NYPL Labs

In 2006 The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (LPA) received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to create a digital archive of lighting design that will house, catalog, and make available for study the records of lighting design and stage lighting of three major theatrical and dance productions in the United States. The project will provide professionals and students of the performing arts with access to primary and single-source archival materials that are otherwise inaccessible to researchers.The archive represents a unique opportunity to capture and preserve the best of American ingenuity.

The materials to be digitized document the evolution of 20^th century theatrical design, a highly underrepresented component of modern theatre.In addition, many of the great lighting design innovators of contemporary theatre and dance are still accessible, and their input would greatly enhance the archive. Digitizing these materials will also lay the groundwork for future, dynamic digital initiatives, including the possible coordination and linkage of additional digitized lighting design materials, so that a designer’s intent, his or her conceptual design ideas, and the equipment deployed to accomplish the design are all digitally accessible and interconnected.

Tharon Musser / Focus Chart for A Chorus Line