Manifesto: Good Lighting for the Stage

Lighting for the stage is an ephemeral and temporal form. It exists in four dimensions, is as much music as it is image, and is made manifest only in the encounter with material objects.

It is an abstract form that exists on the spectrum between pseudo-realistic and purely expressionistic. It is authentic and evocative rather than realistic; it is theatrical.

Lighting for the stage is design. Design implies function. It is obliged to interact in a well-structured way, and it must simultaneously be in dialog with the dramaturgical, the physical, the metatextual, the visual, and the rhythmic—the lighting designer must always and at once make, look, evaluate, and adapt.

Therefore, good lighting for the stage ...

Is collaborative,
Is constructed with dramatic intent,
Tells the story,
Follows compositional principles (both visual and musical),
Evolves over time,
Confines itself to that which is essential (precise, minimal, and unobtrusive),
Is magical,
Is thorough,
Is innovative (it pushes the form forward),
And is beautiful.