Lighting Designer Jen Schriever ’04 Earns Tony Nomination for ‘The Lost Boys’
In the stage adaptation of the cult classic film, the two-time Tony nominee illuminates a world of vast, dark spaces and flying vampires
Jen Schriever ’04 (theater design/technology) is up for Best Lighting Design of a Musical, along with co-designer Michael Arden, for creating haunting imagery that pushes the boundaries of traditional staging.
“Our set is massive, and the Palace Theatre is massive,” says Schriever. “We have actors flying, and very little—including the moving stage—is parallel to anything else. There isn’t a single over-stage position that is symmetrical. Installing all the places we hide lights has been a real adventure.”
A prolific visionary in lighting design, Schriever’s accomplishments are extensive. The Lost Boys is her third Tony nomination, adding to Tony nods for Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (2023) and A Strange Loop (2022). She and Arden also won this year’s Outer Critics Circle Award for The Lost Boys.
Schriever explains how stage lighting is a star in its own right, a creative and strategic element for setting mood, concealing and revealing parts of the set, focusing our perspectives or just holding on to a character’s face.
“The darkness conceals and convinces you something’s there that isn’t there, or hides something that maybe is there,” says Schriever.
“With our design and the story we’re telling, it was important to hold back lighting the set as long as possible. A lot of technology goes into creating something that will hopefully feel artful, surprising, and magical.”
Currently a lecturer in the Theatre Design/Technology program, Schriever has worked on dozens of acclaimed Broadway, off-Broadway, and opera productions, including: Lackawanna Blues; revivals of Glengarry Glen Ross and 1776; What the Constitution Means to Me; Lifespan of a Fact; John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown; Die Fledermaus, La Traviata; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Fun fact: Schriever was on the Purchase campus when her Tony nomination was announced and captured her own reaction:
“Younger me is freaking out right now. It’s crazy to be here at Purchase this day. I happened to be here with my students where I studied and where I learned from my mentor, Brian MacDevitt. I am so proud and honored to be nominated. It’s pretty cool.”