Backstage at BYU: An Inside Look at the Lighting Design Team Behind ‘The Cherry Orchard’
Lighting directly influences the way we view a play, a movie or concert. But how often do we stop to analyze what the lighting is doing? The impact lighting has not just on productions but in your day-to-day life? The lighting team for BYU Theatre’s latest show, “The Cherry Orchard,” consisted of theatre arts studies senior Aubree Schuck and TMA lighting manager and designer Marianne Ohran. Both women shared their thoughts on the importance of lighting on what we see and how we see it.
“I view lighting as something that, though you can see with it, is not frequently observed,” said Schuck, who is specializing in lighting design. She spoke on how lighting influences the atmosphere of a space, with dark lighting and intense shadows creating a sense of foreboding or evoking a sensation like the “shivers.” Schuck has worked on a variety of productions, each of which demands a different style of lighting. “‘The Cherry Orchard’ differs drastically from dance productions, because it is based in realism, which means throughout this show, I'm going to be using lights to mimic the angle of the sun and using more natural colors. In dance, I get to play with a lot more mood and I get to use a lot more intense colors, because it's not based in reality.”
“Lighting really sets the scene, whether we are conscious of it or not,” Schuck said. “Lighting impacts all of our daily lives. It's really important that lighting has a subtlety to it, that people are looking at the actors and not what I'm doing. It's not about showiness. It's about replicating the light in our real life.”
Light is directly tied to spirituality for Schuck. She compared the properties of light to divine guidance. "Light is not visible itself but rather illuminates what it touches. This is one of my favourite things about light: it functions remarkably like the light of Christ. Christ is not physically present in our lives, but the impact of constantly seeking Him is."
Knowing the rules and properties of light better allows people to change the way they see things. Ohran shared that there are a variety of lighting tools available (referred to as controllable qualities of light) that each have to be utilized to create optimal lighting, such as angle, color, texture and movement. Schuck decided to have texture play a big role in the lighting design for “The Cherry Orchard.” The play is set in a cherry orchard, so the lighting has the appearance of the sun coming through the trees leaves to create a dappled effect. Color is used during the more dramatic moments, and the different angles of light help fill the smaller stage space so the audience feels truly immersed in the play.
The challenge of lighting “The Cherry Orchard” proved to be in enhancing the existing space. BYU theatre productions utilize the former Provo high school, which wasn’t designed for larger scale productions, so the lighting team had to get creative with the space. “It's really been challenging to work with a small room with a low ceiling — usually we have a little bit more height for lighting,” Ohran explained. “So, trying to create a space that everybody can see, make it all look rounded out and create a good picture has been challenging in here for all of the design elements.”
The hard work put into creating top-notch lighting pays off when the team is able to see the director's vision realized. Lighting enhances every other aspect of the play, from showing off the beautiful costumes and clever set design to setting the mood. Ohran said, “It is just really exciting to work together as a team and give the audience the best experience that we can.”
