In a Word...Jason Hand, lighting designer

In The Right Light

Jason Hand is a Toronto-based lighting designer working in theatre and opera. This past season he received a Dora nomination for his design of The Ugly One for Theatre Smash. He also lit the acclaimed productions of La Bohème and Turn of the Screw for Against the Grain Theatre, and The Arsonists and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Canadian Stage. In 2011, he collaborated with director Joel Ivany and designer Camellia Koo to conceive a production of I Capuletti e i Montecchi that placed third in the biennial European Opera-Directing Prize. Upcoming projects include Morris Panych’s new adaptation The Amorous Adventures of Anatol (Tarragon Theatre) and Joel Ivany’s The Tales of Hoffman (Edmonton Opera). Mr. Hand holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours from York University. (Source: jasonhandlighting.com)

CHARPO:  When it comes to a lighting designer, how does the process work? For instance, who has the most input into your work, director? set designer? costumes? 

HAND: That's a big question!  Here's the Cole's Notes answer.  The process starts with a phone call from either my agent or the director with a check of availability and interest.  That is, do I have space in my schedule for the show, and do I find it interesting.  I usually ask for a script at this point so that I can get a sense of what I'm getting myself into.  But there are some directors who I trust to choose good projects.  With them, I don't even have to read the script to know that it's going to be an interesting show!

After that, it's a totally different ride for each show.  Usually, I have a meeting with the director to get to know them and maybe talk a bit about what they want the piece to be.  Sometimes I'll meet with the director and the set designer to start to conceive the shape of the show.  We talk about the story a lot.  I have set design ideas, the director has lighting ideas, the set designer has staging ideas... it's all a bit of a mess at first... fingers in everyone's pies.  After a few of those meetings, the set designer will go away and build a more refined scale model of the show.  On these types of shows, we often have the whole thing figured out before we even start rehearsals.

HAND (cont'd): And then there also are shows where we all work on our own and don't really discuss much until rehearsals are under way.  It all depends on the director and how he or she likes to work.  Theatre is more conducive to this still.  Opera, not so much.

I like to go to a lot of rehearsals.  I do a lot of my figuring out of the lighting while watching the director stage the show.  Sometimes I sketch on mini groundplans of the set, or write descriptions of significant moments in my script.  I mostly focus on understanding the story at this stage.  Meanwhile in the evenings, I'm working on generating a set of technical drawings and paperwork that details how I want the lighting rig installed into the theatre.  It includes information on the lamp type, wattage and colour.

After that we head to the theatre and get in to the part of the process called technical rehearsals.  I focus the lights for the show and set the lighting states (sometimes with the director and sometimes without).  Once that's complete, the actors join us and we get started on the best part.  We work through the show, and turn all the weeks/months/years of meetings and imagining into reality.  This happens over a couple 14-hour days: it is exhausting and demanding, but at the end of it we have a show!

To speak to the second part of your question: ultimately, I work to help realize the director's ideas.  Though there's sometimes room for negotiation, in the end it's the director's word I have to follow.  Close behind a director is the set designer.  I always feel inspired when I have a great set to light.  For example, Ken Macdonald's set for "The Arsonists" which I just lit provided me with so many interesting layers to play with.  It was a challenge to figure out, but I think it looks lovely.

Once we've done a work-through of the show, we take a few days to run the show a couple times and refine it.  Sometimes we throw out ideas that aren't working and try new ones, other times we only have time to make the best of what we've got.  Then (usually about a day early!) the audience shows up and demands to see what we've got.  Sometimes we let the critics come too.

Finding the right way to deliver criticism is a delicate part of being a collaborator. 

CHARPO:What happens when you know the choices being made are just ugly or wrong but will, nevertheless, have your name on them?

HAND: Are you really asking 'What if you hate what the director is doing'?  When you take a show, you agree to do whatever you can to support the director's vision.  That's not to say that designers are all yes-men.  Finding the right way to deliver criticism is a delicate part of being a collaborator.  Professionalism is figuring out how to find a way to support an idea, even if you disagree with it at a fundamental level.  If you can't wrap your mind around that, then you've chosen the wrong career!

Maybe you're also asking 'What if you're not happy with your own work by dress rehearsal'.  There are always little parts of a show that I could have done better.  Sometimes there are even moments that I consider complete failures!  There have also been times where I have failed to really understand the play so I deliver an uninteresting design.  I think about those failures a great deal.  What went wrong, i.e. what choices I made that were ultimately unsuccessful, what were the processes that led to those choices, etc.  Regardless, those failures are mine and so I feel bad owning them via a program credit.  It would be dishonest to remove my name from a design just because it wasn't a complete success.

CHARPO: Best experience? Worst experience? (You don't have to name names)

HAND: THIS is a loaded question!! I'm not sure I should answer it... I'll just say that the worst shows are when no one is trying to do anything new or outstanding.  Those shows are dry, flat and boring.  I always feel like the marketing for those kind of shows should read "Eat Your Vegetables, They're Good For You".  I feel like they are a disservice to the art, and are disappointing the audience.  Naturally, the best ones are the complete opposite of the above.  When everyone is loaded with talent and drive, trying to really figure out a story.  That's why I seek to do shows with directors who build those kinds of teams.  The job doesn't pay well, so we might as well enjoy going to work!

I especially enjoy watching my design colleagues knock one out of the park.

CHARPO:  What is it like to sit in an audience and watch another's work. Can you sit back and enjoy or is there always that artist's eye at work?

HAND: Most of the time I love going to the theatre. I also love watching movies and good television shows.  I enjoy it like anyone else does but then I'm also pulling it apart in my mind, thinking about the acting, the directing, the writing, the design, the audience's reaction.  It's fun watching someone be a great storyteller, no matter the media.  I especially enjoy watching my design colleagues knock one out of the park.  Sometimes I even buy a ticket just to see the work of a particular designer.

CHARPO: We know a designer who has certain lighting effects he will never explain - like a magician's tricks - do you have those and are they copyrighted - like a magician's tricks?

HAND: Most lighting designers I know happily swap lighting tricks.  For instance: how do you make the best lightning, or what's the best way to make believable fire.  You can't really copyright a lighting effect.  Even if you could, I'm not sure how you would police that, or how it would benefit anyone.  Superstitions aside, a single idea just isn't a very valuable thing.

A designer has to have a solid understanding of the story.  Then they have to find images to help the actor tell that story while also creating a interesting stage picture.  Turning out a lighting design that makes those images a reality is the tricky part.  In short, there is no catch-all shortcut to great lighting.

But if there was, you'd tell me right?

Read also: Mr. Hand's first person on the problems of lighting A Midsummer Night's Dream outdoors.