Press

 

“There was also [a] significant amount of lighting design by Daniel Garner, which was very effective in adding to the mood of the show. The lighting design was most effective at the very end, when it combined with the music and the sound design by Jonah Hogg to bring the haunting imagery of the guillotine to life.”

“What was even more impressive was the transition in the second act to the Westerna home, light and comfortable in contrast, yet using some of the same set pieces from the first act. This can be in part attributed to the impressive lighting design by Daniel Garner, which helped so much with transitioning from light and calm to spooky and dark.”

“As the crew pivots the structure throughout the play, it is repeatedly transformed through lighting and angling techniques. When the illumination is orange and warm-toned, the audience is transported to the Egyptian desert, immersing them as if they are in the red-skied desert and hot sand, even as the theater remains comfortably cool. The audience reenters the palace or another setting with purple or blue lighting. In a more sinister scene, when the set piece becomes a cell where prisoners are kept, limited overhead lighting and on-stage torchlight create a feeling of eeriness and desolation, of the shadows nearly overpowering the light.”

 

“It is also important to note that the set design works so seamlessly with the lighting design by Daniel Garner to create true spectacle. Some of the best moments of this were in the numbers My Strongest Suit, where the color schemes made a lot of splash, and the opening of act two, A Step Too Far, where the LED lights on the stairs combined with the traditional overhead lights made for a visual treat. Finally, the use of the historic starlite ceiling during Written in the Stars was inspired.”

 
 

“I was also very impressed with Daniel Garner‘s lighting design, with his blank backdrop showing a circular moon. Every location has different bright colors to set it apart.”

 
 

“I was impressed by the high level of artistic inspiration and devotion the entire team put into the project. From the heartbeats… inserted throughout the show to the different levels of lighting that matched the moods to the fantastic costume for character Sarah Elmira Shelton, that had my daughter and I talking about all the way to the car, there was no question that the passion that Hollingsworth put into his writing was transferred to everyone that got to participate in this production.”

 

“Another fantastic technical element was the lighting design by Daniel Garner and Marley Porter. When a show like Ruthless! has an abundance of quick mood changes and slight melodrama, the addition of well timed and planned lights truly add to the experience. The colors that Garner and Porter chose to accommodate characters’ change in persona or the plot twists were quite apropos and added to the ambiance extensively.”

 

“The lighting design by Daniel Garner is simplistic and refreshing because it is exactly what the show needs for lighting—not over the top, adding in a few dramatic light cues is an added bonus.”