Week 6: Dressing Room Lighting

I did a show this weekend in a very old theatre in Bakersfield (where I'm from). It has been renovated since the early 20th century when it was opened, however I don't know just how recently. Specifically, I am referring to the dressing room lights surrounding the mirrors. I know very little about the particulars of modern technology for this type of lighting specifically, however I do know that they are fairly standard G type incandescent lamps, probably around 25W, and these particular ones were laid out 4 to a strip, one strip bordering the sides of each mirror. I also learned that these lamps often have cages on them to keep people from stealing them--the lamps in this dressing room did not have cages. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to represent this, but I was surprised (not for the first time, now that I think back on many other occasions) but they way that amount of lighting can wash a person out. That's the best way I can think to describe it. My particular attention in this case was to my make up. I had already put most of my make up on at home in the bathroom. But as soon as I stepped up to the dressing room mirror I was amazing at how reduced my make up appeared, and I thought, "I thought I already put a ton on at home," but turns out it wasn't sufficient for this lighting. I figured that was fair enough because it helps give a closer representation of what stage lighting can do; so the dressing room lighting reinforces the fact that you have to put a lot of make up on in order to make it stand out enough on stage with all of the stage lighting.

This also reminds me of the subtler version of this comparison: the difference in doing my make up in different rooms of my apartment. The lighting changes my perspective as well as my opinion about my make up for the day depending on the room. My bedroom is different that the bathroom or the hallway. And all of those turn out to be vastly different from what I see in a mirror when I am outside in the daylight. (That's usually the most disappointing.)