At The Rose Center Theater - Saddleback College
At The Rose Center Theater - Saddleback College At The Rose Center Theater - Saddleback College
Theatrical Lighting Designer Chris Caputo At The Rose Center Theater Kathy Cannarozzi Harris Theater Teacher Mission Viejo High School Saddleback Valley USD
- Page 2 and 3: The Rose Center Theater A 400 seat
- Page 4 and 5: Experience • Chris Caputo has bee
- Page 6 and 7: Curtain Call Dinner Theater Anythin
- Page 8 and 9: First Designs…. • While in High
- Page 10 and 11: Skills • Chris is also the techni
- Page 12 and 13: Valuable Courses • Valuable cours
- Page 14 and 15: A day in the life…. • A designe
- Page 16 and 17: Designing phase • First, he reads
- Page 18 and 19: Fire Picture of fire The Triangle F
- Page 20 and 21: • The light plot specifies how ea
- Page 22 and 23: Color Knowing and Understanding col
- Page 24 and 25: The Technical Rehearsal • At the
- Page 26 and 27: Job Opportunities • As a freelanc
- Page 28 and 29: Designs by Chris Caputo Man of La M
- Page 30 and 31: Designs by Chris Caputo The King an
- Page 32 and 33: Designs by Chris Caputo Beauty and
- Page 34 and 35: Designs by Chris Caputo The Odyssey
- Page 36 and 37: Designs by Chris Caputo The Odyssey
- Page 38: Credits: Photography Chris Caputo,
<strong>The</strong>atrical Lighting Designer<br />
Chris Caputo<br />
<strong>At</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rose</strong> <strong>Center</strong> <strong>The</strong>ater<br />
Kathy Cannarozzi Harris<br />
<strong>The</strong>ater Teacher<br />
Mission Viejo High School<br />
<strong>Saddleback</strong> Valley USD
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Rose</strong> <strong>Center</strong> <strong>The</strong>ater<br />
A 400 seat community theater in Westminster with a<br />
proscenium stage. It produces 4 musicals a year and<br />
hosts a variety of community events.
Lighting Designer’s Responsibilities<br />
• To meet with directors of each production to<br />
find out what their needs are for their event.<br />
• To create lighting designs to enhance the<br />
production so that the performers can be seen,<br />
to set a mood and to focus the action on stage.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> designer must have artistic abilities and<br />
technical skills.
Experience<br />
• Chris Caputo has been a<br />
freelance lighting designer for 25<br />
years in the Southern California<br />
Area.<br />
• As a designer at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rose</strong>, he<br />
often has new events coming into<br />
the theater every week which<br />
need his lighting expertise. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
can be dance concerts,<br />
orchestras, award shows or a<br />
beauty pageant.
Experience<br />
• <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rose</strong> <strong>The</strong>ater<br />
• Curtain Call Dinner <strong>The</strong>ater<br />
• West Covina Playhouse<br />
• Camino Playhouse<br />
• San Juan Hills High School<br />
• Mission Viejo High School<br />
• Industrial lighting design<br />
• California State University, Fullerton<br />
• <strong>Saddleback</strong> <strong>College</strong>
Curtain Call Dinner <strong>The</strong>ater<br />
Anything Goes design by Chris Caputo
How he got started…..<br />
• He was an actor/singer at Mission Viejo High School in<br />
the 1980’s. In his junior year, they needed someone to<br />
design the set for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and he<br />
volunteered.<br />
• Began to design other sets in high school including Skin<br />
of our Teeth and Our Hearts were Young and Gay<br />
• Hired by the school district as a student theater manager<br />
– to work when outside groups would rent the theater.<br />
His job included running the lights and microphones.
First Designs….<br />
• While in High School he designed the set<br />
and lights for <strong>The</strong> Caucasian Chalk Circle
Education<br />
• Decided to major in college in set and lighting<br />
design at Cal State Fullerton 2 yrs and<br />
transferred to University of California at Irvine<br />
where he graduated with a degree in theater.<br />
• While he was in college he was given the<br />
opportunity to design lighting for productions<br />
and also was hired by area high schools to<br />
design sets and lighting.
Skills<br />
• Chris is also the technical director at <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Rose</strong> <strong>The</strong>ater and designs and builds the<br />
sets for the 4 musicals produced each<br />
year.<br />
• <strong>The</strong> ability to design a set and lighting are<br />
great skills to have together as they often<br />
compliment each other.<br />
• In lighting, he must also have expertise in<br />
electrical engineering.
