Louise Guinand
By Andrew King
When Louise Guinand formally decided to pursue theatrical lighting design as a career , she had little in the way of role models or potential mentors . At the time , you could count the number of full-time female lighting designers in the country on one hand ( or , as far as she knew at the time , one finger ). Still , that didn ’ t stop her from embarking on a journey to become one of the most accomplished designers in Canadian theatre , regardless of gender .
Though she was actually born in Australia , Guinand moved to Canada with her family before she can remember . When memories did start to form , she says many had a common theme . “ From a very young age , I was just fascinated by theatre ,” she shares , “ and thought I ’ d be the next great actress , at least up until my early teens .”
At that point , she realized she may not have what it took to pursue acting , and put her theatrical aspirations on ice to study math at Queen ’ s University in Kingston , ON while working behind the scenes in the school ’ s theatre on the side – mostly because she didn ’ t know you could make a living in the theatre without being onstage . In fact , she didn ’ t even know that there were specific roles dedicated to stage lighting .
Then , for one fateful production , Guinand recalls being pushed into taking the lighting design role . There was just the one problem : “ I knew nothing ,” she admits . “ I read Richard Pilbrow , and quizzed Paul Moulton , who was the tech director at the time , and then just pushed forward and lit the show .”
That , she says , is the moment she fell in love with stage lighting and formally told herself : “ This is what I ’ m doing now .”
Guinand applied to the National Theatre School of Canada – “ and was only interested in lighting design at a time when there really weren ’ t any woman doing lighting in Canada , save for Marsha Sibthorpe out in B . C .” So there she found herself , studying lighting at a prestigious institution in Montreal , passionate and undeterred .
Oddly enough , her first formal job out of school was in sound design and tech , which had been part of her studies , at Festival Lennoxville and then at Montreal ’ s Centaur Theatre . Though she did enjoy the opportunity , she was dead set on realizing her goals , and the following year , she landed a position with Ontario ’ s Blyth Festival as a lighting designer and technician .
From there , through referrals and reputation , she earned work with major theatres , productions , and festivals in Canada and abroad , including the revered Stratford Festival , which would become something of an unofficial home for her decades-long career .
Over the course of that career , Guinand has witnessed very positive change in terms of gender balance in theatrical lighting design , and many other backstage disciplines , for that matter – “ but it has taken a long time ,” she admits , and that sometimes came with unnecessary and unfair challenges .
“ There were some places where I ’ d show up as the lighting designer – at least one instance where the crew thought it was a Louis and not a Louise coming in – and they weren ’ t thrilled when they realized I was female .”
That unfortunately not-so-rare attitude often led her to be more strident than she would have liked to make it clear that she was calling the shots as the designer , and to prove she did indeed know what she was doing .
In the 1990s , though , she started to notice a shift for the better . “ And now , in Canada , it seems pretty even , and I don ’ t think the women coming up in the field now are being met with the same chauvinism ,” she says . “ Some places were always great , but there were some places where the attitude was very , ‘ Get out of our way , little lady .’”
While 2017 was a fairly busy year , including a production of The Comedy of Errors in Kamloops , BC that ’ s now touring , a pair of Shakespearian pieces for the Stratford Festival , Dancing at Lughnasa for the Shaw Festival , and work at the Blyth and Drayton Festivals , she ’ s currently enjoying what ’ s left of her summer downtime before things start to pick up again .
On her schedule for late 2017 and early 2018 is a mixture of different regional productions before heading back to the major festivals in the summer . “ I used to say I love having my big theatre work pay for my small theatre habit ,” she jokes , “ because I love playing with all the bells and whistles , but also love the challenge of working with 50 lights and no movers or DMX .”
It ’ s understandable that , considering her career accomplishments , Guinand is hard-pressed to name some professional highlights from years past , though she eventually recalls her pride in lighting the world premiere of Elizabeth Rex in Stratford and her Dora Award for designing Aspects of Love for the Elgin Theatre and subsequent U . S . tour . She also shares her longtime aspirations of lighting every Shakespeare play , with only nine left to go .
Though her schedule isn ’ t nearly as dense as it was prior to starting her family , Guinand is still very obviously passionate about her work and its rewards . “ I don ’ t want to do the same sort of show all the time , so mixing it up – a bit of Shakespeare and then a musical and then something more abstract – is what ’ s moving me .”
And like so many in the industry , she acknowledges her peers as an ongoing source of inspiration and enjoyment . “ It ’ s the people I ’ m surrounded with that make it interesting and exciting and worth doing ,” she says – and that especially includes the female designers and technicians entering the industry , who can greatly benefit from the experience of working under such accomplished professionals .
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Lighting & Production .
Fall 2017 | 35