How Technology Has Changed the Role of a Theatrical Lighting Designer

Theatre began with Greek festivals during the 6th Century. Since then, humans have striven to enhance theatre productions. With the use of electricity and cunning technologies, production qualities have started to take major leaps in the last fifty years. Based on new technologies explored and learned during three years in graduate school, this thesis will consider two significantly different design processes. Starting with a fully analog process and progressing to a fully digital process, it will become clear that technology will yield a designer extra time and better overall results. As technologies begin to continually evolve, so will the roles of theatre designers.