A Lighting Design for Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal by Toranj NorooziDissertation/Thesis, 2015
Next to Normal is the story of the struggle for freedom and the ability to cope with the unbearable face of life. My lighting design in the play unveiled the beauty and harshness of life that are embodied in the music and dramatic action on stage. Light was used to shape two worlds of the Domestic and the Natural to visually express the contrast between autonomy and pain. In this production, light sculpted a space that allowed the audience to visualize these two worlds. The lighting design for each scene was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's color palette, which enhanced the emotion of the music and lyrics into an overall theatrical vision. This paper is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Technical Theatre. It examines the lighting design of Next to Normal, and includes my point of view of the production, dramatic and visual inspiration, dramatic and visual research, the lighting design approach, and self-evaluation of the success and failures therein.