ONE OF CARTOONIST
BY DECLAN KELLY
Gary Larson’s many Far Side gems features a trio of men laying tiles in an empty church, with the description: “Although history has long forgotten them, Lambini and Sons are generally credited with the Sistine Chapel floors.”
Kevin Fraser knows well the feeling of your life’s work being the very thing that sets off works of artistic greatness. As one of Canada’s top theatre lighting designers, Fraser’s own artistry has helped more than 400 theatre and opera productions appear in the best possible light.
He is currently wrapping up his 28th season at the Stratford Festival, North America’s largest classical repertory theatre company, where he has designed the lighting for more than 70 productions.
Fraser’s recent lighting design credits at Stratford include critically acclaimed productions of West Side Story (2009), Peter Pan (2010), King John (2014) and this season’s Carousel and The Adventures of Pericles, the latter being directed by Broadway musical specialist Susan H. Schulman.
As the 2015 Stratford season drew to a close, Fraser renewed his long association with Drayton Entertainment when he designed the lighting for the musicals Anne of Green Gables and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.
Musical theatre has long been a specialty of Fraser’s. He has toured the globe with Toronto’s Opera Atelier and designed lighting for the Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera and Mirvish Productions.
In the process, Fraser’s work has garnered five Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations and one Jessie Richardson award nomination — respectively, the Toronto and Vancouver equivalents of a Tony Award.
Yet, despite all the accolades and being sought out by a myriad of regional theatre companies across Canada, Fraser appreciates that lighting design is very much a behind-the-scenes — or at least abovethe-scenes — aspect in most theatregoers’ take-away impression of any stage production. Striking the right balance to render beautiful results from a highly technical place helps make lighting designer Kevin Fraser the first choice of veteran directors from Stratford to Toronto to Broadway.