Research in Theatre: Instantaneous Emotional Change of Audience Members in Response to Theatre Lighting.
I have always had an interest in the intersection of science and art and how the two can enhance and compliment each other. As a lighting designer, it is important to understand how audience members perceive the light that is on the stage. With my psychology minor I decided to create an experiment that would analyze how audience members reacted to different lighting conditions onstage.
I choose to work on the final scene from When Mel Fell for Nell by D.M. Larson. I picked this scene because the subject matter in the scene was neutral enough that it could be interpreted under multiple different conditions or emotional states. The scene was cast, and I directed it, focusing on making each run of the scene the same. Because I wanted to look at how the lighting affected the audience, it was important that the scene ran exactly the same each time.
Four lighting conditions were created: neutral (control), happy, scary, and sad. Audience members were invited to watch only one of the four conditions. The scene was ran eight times total over two nights to eight different audiences. Each audience member filled out a mood survey before watching the scene, and again after watching the scene. The data was then analyzed for patterns (using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences {SPSS} and ANOVA. ).
While most of the color specific data was inconclusive, the most exciting result showed that theatre is a rejuvenating experience. In the pre-survey, many audience members rank high in “tired”, “fed-up” and “drowsy”. In the post survey, tiredness and drowsiness both went down, enough to make it scientifically significant, showing that the audience was highly engaged with the scene. Audience members also left feeling more relaxed then when they came in, with “fed-up” and “active” both showing a statistically significant decline. This sort of research could lead to live theatre being medically recognized as a form of therapy and stress treatment.
I hope to continue working on similar research in the future.
The Pre-survey used in the Mel Project.