Look and Listen For:

• Strategies for using light to convey emotions.
• References to mathematical concepts that play a large role in lighting design.
• Two different approaches Alberto used in his lighting design for Earthrise. 
• Specific strategies for lighting theater “in the round” where the audience surrounds the stage on all sides. 
• A moment where the lighting design took a back seat to other important theatrical elements to convey a deeper meaning.

Discussion Questions:

1. How did Alberto plan around other design elements when creating his lighting design for Earthrise? Why do you think it’s important for a lighting designer to account for all of these parts of a production?
2. When describing the work of a lighting designer, Alberto says, “I love the idea of creating a cue that might last two seconds or one minute in a scene and then it’s gone.” How do you think these “snapshots,” as Alberto calls them, create a larger emotional picture for a play? What other design disciplines or artforms can you think of that have this same short-lived quality? 
3. Take a look at a favorite photo and focus on the light in the picture. What colors do you notice?  Is the light warm or cool? What emotions do you feel when you look at this picture? If you were going to replicate this picture in a theater, how might you use light and color to convey those same emotions to the audience?

More to Explore:

• Learn more about Earthrise in this interview by playwright Lauren Gunderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlfW5AOVY5c
• Love space? Check out Nasa’s Kids Club for stories, games, and activities! https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html

Alberto’s Bulletin Board

Alberto Segarra used images as research for the lighting design of Earthrise. Take a look at the research images and final production images below. How do they compare? How do you think these pictures influenced Alberto’s lighting design? 

Cue:  An instruction for the lights to change, usually run through a computerized board. Lighting cues can tell the lighting units to get brighter, dimmer, change colors, or in the case of moving lights, change position on the stage. The word “cue” is also used interchangeably with look/state/picture to reference the preprogrammed/built lighting world for a specific moment in the show. 

Focus: In a theatrical context, the word “focus can have three meanings: 

1. How the lighting unit is positioned, so that the light hits the stage from the direction the designer wants, and in the right spot.
2. How sharply defined the light beam is.
3. The time period during technical rehearsals when designers and stage hands devote time just to adjusting the lighting equipment so that they meet the lighting designer’s specifications.

Book Scenes: This term is used in musicals to describe scenes that contain only dialogue, no singing. The script for a musical is divided into two parts: the “book,” which includes everything the characters say to each other, and the “score,” which contains just the music and song lyrics.  

Projection: A theatrical design element where images, videos, and graphics are displayed on the stage through the use of projectors and screens. There are two types of projections most typically used in theatrical design:

1. Front Projection: Where the projector(s) are in front of the projection surface or screen, between the screen and the audience. This results in a bright image, but means that actors standing directly in front of the screen may cast a shadow on the screen. 
2. Rear Projection / Back Projection: The projector is behind the projection surface. This means the projection image will be reversed from the point of view of the audience (all data projectors have a setting to flip or mirror the image). 

Theater in the Round: A form of theatrical presentation where the stage is in the center and the audience is seated around it on at least three sides. Earthrise was performed “in the round.” Alberto also refers to the Earthrise set design as “environmental set design,” which “encapsulates the actors and the audience.” In other words, the audience is surrounded by the set on all sides and becomes part of the larger environment. 

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