Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1982 - 8

in television, or rock 'n' roll, or
cinematography or in architectural lighting.3 The fact that this art has spread
from a handful of people to scores and
scores in only one generation is highly
significant.
It has always been interesting to me
that of approximately 1200 U.S. colleges and universities that offer programs in theatre. about 258 offer advanced level degrees. In 1978 Robert
Lewis Smith in USITTs Directory of

Graduate Programs in Theatre Design
and Technology found and identified
some 92 of these 250 institutions with
degree programs in theatre design and
technology which include lighting.
Compare 250 theatre irograms or 92
technical theatre programs to another
field - that of medicine - where currently only 115 heavily subsidized
teaching programs exist. Is it a mistake
to train young people for a profession
they may never get a chance to practice?
They need our help.4 And, if we are to
help them, which I believe is our obligation and privilege, we should try to
figure out what will be going on in the
next twenty years, as they are starting
their careers. They will be our innovators, but if we are lurching from change
to change unprepared, we may be
unready for their contribution.
Predicting what the field of "presentation lighting" will be like two
decades from now is most fascinating.
Right now, we can identify many of the
factors that will influence and help
shape the future. For example I)

Theatre Design & Technology

changes in codes or regulations which
have a substantial effect on what equipment and what job conditions are insurable; 2) energy regulations, not as yet
applied to our fields, but in others calling for maximum lighting loads of two
watts per square foot: 3) the ever-changing shapes and challenges of theatre
architecture; and 4) the availability of financial capital to support performance
groups. to supply new facilities and
renovate older spaces.
I feel, however, that the two major
influences in the next twenty years will
be I) the desire to create a new lighting
esthetic; and 2) the availability of new
technology. There is a desire to create or
develop a new lighting esthetic; it is as
much a product of the current technology and the destruction of traditions
in the past twenty years as it is an artistic
yearning. With new tools and new insights, designers have been able to go
adventuring in new sights and light textures. Now I believe they are reaching a
point when many will wish to consolidate and integrate the various influences
of rock 'n' roll, television, film, cabaret,
and disco, and even architectural lighting design into one or several new
"looks" of lighting, just as our predecessors did with the new technologies
of their time. What these "looks" will be
is unknown until we see an integrated
whole and think, "Ah yes, that's a single
unified idea there, and not just a jumble
of new tricks." Perhaps these will come
in classwork, perhaps in practice or
even, perhaps, first in the mind of the
theorist. When they are manifested, of
course, we will be surprised both by the
"obviousness" of the discovery - and
the inspiration of its creator. I believe
that we are in for a time of unification
and collusion among the lighting forms
now - and a greater whole out of the
parts.
How might these be integrated in
lighting design? Perhaps the greatest
single infl uence for change in theatrical
lighting is the level to which an audience
will accept the use of light. Light is
generated in cabaret, casino, and show
room lighting. Light is generated in discotheques. and by touring rock 'n' roll
and pop groups. All of this is the world
of "flash." We know that tomorrow's
theatre audiences may well have substantial hearing impairment, but will
they have eye fatigue as well?
In The Magic of Light the late Jean
Rosenthal writes, "The most successful
and brilliant work a lighting designer
does is usually the least noticeable."

That statement describes the accepted
picture of sophisticated theatrical lighting design currently taught in our
universities a d prevailing in our
textbooks. But rock 'n' roll and pop and
disco - "the world of flash" - has
already had an intense effect on the
scope. tools and esthetics of theatrical
lighting design - more PARs and PAR
strips, more wattage. more instruments.
more dimmers. more"color, more footcandles. For those of us who were
deeply influenced by Appia, Craig.
Robert Edmond Jones, Jo Mielziner.
Donald Oenslager and Lee Simonson.
there is a new esthetic that must be considered since it is showing up on our
theatrical stages, we well as in television
and film lighting and it is. to
paraphrase - "light for light's sake."
The lighting designer has become more
than a member of the visual team - at
times he/she seems to dominate it.
And what are the influences of
television and film lighting on theatrical
lighting? Our British colleagues seem to
see a fight between the theatrical lighting
designer and the television lighting
director for control of the visual picture
- our U.S. designers seem not to be
fazed by working in simulcast for the
television and theatrical media. The
technical vocabulary changes from front
and side and general illumination, to
key, backlight, and fill - a lot of color
is said to disappear from the acting area
at the same time that illumination levels
rise, but, in general, the broadcast video
has retained an essential "theatrical"
character. I don't want to minimize the
problems of simulcast; they present an
important challenge, not the least of
which is keeping audiences in the theatre
enjoying the magic of live performance.
I have not found my American colleagues in a sweat on "simulcast" - indeed it has broadened their design
repertory including making "backlight"
more fashionable in the theatre. But if
you sum up these influences - television. rock, disco, simulcast - I think
you must agree that they are affecting
our anticipation of what we will "see"
when we go to the theatre.
Both Richard Pilbrow in Great
Britain, and our own Tharon Musser
have commented on the spectacular innovations in lighting control made
possible by computer technology - yet
I think both would agree that outstanding stage lighting is still rare, and that
the potential and promise of lighting in
production is seldom fully realized. Is
this because there is just too much tech-

USITT/Fall: 1982

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