Lighting design reviews

C. Scott Ananian

Here are some lighting design reviews I wrote for THR317 while at Princeton (Spring 1996). First are two shows I lit:

• Daughters of Survival (the first real lighting design I ever did)
• True West (the second — not as successful.)

...followed by other shows I saw that spring:

• The Flying Karamazov Brothers
• The Misanthrope (Molière)
• Mr. Budhoo's Letter of Resignations from the IMF (Bread and Puppet Theatre, at Theatre for the New City in NYC)
• Voices of the Spirit (Sung by Dawn Upshaw and others at the 92nd Street Y in NYC. Staging of the final piece was by Peter Sellars.)

On re-reading my reviews now (April 2003), I'm struck by how cynical I've become since then. I no longer imagine that directors and designers "intended" clip lights on stage, uneven washes, or any of the other flotsam of just-getting-by. These things happen. Sometimes, when you're lucky, they happen to turn out just right.

C. Scott Ananian

cscottcscott.net