This document discusses the role of a lighting designer and provides examples for lighting the play "Bus Stop". The lighting designer's jobs are to provide visibility of actors, reveal set designs, add to the mood and style, and suggest a central visual image. For "Bus Stop", the designer proposes using practical cafe lights, colored washes to set moods, and focused area lights on conversations to direct attention. Cue changes would vary in speed to enhance tension. Side lighting would make characters more dynamic during performances.

1. LIGHT DESIGN
By: Justin Crabb
THEA 1331—13684
Group 16

2. WHAT IS MY JOB?
• Provide visibility of actors
• Reveal shapes and forms of set design and other tech
designs
• Add to the effect of setting, mood, and style of the
production
• Flow on rhythm of visual movement and voice
• Suggest the central visual image to the audience
• Give a dynamic effect to characters

3. PROVIDING VISIBILITY
Universally
Visibility for characters comes mostly
from face light, which these instruments
are usually ERS (Ellipsoidal Reflector
Spotlights) located in the catwalk or
somewhere almost directly facing the
actors’ faces. This is obviously
important so the audience can see what
is going on on stage.
Bus Stop
My design for face light would include
standard ERS’s in a catwalk, and a few
area lights on stage pointing at
important areas that the actors go to
often.

4. REVEALING SHAPES AND FORMS
Universally
A light designer must also light the set
and props so the audience can see the
whole picture as well as the characters
in it. Productions often include some
sort of prop, part of a set design,
costume, or something that symbolizes
something important in the plot. This is
something that should be focused
heavily on as of lights.
Bus Stop
To create the small town effect of the
play, the restaurant will have low
ceilings. The light designer can hang
specials from above the tables of poorly
shaded lights that you would find in an
old cafeteria. A good focus point would
be the bar, where most of the action
takes place. Also, every time Bo and
Cherie have a romantic moment where
they are not fighting, such as when they
tenderly kiss, an amber-pink special in a
heart-shape can focus on them.

5. SETTING, MOOD, AND STYLE
Universally
Lighting can suggest the time of day, a
location (such as a forest or a desert),
the weather outside, and many other
aspects of a particular setting. A good
wash of a certain color can add to the
effect of the mood, and the particular
area lights can have a gel that goes well
with the play’s style.
Bus Stop
The time frame of this play is 1-5 a.m. during a
blizzard, so a special behind the windows and
behind the door will be at a low intensity
containing a steel blue gel covered by a grey
filter gel, suggesting a storm outside. In act III,
a slight purple gel can be replaced with the steel
blue in these specials. A red wash provided by
long strip lights above the stage can add to the
mood in act II when the tension and stress is
high, adding to the mood. A general wash with
even intensities throughout the stage can be
used after something striking happens and the
mood returns to normal. The areal lights can
include a amber gel that matches Cherie’s
dress, and a bright blue gel that matches the
sheriff’s outfit, as these colors match the style.

6. RHYTHM OF VISUAL MOVEMENT
Universally
Bus Stop
A common way for a light designer to aid
the rhythm of the performance is to have
timed cue changes and slower/faster
blackouts, or sometimes a cross-fade
between two cues.
Most of the play would contain 2-3
second cue changes, with a few
exceptions. When the tension is higher,
a one second cue change would make
the pace seem higher and the stress of
the characters would be assisted in
being carried out to the audience. One
particular moment where there would be
a slow fade would be after Bo cries in
act III, after the attention drifts from his
broken heart. The area lights directed
on him can slowly fade to a general
wash.

7. CENTRAL VISUAL IMAGE
Universally
This is important for a light designer
because it focuses on what the audience
should focus on. For example, f there is
a small conversation on a big stage, a
brighter light with more intensity than the
others should be focused on the actors
while the other areas are dimmed.
Bus Stop
Throughout this play, the center of
attention bounces between conversations
in the restaurants. The area lights pointed
at these particular conversations can
intensify while everywhere else has a
general wash. As the characters perform
in act II, such as Cherie’s song, other
areas can be very dim, and side lights
coming from directly stage left and right of
the actors can make the characters seem
at most dynamic and at the center of
attention. As the characters leave, the
area lights pointed at the door can be the
center of attention for the audience.

8. DYNAMIC EFFECT
Universally
To provide a more 3-D effect, each area
should include a warm and a cool light.
The warm light has a gel of a lighter
color than the gel on the cool light.
Usually the warm is an orange-yellow
color and the cool is a light blue color.
To provide maximum 3-D effects to
characters, an area will have a warm
and a cool, side lights from multiple
angles, and a backlight behind the actor.
Bus Stop
To match the outfits of Cherie and the
sheriff, and amber gel can be used for
the warm light and a light-blue can be
used for the cool light. Also, the side
lights used during the performance of
the characters in act II can contain
colors that match their outfits in a
general way. This type of side lighting
gives the characters a great 3-D effect.