Lighting Design – The concept that a designer creates to provide light onstage to support the mood or atmosphere of the play

Light Plot – The map that shows where all of your lighting instruments are placed and where they will be lighting

Lighting Grid – Up above the stage, it is a system of bars and electricity that power the lights

Lighting Board – The control panel that powers the lights; when they turn on and off and at what intensity

Cyclorama – The large white ‘sheet’ at the back of the stage that can be lit or projected on

Backlight – Lighting from the back

Sidelight – Lighting from the side

Top light – Lighting from above

Front light – Lighting from the front

Footlight – Lighting that is placed on the floor in the front

Spotlight – A single source of light focused on a single subject

Fill light – Light sources that add lighting in and around the set/scenery/stage – they ‘fill in’

Wash – A large group of lighting that can ‘wash’ the stage in light that you can bring up at once together

Lighting angle – The angle of the lighting instrument in relation to the subject, usually 45°

Gobo (or pattern) – A pattern (in olden days it was a circle of metal) that blocks light to give you a shape onstage

Gel (or color gel) – The color that you want the instrument to throw onstage (or light onstage)