Bus Stop

Light DesignGroup 17

Radhika Bhakta

SynopsisDuring a snow storm a bus from Kansas City pulls up to a small town diner. Here, the two lead characters, Cherie and Bo Decker share an interesting relationship. While Bo Decker fights for his love Cherie, she does not feel the same for him. Will Masters, the sheriff eventually stands up for Cherie, causing a quarrel between him and Bo. Throughout the play, various romantic relationships are discussed and introduced.

The setting of the play takes place in a diner located near a bus stop. The diner is not fancy, but more of a subtle environment.

Visibility

One of the major components

of light design is the allowance

to see the characters faces.

Without proper recognition of the characters faces, the

audience is oblivious to the different emotions and mood

of the characters. Therefore,

given the setting of the play is

at night during a snow storm, I

will make sure the stage is visible as well as the

characters by proposing a dim

yellow light on the stage. This

way the audience is able to recognize the characters’

faces.

Shape and Form

However, noticing the characters faces is one thing, however the audience should feel they are actually in the diner as well. Thus, I propose a lighting on some of the props that will be used such as the diner chairs and tables. Also, when characters are on the spot such as Bo and Cherie, I will add a small focus of light to their faces.

Focus and Composition

Throughout the play there are several instances where the essential action lies

on the lead roles, such as the

fight between the sheriff and Bo Decker. This scene is one of

the essential actions in the play and the audience should

be focused on it. Thus, the other characters should not be

doing anything causing a big action. Adjusting the light to focus on the main characters and certain objects to reflect back on the main characters will allow a certain focus and composition towards the lead

roles.

Mood and Style

The different techniques used for light design have a major impact on the mood and style the play is giving off back to the audience. For example, while the play has a romantic scene, I will have a nice lighting on the moonlight in the snowstorm. When the quarrel is occurring, there would be an intense dark, vivid lighting, yet maintaining all aspects of visibility.

Time and Place

The time and place is one of the objectives that have to

fit in with all the other aspects of the play such as costumes, and setting. The

time of the play is during the 1950s at 1:00 to 5:00 AM at the local bus stop diner. This

is important to recognize because the lighting has to

be capturing of both the costumes and the time of

the day. The lighting has to establish the night theme while fulfilling the previous

objectives.

Rhythm

With all the different changes in light there has to be a constant flow as well. The lighting cannot drastically and noticeably shift from scene to scene. Instead, the lights after each scene would slowly dim down, causing the audience to feel a sense of curiosity. Before each scene, the lights would dim back again while in the process of reintroducing the characters to the stage.

Reinforcement of Central Image

All in all, the overall theme of

the production was the way out

of loneliness. With all the different specific lighting designs that will be involved in

the play, the overall affect of the play has to reinforce the theme. This could be done again by making sure the lighting towards the leads is used in a correct manner, if the

mood is sad, making the light a

much more dim low yellow would be a good idea. When the

characters have a sudden realization, or happiness, the lighting would resemble

a more bright, capturing yellow color.

Dim lighting showing the mood of sadness and the theme of loneliness.

This scene represents a more livelier scene. The

lighting is bright, the audience is able to see one of the street lights outside

indicating the time and place of the play as well.