Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare.
In my final semester of undergrad at UNC Charlotte, I was the lighting designer for the department of theatre’s production of Measure for Measure. This was a highly stylized production in which Vienna was set in this specific theater. The director wanted the materials and technologies of the theatre—audience boxes, trap doors, moving linesets, the grand curtain, scaffolding, projection, the orchestra pit lift, etc.—featured and incorporated into the story. The first four acts took place with no masking; the back wall, electrics, and wings were fully exposed. The central idea of this play was the power of theatricality and the theatricality of power.
In terms of lighting, I aimed to achieve this by creating strong, stylized looks and utilizing all the tools available to me. I used sidelight from boom positions in the wings as the main source of illumination of actors onstage. Extensive use of gobos denoted different locations such as the street, church windows, the nunnery, jail bars, or an abstract forest. The full use of space was highlighted: the continuous walk of prisoners all the way upstage, a tight spot on Angelo in his scaffold watchtower, actors on the staircase, and the dress forms in the crossover. For the first four acts, I never used a front light wash. Instead, I only used follow spots or moving lights.
Act 5 of this play had a complete stylistic 180 from the rest of the production. The legs, borders, and cyc flew in to mask everything. The actors changed costumes to Jacobean-style pieces. The projection on the back wall disappeared. In terms of the expectations of a Shakespeare production, it was much more typical. To support this with lighting, I used a bright full-stage wash, coinciding with the Duke’s revelations in this act. This contrasted the dark, shadowy, moody atmosphere of the first four acts. It was the only time in the entire play I used front light not from follow spots or movers.

UNC Charlotte Belk Theater, March 2025

Director: Rob Conkie
Choreographer: Delia Neil
Scenic Design: Ben Hirschfield
Lighting Design: Dallas J. Cook
Sound Design: Benjamin G. Stickels
Costume Design: Meredith Magoun
Stage Management: Lauren Routhier