Jean Rosenthal: Pioneering Lighting Designer
In the early days of 20th-century theatre and ballet, there were no “lighting designers.” Instead, lighting was considered part of set design and usually was handled by an electrician. This changed when Jean Rosenthal began her career. She pioneered the field of lighting design and paved the way for many women who have gone into technical theatre.
Born in 1912 to Romanian-Jewish immigrants, Rosenthal did not do well in school as a child, which lead her to enroll in the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in Manhattan. She realized quickly she did not like performing at all. However, while at school, she met legendary dancer Martha Graham, and a lifelong partnership began. Rosenthal worked as Graham’s technical assistant, which led her to the Yale School of Drama and further on, to her career in lighting.
Rosenthal preferred to do lighting for dance performances, especially Graham’s abstract works. She is most well-known for her unconventional lighting that would “sculpt” the dancers and create an imaginative illusion. Rosenthal loved working for Graham, saying “To do one or two new works for Martha a year was a part of my life and a renewal of my own interior spirit.”
However, Rosenthal did find success in commercial theatre as well. Her work as a production assistant for Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre brought her to her Broadway career. She was responsible for the lighting design for many well-known shows, including West Side Story, Cabaret, Hamlet, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hello, Dolly! Being a young woman in such a male-dominated career wasn’t easy for Rosenthal, but she treated everyone she worked with respectfully, calling her crew of electricians “honey” and “darling.”
She worked hard up until her untimely death in 1969, designing lighting for her final Graham piece in her last weeks of life, suffering from cancer and in a wheelchair. Still, in a short time period, Rosenthal made a serious impact in the world of theatre and ballet, creating a new path for all genders in technical theatre.