The Great Gatsby Design Concept
Lighting Designer: Sean Saari
As the Lighting Designer my goal has been to collaborate with Director Anthony T. Marotta and
the other Designers in creating the exuberant and lively world of the fictional upper class town West Egg
in Long Island, New York during the summer of 1922. The play is a tale of love and decadence, glorifying
the glitz and glamour of the roaring twenties, while revealing the darker side of humanity that flourishes
in this world of excess. The lighting was designed to complement the colorful parties, romantic waltzes
and evocative moments, while creating harsher and stark contrasts for the dark, unsettling depravity of
the events that transpire.
My color choices for this production were done so to cover the various locales and moods within
the piece, as well as sets, and costumes. The script for The Great Gatsby is set up as a cinematic piece
and predominantly emotionally driven, and so many of the looks and moments I devised were done so
to accommodate these various moods, and atmospheres while also establishing the locale, time of day,
etc. My front light consisted of R02, R360, R64, and R37 of which are a light saturated amber, blue, more
saturated blue/slight green and saturated pink. The R37 was used for both the more romanticized
moments as well as a color correction to keep the skin tones and fabric from going to yellow or bluegreen. The dock area in the piece had a green dock light and so using green-blue R73 and R93 to push
the illusion of light hitting the actors from the direction of this light was incorporated. This light is a
major theme throughout the piece and was originally translated from the book as a symbol of hope and
so the script and director adopted this ideal as well. This light was requested to be incorporated as
Gatsby’s lighting in the cyc and so I devised a pallet of more teal than green and mixing with a lavendermagenta, as these few moments were the most hopeful and even romanticized within the play. Other
front/downlight color choices were R68 (saturated blue) and R45 (Rose/deep magenta) which were used
to cover the front and mid portion of the stage, as these were the areas predominately used for
nighttime, romantic, and party scenes. Breakup patterns in matching colors, Curly art for R45 and
Whirlpool for R68 were also incorporated to accommodate these areas and moments. The seachangers
and scrollers were incorporated to provide a variety of saturated looks and even the ability to change
colors on gobo breakups. R321 (soft deep golden amber) and R65 (saturated blue-green) were used as
targeted backlighting to cover specific locales. R65 for night scenes and the dingy and dismal Valley of
the Ashes which was predominantly DSR to DCS. R321 for the Bucchanons’ rich world and their suite,
Gatsby’s extravagant parties, specials for romanticized moments of Gatsby and Daisy, the Jazz uptown
restaurant and the hotter exterior days. The high sides which were limited to mid and upper stage by
scenery were R52 (light-lavender), R68 and R321. Gobo breakups were added to the cyc as a means of
providing a broader range of looks and for covering the more abstracted and heightened moments
within the production. Gatsby had a specific set in R321 that were more art Deco and aimed diagonally
to his position. The window on the cyc was in the same color and served the same purpose of specificity
for Gatsby.
Other specials within the design were the star drop, dual gobo rotator for the pool and
propellers (which had a positive and negative to achieve the desired effect), a manually moved “car”
headlight accented with additional lights for greater intensity range, shadow projection lights, water
effect lights, Rain lights on the flower wall, LEDs for the Eyes and Voille, and death lights. The car lights
were designed to first have the non-moving lights grow in intensity as if a car was approaching, then the
manual swung to the same position to signify a car rounding a corner, or getting considerably closer,
and then all the lights grew in intensity as they were about to hit Myrtle, going to blackout when doing
so. The shadow projection lights had to be lensless 8” Fresnels in order to achieve the intensity to
penetrate the drops and light the lighting props of Daisy’s letter and fragments, and the two flowers
pinned in the hair of the understudy and actress. They were also on rovers in order to move out of
sightlines and out of the way of furniture, wagons and other scenery within the tight space. The water
effect was achieved by using a set of Mylar stripes moving via a 6” clip fan on low, lit by three pars in
R68, R73 and R65 below the dock. These were black wrapped and the back of the Mylar masked on the
railing to keep the light from illuminating the house due to the angle from the pit. The rain lighting was a
series of S4s on the Torms in R68 and R85 lighting the flower arch in an intensity stepping effect in order
to create the rain effect. LEDs were used on the Eyes of Eckleburg and the Voille fabric in order to
provide a range of moods and looks for these specials. The death lights were a combination of hard
focused no color downlight and R26 spattered breakup to create a more stylized pool of light for the
three deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and Wilson without looking too campy.
In terms of looks and moments the idea was to set a variety of locale specific setups, while
having the variety of adjusting to the emotional shifts and abstractions of the harsher and darker
moments of human depravity and mistakes. In terms of locales, there are Nick’s various narration
lighting, which were often accompanied by other characters or actions which were lit according to the
moment, while leaving Nick as the main focus throughout his monologue. The Buchannon’s wealthy and
money filled abode golden, and their latter suite which was set more to the mood of the moment which
was one of great tension and strife, especially as the conflict between Tom and Gatsby builds and even
after it “resolves”. The multiple Valley of the Ashes scenes which take place at Wilson’s garage with the
accompanied billboard of the Eyes of Eckleburg and the light that would be spilling/attached to said
billboard. Tom’s Mistress, Myrtle’s garish and gaudy apartment and accompanying dancing. The
hydroplane scenes which go from flying through the sky in a deeper blue with lower midtone blue on
the cyc to help reflect the height, then later shifts more normal daylight blue from a groundlevel
perspective after they land. Gatsby’s wild, lavish and money filled nighttime parties and the varying
moments and moods within them. The Uptown Jazz café, with it’s’ more incandescent and more
romantic cyc lighting. The same café as it shifts to the story of Gatsby and Daisy’s first meeting and the
resulting aftermath via shadow play and Jordan’s storytelling. The following Sunset lit evening as Jordan
and Nick are walking together and share a tender moment of their first kiss. Nick’s romanticized and
abstracted abode with accompanying rain effects and mood shifts. Gatsby’s house and upstairs
bedroom specifically gold/glitz, hopeful and romantic as we end Act I, and its’ return towards the end of
Act II but with the accents of Myrtle’s death and the dock of hope. The night scenes following Myrtle’s
death where we are outside Tom and Daisy’s house. And the very abstracted overture scenes which are
hinted at and finally a more revealed version of the first opening look as Nick comes upon the bodies of
Gatsby, and Wilson.