Jen Schriever on the Art of Lighting Flying Vampires in The Lost Boys

Two-time Tony-nominated lighting designer Jen Schriever is back on Broadway this spring, co-designing the lighting for the eagerly awaited new musical The Lost Boys, alongside the show's two-time Tony-winning director, Michael Arden. 

READ: The Lost Boys Promises a True Broadway Spectacle

Arden invited Schriever—Tony-nominated for her work in Death of a Salesman (2023) and A Strange Loop (2022)—to collaborate after working together on The Preacher’s Wife at Alliance Theatre. The musical adaptation of Joel Schumacher's 1987 cult classic vampire film, which officially opens April 26 at the Palace, features a book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch and music by The Rescues. 

The Lost Boys, utilizing vampirism to explore a teenager's coming of age, is set in California and features LJ Benet as Michael Emerson, Ali Louis Bourzgui as David, Benjamin Pajak as Sam Emerson, Shoshana Bean as Lucy Emerson, Maria Wirries as Star, Paul Alexander Nolan as Max, Jennifer Duka as Alan Frog, Miguel Gil as Edgar Frog, Brian Flores as Marko, Sean Grandillo as Dwayne, and Dean Maupin as Paul.

Schriever's numerous Broadway credits as a lighting designer also include the fall revival of Art, the 2025 revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, Eureka Day, Mother Play, the 2022 revival of 1776, Birthday Candles, Lackawanna Blues, Grand Horizons, What the Constitution Means to Me, The Lifespan of a Fact, Eclipsed, Ghetto Klown, and over 20 additional credits as an associate or assistant lighting designer. Among her Off-Broadway credits are Antigone (This Play I Read in High School), The Other Americans, Strategic Love Play, Spain, Shhh, Power Strip, Usual Girls, Strange Interlude, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, and Selling Kabul.

The ever-busy designer has also worked in the West End, in regional theatre, and opera. Schriever is an Obie winner for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design, and she also received an Obie Award Special Citation as part of the creative team and ensemble of A Strange Loop.

In the interview below for the Playbill series How Did I Get Here—spotlighting not only actors, but directors, designers, musicians, and others who work on and off the stage to create the magic that is live theatre—Schriever shares the joy of working with director (and co-lighting designer) Arden, why she feels especially vulnerable the first day of technical rehearsals, and how motherhood smooths out any bumps in a theatrical career.

Where did you train/study?
Jen Schriever: After three years of a post-high school side quest (a year-long stint at Emerson in Boston, a summer as a props assistant in the Finger Lakes, and two years in Tucson, Arizona, when I’d never been west of the Mississippi, where I somehow convinced the Arizona Theatre Company to hire me at 19 years old as a young electrician), I earned my BFA at SUNY Purchase.

Was there a teacher who was particularly impactful/helpful? What made this instructor stand out?
I have two major influences. Jared Saltzman was my high school mentor at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey. He introduced me to lighting design in the first place, and showed me it could actually be a career. Brian MacDevitt was a teacher of mine at Purchase, and two decades later, I consider him to still be my mentor. He taught me how to really see as a designer, how to show up for my teammates as a collaborator, and how to build a team you absolutely love working with.

Can you detail the responsibilities of a lighting designer before and after a show opens?
The list is long, but at its core, the job is this: We shape the atmosphere and visual language of a production through light. Practically speaking, before we’re in the theatre, we make a plan for the right lights to be in the right places, so we have the toolkit to support that visual language. Once the light plot is drafted (in budget!) and installed in the theatre, we work at a sort of unbelievably insane pace in the theatre crafting all of the many lighting cues that make up the show. That means shaping the visual composition of each scene to support the tone, mood, staging, scenery, musicality, and storytelling of every moment. 

Once the show opens, it leaves the designer’s hands and is cared for by the incredible crew, who keep it running perfectly every night.

