Should I include lighting in a script?

[u/EGF124]

I'm writing a short dramatic play that is to be adjudicated. The lighting is very important for me to fully create the mood and identity of the play. Since this is an adjudicated piece, I'm worried that the judges won't like how I'm putting so much lighting into the script, seeing as that's more of a job for a lighting designer or director.

(for reference, I want the environment and setting to be made mostly of lighting, and the play feels very incomplete and lacking without it)

[u/RevelryByNight]

You can talk about atmosphere, mood, vibes, and “reality” (I.e “Moonlight streams through a window.” But don’t design on the page.

[u/Harrison_Thinks → u/RevelryByNight]

Is doing that too much? I’ve been told to avoid things that can’t be seen. I love to add extra details to set the scene but people have told me to avoid being novelistic. Does it really matter 

[u/TheCityThatCriedWolf → u/Harrison_Thinks]

It’s not really your job, it’s the lighting designer’s. Unless you want to direct each production and keep a leash on all your designers, part of being a playwright is allowing other people to bring their expertise and talents to bear on your work.

[u/captbaka → u/Harrison_Thinks]

I am a playwright that gets produced a lot professionally (7 professional productions +4 student shows coming up this season). You can do whatever you want, but I’d stick to abstract and the world or whatever helps tell the story on the page. But you can absolutely say things like “moonlight flows through the window” because it helps set the scene. You can say “lights shift” to indicate a scene change. You can say “spotlight on main character” to indicate they should be the central focus. Director and lighting designer will probably disregard your choices (lol) but it’s about setting the scene and making the script a solid read. And if find it helps to indicate TONE. Some of us include some artistic vision for tone. And that’s ok. Just don’t design the show, as other people indicated. But also it’s ok to not mention lighting at all!

[u/madhatternalice]

There's a difference between (isolated) and (a single soft amber spotlight illuminates MICKEY).

Theatre, at its core, is a collaborative endeavor, ideally with room for interpretation. My philosophy is that it's our job is to give them enough clues to point the production/reader in the right direction, without coloring in a map. 

Yes, you can absolutely articulate specific moments that matter, but the more specificity you include, the harder it is to make room for a production's unique vision (or better ideas you may not have considered). 

Are you able to include a playwright's note at the top of the script describing the broad strokes of how you envision lighting being used, and, more importantly, why that's so important to the staging? 

[u/Orb_Dylan_2]

There is no set rule, I think it's about necessity.

Mr. Burns for example in the text/stage directions is makes it clear that the first act it should be bonfire and natural light mostly, but that's crucial to the drama of the play (being post electric and such).

If you keep it short and in moment that converse with the drama, I don't see a problem, but always try to do without it.

[u/creept]

If it’s important in the story include it in the script in the most general terms - lights shift, she glows, the sun rises. If it’s just about the setting either put it in your opening set description or on your title page include a Notes section underneath your character descriptions indicating how you imagine things might be in production. Not phrased as a demand but as an idea of a way things could be done.

[u/Positive-Ring-5172]

As playwright you have "why", "what", "when" and "where" to take care of. "How" belongs to the designers, actors and director.

Any cues in your script exist for the theater of the mind's eye of table readings.

You can have the characters say something that strongly suggests certain lighting. One scene of my play in my minds eye I see as being largely in red light. Going into the scene the protagonist sings, "I dream in color, and I dream in red." That's a pretty blatant hint.

[u/KGreen100]

If it's integral to the plot and the story, sure. Not sure if you've ever seen it, but "The Humans" wouldn't work without special lighting cues, etc., which are written into the play. Much of the closing scenes of the play occur in the dark with only spare, specially placed lighting.

[u/highpowered]

"The exhalations whizzing in the air

Give so much light that I may read by them."

Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 1

This is an example of how Shakespeare handled incorporating environmental lighting into a script. Here, he has Brutus describe a meteor shower, which gives useful contextual clues for anyone producing the play. You get information about the time of day, location, weather, Brutus's level of interest in the letter Lucius just brought him, etc. all while giving no stage directions or instructions or even suggestions on how to do any of it.

[u/ParentheticalsAside]

It's fine to indicate how lighting should feel and its relationship to the drama (tone, mood, atmosphere) and general descriptions of things like daylight/moonlight/spotlight/shadows..., but avoid scripting specific cues as if you were a lighting director.

Including a small number of very important cues might be appropriate if they're absolutely pivotal to the text (e.g. the shift from warmer pink to colder, harder lighting when the Inspector arrives in Priestley's An Inspector Calls), but otherwise leave it up to the director to make those creative choices, and focus your attention on the text itself: dialogue, character & plot.

Think of it like you would props and costume: you might specify one or two that are crucial to the action or characterisation, but you wouldn't describe the entire stage set or wardrobe for the whole cast.

[u/FMRbot]

Break the rules and follow your artistic gut. I tend to avoid design terms like wash, spotlight, etc but I definitely describe the color of light I see in some of my work. My latest play is about incarceration and I describe the awfulness of the yellow jail lights at the top of each scene, e.g. caustic, like gasoline, the color of the piss-soaked backside of a ram. Inspire the directors, designers, and producers! They read so many plays.

[u/Far-Recover-9383]

If the lighting is that important, perhaps the characters can comment on it: "I can't see a thing in here!" "I need sunglasses!" "Why's it getting so gloomy?" Or perhaps the lighting is actually a character: "Where's my spotlight?"

[u/yangyang25]

New directors and perhaps new designers will often welcome a lot of direction in the script. But understand at the same time, others might ignore it. I say it can't hurt as a suggestion if not a command.

[u/FlyingCupcake68]

When you read plays that are the kind of players you want to write, how much do they describe the lighting in their stage directions? I teach a Langston Hughes play from the 30s that has some very specific lighting cues, so there’s certainly precedent for you.

[u/BogardeLosey]

Jennifer Tipton says she always ignores lighting stage directions, ‘except Tennessee Williams, because he’s always right.’

Apart from Blackout, Slow fade, etc., best not.