Week 6: Lights Without a Play

The lights in this photograph put me in a time and a place, without considering any external information about where the photograph was taken. I think of a night time stroll through Venice, down a romantic lamp lit urban street. The photo makes me feel like I’m in a timeless romance- the colors are warm and rich, and the reflection in the water is soft, and almost makes me hear music- perhaps twangy guitar. This time and place for me is created entirely with color, shape and texture. 

I did a little experiment, and tried asking some friends and peers what the photo made them think of, seeing as it brought such a specific context to mind. I asked them what the photo made them feel, or if it put them in a time or place. One replied, “Christmas in San Francisco” another bluntly replied “I feel kind of sad, and it makes me want to drink something warm.” Someone suggested “wintertime in your home town,” or, “late night in a parking garage.” Another reply: “the end of a war.” In reality, this picture was taken on campus, of the whispering fountain by the Claire Trevor Theatre.  What I took away from these responses is similar to what I took away from the past couple weeks of class with our emotions project. Two people could have presented very similar cues, but based on the context we were given by the student, we saw the two cues in very, very different ways. Lights, on their own, can be interpreted a myriad of ways. 

I should not have been so surprised that the answers were so varied. Lights are truly there to support the story. We, as audience members, can give the lights alone on the stage our own unique context based on our personal experiences, but undoubtedly it will be different for each audience member. Instead, if the lights are already supporting the given context of the play, all of the audience members will hopefully be invested in the story on the stage, and letting the lights support and enrich that story. The lights can do incredibly powerful things to perpetuate certain elements of the story we are being given.