You're designing the lighting for The Lost Boys with Michael Arden. What was the process like working with Michael, who is also directing the musical?
I also wondered what it would be like to co-light a musical with the director, and now that we’re deep in the tech process, I can firmly say the first word that comes to mind is: fun. Michael is a very visual director, with an unusual insight into how all the technical elements support the desired stage picture, especially with lighting. Together, we spent a lot of time in pre-production planning all the sneaky ways light could enter this incredible labyrinth of a Dane Laffrey set, sharing images and ideas often. Now, in the theatre, we’re easily riffing off each other’s ideas in a way I find inspiring and sometimes uncanny. Michael will often say the exact idea I was about to suggest, or vice versa. Also, the show is being staged so thoughtfully for the tools we’re using to light the space. It’s been incredibly satisfying to work with him in this capacity, and I’m so happy to be his teammate and collaborate in this way.

What were the particular challenges for the lighting design for The Lost Boys?
Well, our set is massive, and the Palace Theatre is massive. Very little in the show is parallel to anything else, including the edge of the stage, and much of it moves throughout the show. So, the first challenge was simply finding places to put the lights. There isn’t a single over-stage position that is symmetrical, so installing all the places we hide lights has been a real adventure for our electrics team.

We also have actors flying, and, of course, we want to keep the mechanics of that out of the audience’s mind so they can be transported by the story. A lot of technology goes into creating something that will hopefully feel artful, surprising, and magical.

Do you have any other projects in the works?
I’m looking forward to lighting Iceboy at the Goodman in Chicago and Death Note at the Barbican in London this summer, both new musicals.

Tell me about a time you almost gave up but didn’t.
Every first day of tech, for every show. Only sort of kidding. Lighting is the only visual design element that you can’t truly render until you’re making it all together in the room. The first day of tech is a really vulnerable day where you’re learning the room and your tools and the set while everyone watches. It can feel brutal.

What do you consider your big break?
Have I had a big break? Am I broken in? I’m not sure I can identify a single “big break.” My career has felt like a series of amazing opportunities that came from people trusting me and inviting me into the room. Honestly, almost every show feels like a big break.

Is there a person or people you most respect in your field and why?
This list is massive, and could be its own essay. But I’ll say my associate, Aaron Tacy, is high up on the list. He is such a trusted collaborator and friend. He is patient and thorough and has an incredible brain for art, technology, and humanity … It’s an incredible trifecta of qualities to have. He’s organized and helps keep me on task when we have so many balls in the air and is easy to laugh with at dinner break. Associates bridge the gap between design idea and implementation in a highly specialized way that is almost impossible to define. It’s so unique. Aaron is one of the best.

Excluding The Lost Boys, what show's lighting design are you particularly proud of?
I’m proud of so many projects, but three pop into my head immediately: Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Met, A Strange Loop on Broadway, and Strange Interlude at Irondale in Brooklyn, which I also did with Dane Laffrey. It was a wild six-hour production of the nine act Eugene O’Neill play performed solo by David Greenspan, on a set that was a massive diorama box, where the audience moved around the space and the performance ended on the set’s roof. It was incredible.

Tell me about a job/opportunity you really wanted but didn’t get. How did you get over that disappointment?
Oh man, there’s a list of shows I really wanted that I almost got and didn’t land. It can be a real head trip trying to figure out “why not me,” and left feeling super envious of the person who did get the job. Younger me used to really obsess and despair about not getting a job I really wanted. However, the last decade has been totally reframed by being a mom to a nine-year-old, Henry, which is the most easy and joyful job I’ve ever had. While I deeply love lighting design, and at this point I don’t know how to do anything else, being Henry’s mom is better than losing any job. It really softens any professional blows.

What advice would you give your younger self or anyone starting out?
Be kind and stay curious. Take care to try to fully flesh out your ideas. Don’t give up (on the artistic vision). Avoid getting jaded. Prioritize being in rooms with people whose work you love, but also trust you’ll find your way to the right places at the right times.

In such difficult times in this country and around the world, how do you think theatre can play a positive role, either for yourself and/or the community at large?
On top of war and so much worldwide human suffering, and at a moment when so much of contemporary life happens through screens and with AI-generated content poisoning the digital space, live performance feels more important than ever. When hundreds of people come together by choice to sit and witness something live and in person, sharing an experience with strangers—laughing and crying together—I believe that’s a vital kind of medicine for humanity.

What is your proudest achievement as a lighting designer?
That I can make a living doing what I love, help support my family, and be a mom at the same time. I am so beyond lucky.