"Lights" Up on Cabaret!

Hi there! My name is Megan Garrett, and I am a Lighting crewhead and lighting designer for the 2025-2026 school year! This is my 3rd year on lights, and I am here to tell you about how the lights for Cabaret are designed!

On the day-to-day, we make sure the auditorium lights look good for concerts, and for those that request it- we write the cues for their concerts! We also like to hang out as a group outside of theatre to build better bonds.

Now we do use some technical terms, so let me explain what they are:

Cues- These are what make the lights change in color and brightness.

Focus- how we make sure there are lights on all of the parts of the set

Ok- now that we know our terms, let's get into the meat of designing! Before we can get started, we have to wait for the blocking to be finished and the set to be partially built. Once the set is built, we create the focus for the show using the lights! 

Chet Salsbury and Kit Kat Klub members showing off our Cabaret lighting!

We then attend rehearsals once blocking is done to make sure we can write our cues properly, and no one is in the dark. As of the time of writing this, I have written over 150 cues! When there is a song, I use more color and lights to fully immerse you in the scene.

Tech week is the week before the show, and is our time to refine all the cues to make you as immersed in the show as possible. This is also our time to work with the cast and orchestra to make the scenes flow seamlessly with each other.

This show wouldn’t have happened without you, the audience. I hope you came and enjoyed the show! Don't forget to congratulate the crews as well as the cast, and I will talk to you later!