Let there be light! Bright ideas to excite kids about theatre and science!
Summer camps are in full swing, kids embark on camp experiences to keep them busy and enrich their minds throughout the summer. Some kids come to theatre camp. The camp I am working at doesn’t just focus on the musical theatre elements of performance but kids also get a great taster of what the technical elements of theatre making are too. We started with an introduction to lights and sound!
The class starts with a brief introduction and quiz asking kids (ages 8–10), if and what they know, about this thing we call theatre tech? In other words, what are the technical elements of theatre making? Kids on the edges of their seats and hands shoot up…one kid says “lights”, another blurts out; “backstage stuff”, from the second row-an enthusiastic voice; “props and set”, a shy boy mutters; “sound” quietly from behind his binder. And the conversation begins, we start discussing all the various elements that make up theatre tech.
Next, we show the kids video resources about two elements in particular (1) lights and the other (2) sound. There are loads of great behind the scenes/ classroom edition video resources from popular musical such as Lion King, Mary Poppins, Matilda and Wicked available on Youtube. They’re excellent for inspring the kids by exposing them to some of the best Broadway productions. This way kids see that what they do and what the pro’s do aren’t much different, in fact they are doing the actual fundamentals it’s just “less sophisticated version” as they girl with the higher goals T-shirt explains.
Here’s a list of useful resources for workshops, camps and classrooms:
Matilda: Making the Musical — Set and Lights Edition
Mary Poppins: Classroom Edition — Bring Mary Poppins to stage
Lion King: Classroom Edition — Lights and Set
Lion King: Classroom Edition — Sound and Music Edition
Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain — Lights Edition
Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain — Sound Edition
Some Bright ideas worth sharing
Our focus then shifts to lights. Firstly, hat the primaryWe explore light and colour mixing for the stage .A fellow instructor has an awesome lesson plan for teaching kids about the world of lights (he is a lighting designer too- pretty cool, right?). He has a bunch of really bright ideas for an immersive part of the lesson for kids to explore light at colour mixing, involving coloured and patterned fabric and sometimes skittles. But I’m going to share my favourite part of the class with you!
We start by asking the kids if they know their primary colours (looking for the answers Red, Blue, Yellow). We then ask in anyone know primary colours of light (looking for the answer Red, Green, Blue). Asking both is useful to highlight the difference.
So we ask our first group of kids what are the primary colours? A boy blurts our “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow”. Which are the secondary colours when you mix R,G,B but also its the primary colours of pigment (as the wriggling body explained “it’s like in your printer, or like in photoshop…”)…so I guess context matters #primarycolorsinsililconvalley.
We then reveal to the kids the 3 primary colours of light, using an LED multipar, shining on a white surface. First red, then green then blue. We then ask if any one knows what colour we get if we shine all three on the surface, and reveal the answer by showing them, white. We then demonstrate additive mixing of the colours and reveal the outcomes: red+green= yellow, green+blue= cyan and blue+red =magenta.
How does your eye perceive colour?
When light hits an object, the object absorbs some of the light and some of the light reflects the rest of it. Different colours are different wavelengths. The light waves reflect off the object and hit the light-sensitive retina at the back of your eye. Inside your retina you have cones which are a type of photoreceptor. The cones are blue-sensitive, green-sensitive and red-sensitive, but as each cone is actually responsive to a range of wavelengths. These three types of colour receptor allow the brain to perceive signals from the retina as different colours. (For more info: www.sciencelearn.org).
Rainbow blocks game
The rainbow block game is an interactive activity that most kids describe as “mind blowing”. The way it works? Simple:
(1)Mark a surface with the labels red, orange, yellow, green and blue (you can also add violet and indigo).
(2) Randomly place blocks or tiles of the corresponding colours on the surface, do this while shining a green or red light so that kids cannot identify the blocks/tiles true colours.
(3)Ask the kids to place the colour block/tiles next to their corresponding label while shining the red light. Give them a couple of minutes to do so, once they agree on the order.
(4) Change the colour of the light to green, and ask the kids if they are still convinced about their order or the blocks. *They will probable shuffle some or all.
(5)Repeat the question while shining the blue light.
(6) Then reveal the blocks true colour under white light and see how many blocks and tiles were actually paired with their corresponding labels.
Why does the red block look black in blue light?
When shining the blue light on a red surface, the surface may appear very dark colour or black. The reason being blue light is absorbed and there is no red light to be reflected. So one only sees black.
The same rule applies for other colours under the various colour light conditions and that why it was confusing.
It is really excited however, to see the kids try figure it out, and apply their knowledge. We had one group figure it out in the 1st condition, one girl explained this principal to her group and they were able to figure it out and stick to their guns until the big reveal, cheering themselves and chirping “It’s science dude, it’s so cool!”.
So why do we care about this in theatre?
“So why do we care about this in theatre?” or “Why is it important to know this?” These are the questions we ask as we finish off the class. In theatre, we don’t just use lights to add photons to illuminate a dark room allowing for the audience to see people stutting the stage. It’s important because it affects the aesthetic and mood of the production, it can also change the meaning of things.
Blue light, paired with the sound of the ocean helps us create/ suggest that our story is taking place by the seaside it helps us create an atmosphere and mood. But understanding how colour and light works helps us notice that the leads’ red dress appears to black while she walks along the seaside. So we add a touch of white light to the scene so that the costume designer is also happy.
I am careful to say theatre is only a creative subject, in fact I think it is comprised of many different disciplines such as science, history, art, music, math, phycology (to name but a few). I really believe theatre is a wonderful lens to adopt *through which* to explore the world around us and question “Why would a character do that?” or “How does that work?”. Using science helps us answer some of the questions.