The courage to get involved
For the Hall of Fame we meet, this week, lighting designer Jenny Cappelloni.
We remind you that registration for the Lighting Designer Course 2025-26 is open until April 30 to participate in the first session of selections and until September 26 for the second session.
If you dream of a future in lighting, don't miss this opportunity: the course is held in alternate years!
Jenny, have you always been very confident about working with light and the world of theater and events? What led you to choose the Academy's Lighting Designer Course?
It was not so much a choice as a discovery. During my stage design course, I realized that everything I imagined had one common denominator: light. It was not a minor detail, but the beating heart of my vision. Every designed space lives only through the language of light. Light defines, sculpts, tells. I could no longer ignore it.
After confronting my professors, I started looking for every opportunity to enter the world of lighting design. I looked for opportunities, proposed myself as an assistant whenever the opportunity arose. But passion alone is not enough. I needed a solid foundation, a method, a structure. The course was the necessary step to turn that desire into a conscious profession.
Was the course what you expected it to be? Do you have a particularly special memory of your years at the Academy?
I had no rigid expectations, but a clear goal: to absorb everything. For me, the real opportunity was the confrontation with professionals, observing their methods up close, understanding their way of thinking.
The most significant moment? The hours spent in the theater, in silence, watching the lighting designers build a show. Seeing up close how a project takes shape, from planning to staging, was crucial. Those moments taught me that this craft is a balance between creativity and discipline, between technique and intuition, between collaboration and personal vision. Theater is a living organism, made up of subtle balances between technique, aesthetics and collaboration. Those moments taught me more than any theory: they showed me what it really means to be part of this world in a conscious way.
After the Academy you worked both in Italy and abroad, in such important contexts as La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Stabile del Veneto, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Regio in Parma, Maggio in Florence, then Estonia...tell us about how you are building your work network and growing professionally?
I realized that I wanted to be an active part of this world even before I started the Academy journey. For me, the Academy constituted an end point for professional training that would give me skills that would allow me to make a clear leap forward. I knocked on doors that seemed closed, took the initiative even when I had no experience, offering commitment, passion and dedication in exchange for trust and opportunities for growth, ready to accept rejection.
The network began to emerge thanks to these steps and, certainly, thanks to the path I took at the Academy, without which I would not have learned many things and met many people who enriched my path by opening the way to absolutely unique and important opportunities. But building a career in this industry is not about networking alone. Experience is measured in years and in the quality of the work you leave behind. Each assignment-from La Fenice to the Teatro Stabile del Veneto to Estonia and China-has been a building block that has refined my vision.
It has never been a static path: each context required adaptability, problem-solving and an ever-deepening understanding of the craft, with accompanying mistakes, all of which are part of gaining experience.
In addition to Light Design, you also specialize in Stage Design-how do they influence each other? Do you think they are important skills to have in order to work best in both areas?
Scenography and lighting design are two communicating elements. A scenic, architectural or theatrical installation does not exist without light, just as light is meaningless without a space to transform and interpret. My training in theatrical scenography has given me a broader key, allowing me to analyze the needs of a project not only from a lighting point of view, but also from a structural and narrative point of view, as well as a clear reading from a technical point of view.
I believe it is crucial to have this sensitivity: to isolate lighting design from the rest of the context is to risk creating something self-referential, technically perfect but meaningless, sterile. Light is not just an effect, it is a language.
What role does AI technology and innovation play in your work? What do you think about it?
Technology is a powerful ally, but it can never replace human creativity and experience. AI can be useful for some processes and to stimulate creativity, but the value of this craft lies in the ability to interpret, to choose, to give meaning to every design decision. I explored this issue in my master's thesis, studying the impact of AI on set design.
My opinion is clear: it is a tool that can be interesting, but it can never replace artistic sensibility, personal vision, and human critical thinking. A valuable project is born out of the dialogue between technique, culture, emotion and synthesis skills, not just the efficiency of an algorithm.
In your opinion, what characteristic should be possessed to practice this job in 2025?
And together with this question, we ask you, in conclusion, a message of “Good luck” for all the boys and girls who are thinking of sending their applications to the next edition of the Lighting Designer Course.
The field is constantly evolving. To remain rigid in one's beliefs is to limit oneself. The real strength lies in the ability to adapt, learn and reinvent oneself every day.
And then courage is needed. The courage to ask, to make mistakes, to face responsibilities that are scary. This profession offers no certainties, but it rewards those who have the determination to build their path with consistency, passion and courage. There are no shortcuts. You learn in the field, facing every mistake as a step forward and every challenge as an opportunity for growth.
To those who want to run for office, I say: follow your instincts. Put your all into it. This field is not just a profession: it is a living discipline, made up of energy, intuition and vision. If there is this spark inside you, do not let fear extinguish it. Cultivate it, protect it. Make it the engine of your growth. Because in this industry, those who are only talented do not win.
Those who have the courage to put themselves on the line, every single day, win.
Photo credits, in order of publication:
Marco Polo, China, 2024, Resume Lighting Design by Jenny Cappelloni, based on original design by Fabio Barettin
Battaglia di Legnano, Teatro Regio di Parma, 2024, Lighting Designer Marco Filibeck, Assistant Lighting Designer Jenny Cappelloni
Madama Butterfly, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2024, Lighting Designer Marco Filibeck, assistant Lighting Designer Jenny Cappelloni
Cavalleria Rusticana, photo taken during dress rehearsal, Teatro la Fenice, 2023, Lighting Designer Fabio Barettin, assistant Lighting Designer Jenny Cappelloni
