Initial Goals and Concepts!

For The Addams Family, my goal was to create a dramatic and intense atmosphere through strategic lighting design. I utilized strong, directional lighting from below using strip lights to enhance the eerie and intense expressions on the actors' faces. Given the minimal set design, I focused on filling the space through dynamic gobo effects on the floor and extensive sidelighting, ensuring depth and visual interest throughout the production.

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Addams Family Opening

I believe the opening of The Addams Family truly captures the essence of my lighting design for the production. The intense lighting from below created striking, dramatic shadows that enhanced the eerie atmosphere. I incorporated various effects in the first number—while simple, they were highly effective in setting the tone. Additionally, I used focused lighting to guide the audience’s attention, ensuring key characters stood out at pivotal moments in the scene.

Reflection and Final Notes

The Addams Family taught me a lot about lighting design. Since this show didn’t have a ton of set pieces, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to use light to fill the empty space. Between that and gaining access to new moving lights, I had a great time experimenting with different lighting effects. This was also one of the first shows where my director let me take the lead and encouraged me to explore new designs—most importantly, to make mistakes. Some of those mistakes included not using enough front light or accidentally washing out scenes with too much light. However, each mistake taught me something valuable, ultimately helping me become the better designer I am today!

Photo Credit For Addams Family: Catherine Belle

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