NY Theatrical Lighting Database

[AndrewGrant]

Hello,

 

I thought a few people would be interested in this. It is the 'New York Public Library & Lighting Archive Theatrical Lighting Database.'

 

It has most of the LX paperwork for the originals of 'A Chorus Line,' 'Fall River Legend,' 'Hair,' and 'Sunday in the Park with George.'

 

I've not had a chance to really explore in depth yet but I soon will be.

 

Link

 

 

Andrew

[richard]

That is pretty interesting, hand drawn plans and everything

[Oovis]

From the home page; "Modern theatrical lighting is a uniquely American art form,"

 

I can only assume their definition of unique is different to the one used in the rest of the world!

[Unfathomable]

From the home page; "Modern theatrical lighting is a uniquely American art form,"

 

I can only assume their definition of unique is different to the one used in the rest of the world!

 

I sent them an email since I can't stand America taking credit for much. (no offence America, but we did some things on our side of the pond too!)

 

I will post if they reply.

[Unfathomable]

I fully expected to hear some protests. Fair enough. My comment relates to the economic structure of the way shows happen in the US and the opportunities it has historically afforded Lighting Design.

Obviously people have good ideas around the world. My experience of comparison is primarily the US compared to Europe. The most influential theatrical work in the US (and supported by the most money) is the commercial world known as Broadway. In Europe most important theatrical, opera and dance happens in state funded opera houses. Some have a lot of money to spend. The money is only a small part of the picture. In Europe the standard in those big theatres is what we call "Rolling Rep" ; a different show every night or every 2nd night...a repertory arrangement that has many production available to be seen all at once on a specific stage. Therefore the lighting must be limited to standard locations in the 'hang' ie bridge, torms, galleries, some upstage battens and then floor units in the wings,easily accessible to the crew. The lighting designer is limited to the time the theatre can allocate to refocusing (an hour? two?)and the speed and number of men available to do so. The lighting designer can use only the equipment the theatre owns; there have been only a small number of rental companies and little tradition of renting.

Compare that to what a lighting designer can do in the Broadway context. When a producer brings a show into a theatre, the building is supplied only with seats, a front curtain and a fuse box on the wall. Absolutely every piece of lighting equipment and control is rented for the show. Thus the LD can have anything available commercially at convenient numbers to accomplish exactly his design. Additionally no other show will be in that theatre for the run of this production. Thus he can hang equipment anywhere the set and lighting designs demand.

He is not limited to standard locations for equipment or even manpower access to it for easy refocus. The grid is re organized to support that one show so battens can be hung at a 45° angle to the proscenium if that is necessary to get, say, a smooth wash on a wall that is at a similar angle. The LD can have any idea and any piece of equipment. Yes, there are budgets but lighting rental is the cheapest element of the production. Until moving lights and now LED walls there was never a budget issue. There are crew calls to change the bulbs on burn outs and perhaps refresh the focus, but these tend to be once a month and they can get out the ladders and lifts..

In the last few years modern lighting equipment has become more easily available around the world and lighting designers are experimenting and making their own design statements. No one is implying we have a monopoly on that. But look at the dates on the early plots I am showing (and there will be more to come). What was Europe doing in 1948? or even 1963? I was there in the 60's through the 80's working and there was a great difference. Perhaps it is less now. I also thought the head lighting men (as there was no one named as as Lighting Designer) had come up with some beautiful lighting that was created within their limitations. I'm thinking of Max Keller's work in Munich, as shown in his book.

This website is making available to study work from all stages of Lighting Design. I hope to make the history of the development of this artform something that anyone can study and reproduce in order to see what it was like. Perhaps you would like to send me some paperwork of yours that can make a statement about where you are from and what you are doing. We would be happy to see it and if it is complete ie cues, focus notes etc so that it can be reproduced we will put it on the site.

 

This is the email that was send to oovis, copied to me. I am sure that they will not object to this section being passed on.

 

 

 

[Oovis]

I've not yet logged in to read my emails but I think I'll respond in due course.

 

It's patently obvious (s)he's only a slight grasp on the way theatre works here.

 

I titled the email I sent 'Parochial View' and I stand by that still. He seems to think Theatre outside the US (and even New York) is all large rep houses. I wonder if he expects we in London to walk around in bowler hats carrying umbrellas?

[Unfathomable]

 

I just replied to another complainer with a UK address, maybe a colleague if not a friend. I will copy to you what I sent him. I will add that the UK certainly had and has a commercial West End component that works somewhat like B'way. But the few times I have worked there, the lImiting factor of 8' of separation between the phases for your 220volt current makes sense safety wise but some of the control issues very difficult.

One of member of my advisory board is Richard Pilbrow. You may know the name. He began the official profession of lighting design in the late 50's in London along with some colleagues. I have invited him to add some of his show records to the site.

here is a copy of what I sent Oovis.

In the meantime I am delighted that you found the site and were annoyed enough to email me.

