Designing With Light: An Introduction to Stage Lighting

Now in its eighth edition, Designing with Light introduces readers to the art, craft, and technology of stage lighting to help them create designs that shape the audience’s emotional reaction to―and understanding of―a stage production.

This new edition is fully updated to include current information on the technology and equipment of stage lighting: lighting fixtures, lamps, cabling, dimmers, control boards, and LED tape, as well as electrical theory. Readers will learn how designed light is used to enhance the audience’s understanding and enjoyment of a production. The book includes specific information on drafting the light plot, explores the challenges of designing for different stage configurations, and provides examples of lighting designs for dramas, musicals, and dance. It also features comments and thoughts from active designers from both mainstream theatrical productions and related industries, and has a new emphasis on diversity and inclusion-related practices and language.

Written for students of lighting design and technology as well as professional technicians and designers, Designing with Light offers a comprehensive survey of the practical and aesthetic aspects of stage lighting design.

J. Michael Gillette is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Arizona. Over his 33-year teaching career he taught stage lighting, media lighting, scenic design, sound design, and technical production, and designed over a hundred productions. He is also the author of Theatrical Design and Production.

Michael McNamara is Associate Professor of Theatre at Purdue University and has taught theatrical lighting at the graduate and undergraduate levels for over 20 years. He has worked as a professional lighting designer for more than 30 years, including eight years as an Assistant Lighting Designer with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center where he worked on over 50 productions. He is a Jeff Award winner and a member of United Scenic Artists Local USA-829.