive.org/archivePage.php?display=genre&viewing=&open=Martha%20
Graham%20Dance%20Company|Jean+Rosenthal|Graham%20Rep%20Light%20plot%201948%2
0-%20Errand%20into%20the%20Maze&id=17
BIBLIOGRAPHY

12. • Bush, Lawrence. Photo. Jewish Currents, Sept. 25th, 2013,
http://jewishcurrents.org/september-26-west-side-story/
• Rosenthal, Jean. Jean Rosenthal Papers, Box 4 Folder 5. April 4th, 2013, WCFTR Blog,
https://wcftr.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/jean-rosenthal-first-lady-of-lighting/
• Unknown, Photo of MAC Quantum Profile. Martin Lighting,
https://www.martin.com/en-us/product-details/mac-quantum-profile
• KeepOnTruckin, A Source Four ERS with major parts labeled. 22 September 2006,
Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_lighting_instrument
• Mitchell, Jack. Jean Rosenthal. 1962, Getty Images,
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/565863327
• Unknown, photograph. AAA. https://www.oregon.aaa.com/2017/09/lighting-the-way/
• Unknown, Sunrise and Sunset. Apps4Hue.com. http://apps4hue.com/product/sunrise-and-
sunset-for-hue/
• “Jean Rosenthal, Designer.” Playbill.com, Playbill Inc., 2017,
http://www.playbill.com/person/jean-rosenthal-vault-0000002305
BIBLIOGRAPHY