As I said to Oovis, perhaps you have some paperwork you would like to share as a statement of your design ideas. If the paperwork is complete enough; focus notes, cues etc. we will be happy to add it to the site.

 

The bit I seem to have missed copying yesterday, Send at the top of the forwarded bit.

 

I think I will go get my bowler hat. Cue sheets? We don't need that gov'ner!

[church]

Unfortunately this is the way many in the U.S. see the rest of the world. Although I am originally from the U.K. I have lived in Canada for 20 years and the U.S. view of the world is often quite scary. I watched a recent episode of NCIS and it showed one of the NCIS team in Canada and he was talking with a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who was in dress uniform of the red tunic and stetson hat complete with a horse. Give me a break.

 

here in Canada theatre is not all Rep houses either. The Toronto theatre distric operates shows the same as Broadway, London and many other places in the world.

[Smiffy]

At the risk of digging myself into a hole....

 

The most influential theatrical work in the US (and supported by the most money) is the commercial world known as Broadway. In Europe most important theatrical, opera and dance happens in state funded opera houses. Some have a lot of money to spend.

 

As in the UK and Europe where most of the influential work, supported by the most money, is the commercial world known as 'the West End'. Contrary to the Gentlemans (?) belief, the ROH and other such institutions are I believe known for primarily restaging the classics, rather than innovating as is suggested here.

 

The lighting designer can use only the equipment the theatre owns; there have been only a small number of rental companies and little tradition of renting.

 

So White Light, Playlight (RIP), Stage Electrics, and Theatre Projects (RIP) are/were what then?

 

The vast majority of West End productions are using rented equipment and have done for years. I think I know of at most one or two houses that are using all of their own equipment and even then I couldn't be certain, or in fact name them specifically.

 

Compare that to what a lighting designer can do in the Broadway context. When a producer brings a show into a theatre, the building is supplied only with seats, a front curtain and a fuse box on the wall. Absolutely every piece of lighting equipment and control is rented for the show. Thus the LD can have anything available commercially at convenient numbers to accomplish exactly his design. Additionally no other show will be in that theatre for the run of this production. Thus he can hang equipment anywhere the set and lighting designs demand.

As with (at a guess) 90% of the West End, the UK and indeed Europe?

He is not limited to standard locations for equipment or even manpower access to it for easy refocus. The grid is re organized to support that one show so battens can be hung at a 45° angle to the proscenium if that is necessary to get, say, a smooth wash on a wall that is at a similar angle. The LD can have any idea and any piece of equipment. Yes, there are budgets but lighting rental is the cheapest element of the production. Until moving lights and now LED walls there was never a budget issue. There are crew calls to change the bulbs on burn outs and perhaps refresh the focus, but these tend to be once a month and they can get out the ladders and lifts..

Again, as with the west end, and the majority of regional houses in the UK and Europe?

In the last few years modern lighting equipment has become more easily available around the world and lighting designers are experimenting and making their own design statements. No one is implying we have a monopoly on that. But look at the dates on the early plots I am showing (and there will be more to come). What was Europe doing in 1948? or even 1963? I was there in the 60's through the 80's working and there was a great difference. Perhaps it is less now. I also thought the head lighting men (as there was no one named as as Lighting Designer) had come up with some beautiful lighting that was created within their limitations. I'm thinking of Max Keller's work in Munich, as shown in his book.

Granted, it was slow to catch on, however what of the likes of Michael Northern, and even Richard Pilbrow whom he alludes to in his mail?

Lighting Designers have existed in the UK since the mid to late 40's, and while yes there was an uphill struggle in getting the house electrics crews to accept that the LD was a valid and useful contributor to the production, the role, in an un-uniquely American sense has existed.

 

this website is making available to study work from all stages of Lighting Design. I hope to make the history of the development of this artform something that anyone can study and reproduce in order to see what it was like. Perhaps you would like to send me some paperwork of yours that can make a statement about where you are from and what you are doing. We would be happy to see it and if it is complete ie cues, focus notes etc so that it can be reproduced we will put it on the site.

 

If you are going to make a historical site, then get the facts presented properly. By all means comment on the differences between the UK and the US method, and perhaps even discuss the timescales over which things occurred, but for the love of all things sacred should this guy not be doing the best he can to ensure that fallacies such as the 'uniquely american' tosh are done away with at the soonest?

Just my thoughts though...

Cheers

Smiffy

[obsoperator]

Lighting Designers have existed in the UK since the mid to late 40's, and while yes there was an uphill struggle in getting the house electrics crews to accept that the LD was a valid and useful contributor to the production, the role, in an un-uniquely American sense has existed.

When I read the statement about "uniquely American", I took it to be an historical observation. Sure, theatre was first done indoors on your side of the pond, but there were no "lighting designers" at that time. Come to think of it, there were no designers of any kind while the Puritans closed the theaters from 1642, were there?

