Miss Saigon
Suncoast Broadway Theatre Sarasota, FL
Lighting design for the 2026 production of Miss Saigon at Suncoast Broadway Theatre, directed by Kurt Terrio.
About the Lighting Design
Miss Saigon demands scale. Helicopters, monumental statues, big ensemble numbers. Designing it for Suncoast Broadway Theatre meant finding the show’s scale inside the dinner theater’s existing repertory plot and tech schedule, in a space the show wasn’t originally built for.
The design split the work with Eric Johnson’s projection design. Eric drove the primary setting: time of day, location, the visual world of each scene. Lighting matched and reinforced what he was doing, picking up the dimension, mood, and beam work that video can’t do on its own. That kind of split only works when both designs are talking to each other from the start, and ours was.
Inside that framework, the design leaned on contrast. Saturated color when the show pushed into the heightened world of the nightclub and the chaos of the fall of Saigon. Cooler, softer palettes for the quiet moments between Kim and Chris. Tight isolation work for the most intimate beats so the show’s biggest emotional moments could carry without the rig fighting the actors for attention.
- Adapted from original French lyrics by
- Alain Boublil
- Additional material
- Michael Mahler
- Director
- Kurt Terrio
- Choreographer
- Charity Terrio
- Scenic Designer
- Tom Hansen
- Costume Designer
- Annie Le
- Lighting Designer
- Mike Wood
- Sound Designer
- Kurt Terrio
- Projection Designer
- Eric Johnson
- Producer
- Charity & Kurt Terrio
- Intimacy Director
- Nicole Perry
- Props Master
- Brian Moran
- Production Stage Manager
- Abby Schneck
- Production Manager
- Henrick Ayala
About the Show
In the turmoil of the Vietnam War, Chris, an American soldier, and Kim, a Vietnamese girl, fall in love and marry but are distressingly separated when Saigon falls. As years pass, Chris, unable to contact Kim, remarries and attempts to move on with his life. Kim, however, gives birth to Chris' son and waits faithfully for Chris' return. Miss Saigon is a tragedy of passion and beauty, one of the most stunning theatrical spectacles of all time.
Source: MTI