(March 16, 1912 - May 1, 1969) who is considered
a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design.
In the early part of the 20th century, the lighting designer was not a formalized position. The set designer or electrician handled the lighting of a production. Ms. Rosenthal helped make the lighting designer an integral member of the design team.
She also said that lighting "was a career in itself". As well as particular lighting innovations, she created an atmosphere specific to the production, and she was in demand as a Broadway lighting designer.
After studying lighting design at the Yale School of Drama with Stanley McCandless, she joined the Federal Theatre Project in 1935 which led to collaborations with Orson Welles and John Houseman. She would later follow Welles to the Mercury Theatre. Some of her major contributions were the elimination of shadows by using floods of upstage lighting and controlling angles and mass of illumination to create contrasts without shadows. She designed lighting for hundreds of productions which included Martha Graham's dances, the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway--West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Take Me Along, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello, Dolly!, Cabaret (1966) and The Happy Time.
For more information: Magic of Light: The Craft and Career of Jean Rosenthal, Pioneer in Lighting For the Modern Stage, (Little Brown & Co.) published after her death in 1972 from tape-recorded dictation sessions with Lael Wertenbaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment