Lighting Design for Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen, is a Tony Award winning musical that is a moving and inspiring story of a socially anxious highschooler who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when he inadvertently invents an important role for himself at the centre of a local tragedy. This Australian premiere production was a completely new version created by an all-Australian creative team produced in collaboration between the Sydney Theatre Company and Michael Cassel Group. The lighting for this production created and supported the many locations of the work by sculpting and isolating the characters within the blue void of the set design. A significant aspect of the work is a focus on the modern conundrum of the digital worlds we all carry around with us now on our phones. The idea of being connected yet still ultimately isolated from each other. A rectangular frame of light around the proscenium of the set was used throughout in both static and animated form. This served to both reflect the digital frames that were the screens of the phones, tablets and computers of the characters but also audience. This frame also provided a way to accentuate both the depth and density of the void within the playing space. The work made use of light blended with projection in a seamless and technologically satisfying way.