Skills needed to be a designer<br />
• work as a team member<br />
• collaborate ideas<br />
• learn to compromise<br />
• stay in budget<br />
• communication skills<br />
• problem solve<br />
• be creative<br />
• research skills<br />
• ability to analyze a script<br />
• knowledge of electricity<br />
• art/drawing<br />
• computer design and programming skills
Valuable Courses<br />
• Valuable courses to take in high school –<br />
theater, geometry, physics, drafting, architecture,<br />
drawing, 3-D art, art history, English, history, music.<br />
• Valuable courses to take in college –<br />
theatrical design, drawing, stagecraft, art history,<br />
dramatic literature classes, theater history, lighting<br />
design, directing, business, marketing.
A day in the life….<br />
• A designer must be able to attend meetings with<br />
production staff and communicate design ideas,<br />
adjust and collaborate.<br />
• A designer needs time to read and analyze a<br />
play and understand the mood of the piece and<br />
the intent of the director’s concept.
A day in the life….<br />
• A designer needs time to research the<br />
various periods, types of lighting and<br />
special effects for each scene.<br />
.<br />
• After designing a light plot, the designer<br />
works with the light crew to hang the<br />
lights.
A day in the life….<br />
• Lighting designers work irregular hours,<br />
particularly if they’re working on an<br />
upcoming play or other performance that<br />
requires hours of rehearsal setting the<br />
lighting. <strong>The</strong>y often work late at night.<br />
• <strong>The</strong>y are usually expected to be present at<br />
performances and openings, which<br />
typically happen at night.
Designing phase<br />
• First, he reads the play and<br />
takes down notes about the<br />
places, time of day, mood, time<br />
of year and any special lighting<br />
effects required by the play.<br />
• Next, he looks for some pictures<br />
that might help to see the look<br />
that is needed such as<br />
moonlight or fire.
Moonlight<br />
Picture of moonlight<br />
Moonlight in “Further<br />
Adventures of Hedda Gabler”<br />
design by Chris Caputo
Fire<br />
Picture of<br />
fire<br />
<strong>The</strong> Triangle Factory Fire Project design by Chris Caputo
Creating a light plot<br />
• A light plot, is a document similar to a<br />
construction set) blueprint used to<br />
illustrate and communicate the lighting<br />
design to the director and other designers.
• <strong>The</strong> light plot<br />
specifies how<br />
each lighting fixture<br />
should be hung,<br />
focused, colored,<br />
and connected. This<br />
can be given to the<br />
lighting crew to<br />
hang.<br />
Light Plot
<strong>The</strong> Lights<br />
• Chris has to know all of the different types<br />
of lighting fixtures such as fresnels,<br />
ellipsoidals, scoops, spotlights and<br />
intelligent lighting (lights that move).
Color<br />
Knowing and Understanding color theory and light is very<br />
important to a lighting designer. He must choose the color<br />
gels for each light
Creating the lighting cues<br />
• After watching rehearsals for the production to get some<br />
idea of where the actors are moving in a scene or dance<br />
number, Chris meets with the director to determine<br />
where the lights need to change during a dry technical<br />
rehearsal.<br />
• <strong>At</strong> this rehearsal, the stage manager, assistant director<br />
and director are working together to create the cues on<br />
paper in the script. <strong>The</strong>n the lighting designer can begin<br />
to program the lightboard.
<strong>The</strong> Technical Rehearsal<br />
• <strong>At</strong> the technical<br />
rehearsal, Chris<br />
works to<br />
program the<br />
board as the<br />
director sits next<br />
to him and they<br />
go cue by cue<br />
with the actors to<br />
light the show.
Performances<br />
• Chris is usually present at performances<br />
“running” the board. This means that he is<br />
working with the stage manager during<br />
the show operating the lightboard. He<br />
often is supervising a community member<br />
or student who is working on the lighting<br />
crew.
Job Opportunities<br />
• As a freelance designer, Chris works at various<br />
theaters but he has to be able to market himself<br />
and budget his time.<br />
• In the Southern California area there are more<br />
opportunities to work than in other areas of the<br />
country so there are more jobs in lighting design<br />
available. However, it is a competitive field.
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Carousal
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Man of La Mancha
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Oklahoma
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
<strong>The</strong> King and I
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Singin’ in the Rain
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Beauty and the Beast
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
Crazy for You
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
<strong>The</strong> Odyssey - underworld
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
<strong>The</strong> Odyssey
Designs by Chris Caputo<br />
<strong>The</strong> Odyssey- the heavens
Salary<br />
• <strong>The</strong> current labor statistics state the<br />
average yearly salary is $40,000.<br />
• This varies from professional theater to<br />
community theater.<br />
• But on the bright side…Lighting designers<br />
can negotiate their own per show rate<br />
based on their experience.
Credits:<br />
Photography Chris Caputo, Kelley<br />
Moody, and DSM Photography