can be presented for the production
of harmonies in light and color. These simplifications are made only by
those who have not looked deeply enough into the subject through
observation and experiment to see its complexity.

The expressiveness of light finds applications throughout the vast field
of lighting, but the stage offers great opportunities which have been
barely drawn upon. When one has awakened to the vast possibilities of
light, shade, and color as a means of expression it is difficult to
suppress a critical attitude toward the crudity of lighting effects on
the present stage, the lack of knowledge pertaining to the latent
possibilities of light, and the superficial use of this potential
medium. The crude realism and the almost total absence of deep insight
into the attributes of light and color are the chief defects of
stage-lighting to-day. One turns hopefully toward the gallant though
small band of stage artists who are striving to realize a harmony of
lighting, setting, and drama in the so-called modern theater.
Unappreciated by a public which flocks to the melodramatic movie, whose
scenarios produced upon the legitimate stage would be jeered by the same
public, the modern stage artist is striving to utilize the potentiality
of light. But even among these there are impostors who have never
achieved anything worth while and have not the perseverance to learn to
extract some of the power of light and to apply it effectively. Lighting
suffers in the hands of the artist owing to the absence of scientific
knowledge and it is misused by the engineer who does not possess an
esthetic sensibility. Science and art must be linked in lighting.

The worthy efforts of stage artists in some of the modern theaters lack
the support of the producers, who cater to the taste of the public which
pays the admission fees. Apparently the modern theater must first pass
through a period in which financial support must be obtained from those
who are able to give it, just as the symphony orchestra has been
supported for the sake of art. Certainly the time is at hand for
philanthropy to come to the aid of worthy and capable stage artists who
hope to rescue theatrical production from the mire of commercialism.

Those who have not viewed stage-lighting from behind the scenes would
often be surprised at the crudity of the equipment, and especially at
the superficial intellects which are responsible for some of the
realistic effects o