
Lighting design in theatre is more than just illuminating the stage; it is a vital tool that shapes the audience’s experience. From the moment the lights dim, they set the tone, whether it’s the eerie glow of a thriller or the warm hues of a heartwarming drama. Through carefully crafted lighting, the designer guides the audience’s focus, highlighting key moments and directing attention. Lighting also has the power to transport us, whether we’re leaping through time or journeying to distant, fantastical places. In essence, lighting in theatre serves as a storyteller, adding depth and dimension to every scene.
“A lot of it is color choices and what type of color palette fits the world of the play. Do we need to live in a realism world or a fantasy world?” explained Barter’s resident lighting designer Andrew Morehouse. “Living in realism such as when we did Shawshank Redemption limits the types of colors we may want to use, so we rely more on angles and shadow of the light, versus Wizard of Oz in a whimsy world where you don’t have to do as many realistic colors. It’s the different colors that make the mood of the play – whatever play that is.”
Once the lighting team finds out what the show is going to be, they begin the work on trying to figure out what the lighting palette will look like for that specific show.
“To me, there are two ways you can approach it; you can be reactionary to the others on the creative team or follow the initial creator. I see the scenic designer as the initial creator,” Morehouse said. “I tend to be more reactionary in the way I design. I really like to see what world the director and the scene designer have created and then use my lighting design to augment that world and bring it to its best potential.”
Morehouse added that there are some things that are happening at the same time such as scenic design and lighting. In Shawshank Redemption for example, there were a lot of elements that had to be created at the same time to work cohesively.
“A lot of lighting design in that show was dictated by scenic design, such as lighting jail cell doors and using them as a texture, using the bridge as a texture – there were many elements of the set that helped make those unrealistic angles work,” Morehouse said. “In order to light faces we used sconces to make that low angle light seem on purpose.”
It is definitely a team effort to make everything look seamless and work hand in hand – from the lighting, to scenic, to props, they all serve a specific and important purpose to the overall picture.
“For Sherlock and the Case of the Jersey Lily, because we have rolling set pieces, the wall lamps are battery controlled. So I had to make sure props chose fixtures that would go on the walls and work with the equipment we had in stock so we didn’t have to make buys that were unnecessary,” Morehouse noted. “For The Play that Goes Wrong, with a set that is built to fall apart and change, it is interesting because it is just a one room set. Adding wall sconces to that is fine, you just have to make sure it isn’t attached to a wall that is falling. It’s okay to light for the room itself, and when the walls fall around everything, you start seeing backstage areas. It’s okay if those aren’t lit perfectly because they aren’t acting areas. It was unconventional in how it was lit for the different areas.”
Lighting designers can also use the lighting to direct the audience’s focus to a specific part of the stage to follow action they want them to notice by manipulating and angling shadows and streams of light.
“There are also high contrast shows that play with a lot of light versus shadow. The more dramatic, the more shadow you want. So how do you reveal the shapes of what is happening so the story is clear, while also keeping some parts hidden because unknown information is scary. Then trying to pick angles where I can separate the narrator from the action or movement.” Morehouse explained. “We are able to layer colors with our full color changing LEDs. This helps set the specific moods we need.
So we have moving colors and static colors. We program the lights during tech week and set all of that into the lighting console. Then during the performances there is an operator who triggers that so each audience has the same show.”
Morehouse said that even though he has worked on many shows, there are two that stand out to him as favorites of his work.
“The two that stand out to me as favorites are Shawshank Redemption and To Kill a Mockingbird,” he said. “I really like being able to enhance stories and then be able to sit in the audience and see how that work has a direct response to audience emotions. Knowing that the color, shape, movement, or shadow can have a direct cause of fear, awe or gasp in an audience. Or that one lighting cue can cause applause or not. This is especially true with Barter Player shows where there are kids. They will literally move to the edge of their seat and bounce when they are excited or throw themselves to the back of their seat when they are surprised.”
Morehouse noted that The Play that Goes Wrong and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily were collaborative efforts with Catherine Mantooth and Sage Green.