Peek Behind The Curtain At Orlando’s Art Scene: Delonte Smith
Delonte Smith, Lighting Supervisor and Master Electrician, Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF
HOW LONG WITH ORLANDO SHAKES: 10 seasons.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF HIS ROLE: As lighting supervisor, Smith is in charge of any aspect that deals with lighting or atmospheric effects, such as haze, fog, etc.
HOW HE GOT INVOLVED IN HIS FIELD: Smith started as an intern with Orlando Shakes and worked his way up through the ranks, starting as an assistant master electrician in 2017. He’s been doing electrics work for most of his theater career and did a professional internship at the Julliard school where he learned lighting.
Imagine an actor on stage during a thunderstorm, but there’s no lighting or sound. It falls to the actor to sell the idea he’s inside a storm. But with a simple flash of light or rumble of thunder in the background, you’re drawn in to the story.
That’s the job of the lighting supervisor.
The allure of working in theater, but not on stage, is what drew Smith to the world of lighting and electrics.
“As an actor, you need money to eat, so I started a work study job I really enjoyed, where the passion for theater was still there,” says Smith. “You’re still a part of the show, a big aspect of the show. Being on the technical side, and knowing what it takes to be an actor, is the best of both worlds for me.”
Smith begins his process six months ahead of production’s opening curtain, working hand-in-hand with the lighting designer and doing an inventory of Orlando Shakes’ some 800 lighting units, deciding which will work for that show and if any additional units are needed.
And advances in lighting technology are helping to make his work more cohesive.
“As theaters are starting to become more green, we’re going towards more intelligent fixtures, more LED units,” says Smith. “You’re able to do so much with an intelligent fixture. LED units give us more color on stage so we can go from different tones really quick.”
“We’re slowly starting to roll those into our inventory, but we do have a good bit of conventional units that still work well for us,” he adds.
Smith finds the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of his job is that resources are limited being with a regional theater. “At times, we are limited to what our budget can do, and we have to find workarounds. But I’m blessed to have the team I do; we put out such great work, it’s like we’re a team of 20.”
His favorite effects to use are any that add integrity to the show, such as a “flash and trash,” a design aesthetic that uses bright, flashing lights to create a visually intense and energetic atmosphere. A lighting flash during a gunshot is a perfect example.
“I think it’s phenomenal, because you’re expecting the gunshot—you see the gun on stage, but when you throw a lighting effect in with it, you can draw more emotion out of it, and it pulls you more into the show.”
