Lighting One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was a fun challenge! The director and set designer had a vision in making the “nurse’s station” area to be more industrial and structured, and as the set moved away from that station, it began to deteriorate - to show how the minds of the patients in the hospital also became broken. We chose to mimic this feeling as well with the lights.

“Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” has two casts - a present and a past - and several times both eras were on stage at the same time. To help the audience follow the “Then” and “Now”, the teens were bathed in colors whenever their scene was happening, and the adults were in a stark light.

The director for this Greek tragedy wanted to have dark and moody lighting both to start the show and to end it. I chose to convey the passage of time with the lights crossing over the stage from “East” to “West” - pictured here is the opening scene in the early morning sunlight.

The look in 1984 was stark and white for the Ministry of Truth and for Room 101 - but warmth was utilized when the scene shifted to the interior of O'Brien's home - to show the difference between what the Ministry offered their underlings vs. what they offered those in the inner party. A solo spot was the only light for the scenes in Room 101, showing Winston alone and emphasizing shadows.

Barefoot in the Park was a single, interior set, so we used LEDs on the sky to help set the time of day. As the play progressed, the sky would reflect the mood of the characters - becoming dark and purple for when Paul and Corie were fighting and then moving to bright pink and red when they realized that they could indeed walk barefoot in the park.

Area zones were again utilized for this fast-paced courtroom drama. As a minimalist set was used, the lights in A Few Good Men helped tell the audience where on the stage the action was happening as well as the location in the story (Kaffee's office was lit in browns, greens, and blues, to give the feeling of florescent lights, whereas Jessup's was lit in red, orange, and yellow as his office was in the heat of Cuba).

Deathtrap was another interior set, but with a view to the outside patio where we could again play with the time of day reflected through the window. A lightening storm was also created during the climax of the show with minimal lighting.

Laura Ingalls Wilder: Voice of the Prairie was a fast-paced telling of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and with simple roll-away sets, we again had to use light to convey location and time of day. Blues were used during the snow storm and moody lighting for the times inside the cabin.

A Christmas Carol used zones to help the audience know the scenes and the locations. No colors, just a general wash but lit in a way to keep it dark and mysterious. Special effects (pyrotechnics) were used in the fireplace and LEDs in Marley's cloak to give him that other-worldly and ghostly look.