 

Your objection is entirely legitimate, but I think your useful announcement of your find understates the magnitude, importance, and labor that went into creating that site. (I had nothing to do with it.) It's an incredibly important piece of scholarship.

 

Anyway, I am inclined to think that the role of Lighting Designer (which is ultimately the purpose of the archive project Beverly Emmons started) developed in the US. Are you familiar with "Theater Lighting" By "Louis Hartmann, Chief Electrician to David Belasco Since 1901", originally published in 1930?

 

In "The Magic of Light" Jean Rosenthal and Lael Wertenbaker, J.R. writes, "I think it simply never occurred to anyone until the 1930s that the lighting of anything should be the exclusive concern of a craftsman, let alone under the artistic aegis of a specialist."

 

There was also Peggy Clark Kelley, "Memoirs of a 'Designing' Woman", in which she describes her training in the 1930s.

 

Have you any data on the dates of development of the profession on the Continent, or on nearby islands?

[Smiffy]

Well I did say

 

At the risk of digging myself into a hole....

 

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

 

 

I most certainly cannot deny that the site under discussion is a very useful, important, and impressive piece of scholarship that the creator of the site deserves heaps of praise for. It's a great resource for all and something that I've looked at in the past, although admittedly haven't really checked back on recently to see if anything has been updated since I first saw it a while ago. However the intent was not to belittle any of the chaps work at all. It is an impressive bit of archiving and certainly something that should be supported. If you got the impression that I was in any way against it, then my apologies, that was not my intent.

 

I am indeed familiar with a number of the works that you describe, although my acquaintance with many of them is sadly limited to tired old copies in public libraries. I would kill to own originals and your referencing them reminds me to add them to the list of books that I want to get my hands on.

 

To get truly pedantic about things, the Romans are thought to have been the first to perform Theatre at night by Torch Light, and so true credit for the invention of 'Lighting Design' at its most basic level should in all honesty go to them, however my contention is with the phrasing of the guys response to Oovis' email, not with who was or was not the first to be seen as a Lighting Designer in the sense that we know them today, nor is it with what nation they were from, however to quote from Scene Design and Stage Lighting, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2008

Nicolo Sabbattini and Leone de' Sommi wrote on the use of lighting in the 16th cent.; in addition, they developed footlights and techniques for colored lights and for the dimming of lights. From the Renaissance period until the triumph of gas lighting in the mid-19th cent., great use was made of lamps, candles, and torches. Although they caused much work, odor, and smoke, ingenious effects were produced.

 

and

 

The 19th cent. brought extensive changes in lighting and scene design. Gaslight was first introduced (1817) in England. Although it was responsible for many theater fires, gaslight had, by 1849, the advantage of being centrally controlled. Sir Henry Irving, at the end of the century, was first to darken the auditorium completely. He also was first to experiment with the color and intensity of gaslight. The first spotlight was the limelight (1816); it was followed by the arc light (1846). With the invention (1879) of the incandescent bulb, light became the primary scene painter. Through the efforts of Adolphe Appia, modern stage lighting was born.

 

Arguably, in the United States, Robert Edmond Jones (1887 - 1954) is certainly among the originators of the craft of Lighting Design, although he himself had to travel to Europe (ultimately Berlin) to study his craft, although even then Lighting was most often lumped in with Scenic Design. While in the UK, the likes of Edward Gordon Craig was an early believer in the usefulness of light (although it was Germany in 1908 that he wrote his book 'on the Art of Theatre'). People such as Louis Hartmann whom you mention were as with those in the UK, merely electricians tasked primarily with the job of illuminating the action, although in Hartmann's case, as no doubt with many other such people across the world, he took a slightly more artistic approach to things. Hartmann merely had the presence of thought and ability with prose to actually write a book about his experience, he was certainly not unique however.

 

It is my belief that just as with Scenic Designers and Costume Designers, the role of Lighting Designer was inevitable, that the profession is so young in comparison to that of the Scenic or Costume Designer, merely serves to prove that really, the Electric Light isn't exactly ancient. Across the world there were visionaries that believed that Light could and should play an important part in the Theatre, and so the role evolved in its own way, in many places, at pretty much the same time.

 

While I will happily concede that the role of a Lighting Designer as the world knows them today is, to all intents and purposes, an American invention, for the creator of the site in question to state that it is Uniquely American does both his site, and his readership a huge disservice in that in the act of stating that, his readership are immediately (depending on how impressionable / gullible they are) forming an incorrect impression of the ancient, and frequently exceedingly interesting history of Light and Lighting Design.

 

 

As ever, that's just my thoughts on things though.

 

Cheers

 

Smiffy

[Roderick]

Looks like Beverly has a few more claims:

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Groundbreaking_Women_in_Theater_Lighting_Designer_Beverly_Emmons_20050312

 

BTW, I have also send her an email to let her know that I am deeply offended to have my work called 'uniquely American'.