Stanley McCandless is considered to be the father of modern lighting design. He paved the way for future lighting designers by playing a role in all aspects of theatrical lighting, from the engineering of lighting instruments to consultant work, and of course designing realized theatrical productions.

Biography

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1920, McCandless received a degree in architecture from Harvard in 1923. Work as an architect eventually led him to the career of theatrical lighting consultant. McCandless and his Harvard acquaintance George Pierce Baker

George Pierce Baker

George Pierce Baker was an American educator in the field of drama.Baker graduated in the Harvard University class of 1887, and taught in the English Department at Harvard from 1888 until 1924. He started his "47 workshop" class in playwrighting in 1905. He was instrumental in creating the Harvard...

, served as some of the first faculty to teach at the Yale School of Drama

Yale School of Drama

The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...

. The method of lighting the stage McCandless outlined in A Method of Lighting the Stage, known today as the McCandless Method, is still in wide use today.

Educator

During his time at Yale, McCandless published some of the first books to lay out a method and approach to the art of lighting design. In his book A Method of Lighting the Stage (1932), McCandless details his method of lighting design which is based on the idea of breaking the stage down into uniform acting areas and manipulating light in terms of intensity, color, distribution, and control. In the earlier text Syllabus of Stage Lighting (1927), McCandless also outlines his views on the functions of light in the theatre. These functions are broken down into visibility, locale, composition, and mood. Approaching light in this way allows the designer to address the practical aspects of lighting, as well as giving due attention to the more emotional side of the art. These books and others, including A Glossary of Stage Lighting (1926), were born form McCandless’ lectures at Yale, where he taught some of the early greats in the field including Jean Rosenthal

Jean Rosenthal

Jean Rosenthal is considered a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design. She was born in New York City to Romanian-Jewish immigrants....

 and Tharon Musser. McCandless was also one of the first professors to outline the historical development of lighting design. His books are not only practical guides to the art, but they give designers a sense of their legacy and heritage.

Innovator

Like many lighting designers to follow, Stanley McCandless was not only interested in the artistic side of lighting design, but he also contributed to the technical aspect of the art as well. In his early work as a theatrical consultant, McCandless designed specific house lights for the Center Theatre in New York’s Radio City. These fixtures incorporated the use of ellipsoidal shaped reflectors, which were later developed into the ellipsoidal reflector spotlight. This lighting fixture has become the staple for theatre lighting inventories in America due to its ability to shape light with shutters and gobos or templates.

Stanley McCandless continued to educate and design until he retired from teaching in 1964. His legacy is still felt by many lighting designers today, as his method and approach to the art are still the backbone of many educational theatre programs today.

McCandless Method

The McCandless Method is a particular approach to providing stage lighting

Stage lighting

Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting. Stage lighting has grown considerably in recent years...

, first proposed in his book, A Method of Lighting the Stage, which has been through several editions. The McCandless Method is still in wide use today.

In the McCandless Method, the actors are meant to be fully front lit but also provided with some "sculpting" of the features. Full lighting is provided by at least two lights from opposite sides, above the plane of the actors by about 45 degrees and approximately 90 degrees apart. These two lights come in from opposite directions. Top lighting may also be used for fill, as may limited footlights. McCandless described these angles as being the diagonals of a cube in the center of the acting area.

However, the key to the McCandless Method is that one light of the primary pair is "cool" relative to the other. One may be blue (a cool color) and the other amber (a warm color). Thus, one fills the shadows left by the other in a way that produces a degree of depth uncommon in real life but striking and recognizable on the stage, similar to stage makeup in the way it exaggerates and clarifies the actors' faces.
Stanley McCandless developed the method in part while at Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 before he moved to Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, which was at the time near the center of American Theatre, in part because it was where many shows bound for Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, New York, opened and had initial runs, to judge their future potential.