In his book, "The Dramatic Imagination," Robert Edmond Jones insists that theatre designers must be technicians and artists. Heather Graff and Rich Peterson–a scenic and lighting design team since 2000–embody Jones’ philosophy. In fact during our interview, Graff quotes liberally from his book, and our conversation often bridges the gap between science and visual poetry.

"We share a lot of …," begins Graff, 33.

"…instincts," Peterson, 30, finishes her sentence.

Combined, both artists–also a couple off stage–boast a substantial amount of academic and hands-on technical and fine arts training. Graff is an actress, designer and educator who has been involved in Chicago theatre for over a decade. Peterson, who holds a BS degree in electronics from Northern Illinois University-Dekalb, worked as a senior repair engineer for Mitsubishi Electronics for three years before pursuing further studies and experience in rock, theatre and dance lighting.

The pair initially met in early 2000 at a call for a master electrician for Northlight Theatre’s production of Dinah Was. They then hooked up again during Chicago Dramatists’ Ballad Hunter (for which Graff designed lights). The first production they designed together was Evanston Children’s Theatre’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. They have since teamed up on La Vie Ennui at Theatre Building Chicago; I Am Yours and 2 by Harry for cobalt ensemble theatre; Flush Puppy Productions’ Polaroid Stories; Sense of Urgency’s Reckless; Wings for Spokane (Washington) Interplayers Ensemble and the Jeff- and After Dark Award-winning The Crucible for TimeLine Theatre.

They’ve designed lights for Running With Scissors’ Pan and Boone; Prop Thtr’s New Plays Festival 2000; and Rhinoceros and Blood Wedding for The Hypocrites. Most recently, they created sets for Eric LaRue at A Red Orchid Theatre. Upcoming design projects include The Hypocrites’ Machinal (opening Jan. 4), Chicago Dramatists’ new play by Jenny Laird, Only the Sound (opening in March), TimeLine’s Hauptmann and Estrogen Fest at the Storefront Theatre.

Separately, they’ve been involved with numerous theatres. Graff, as an actor and designer, has worked on many stages, including Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Victory Gardens, Northlight, Mary-Arrchie and Shakespeare’s Motley Crew. She was the resident lighting designer for 10 years for Chicago Theatre Company, and was a longtime ensemble member of The Aardvark Theatre. She also is a mentor for Steppenwolf’s "Cross Town" program.

Peterson, who has a background in woodworking, has a penchant for rock lighting, but is equally drawn to theatre and dance (for example, local troupes like Same Planet Different World and the annual showcase, Spectrum Dances). He is accomplished at designing and programming moving lights. Peterson is currently the master electrician at Writers’ Theatre and works at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight, Court and Goodman.

Together, Graff’s and Peterson’s goal as designers is to "create the world of the play from the minute the audience steps into the theatre." They achieve this by immersing themselves in the script, building models of their designs and being fully involved in the rehearsal process. They also incorporate their personal experiences into their designs when appropriate.

For instance, the couple had been vacationing in Jamaica before they began work on cobalt’s I Am Yours, a play that addressed animal instincts and isolation. The island’s caves inspired them to craft a central cavern, with which the actors interacted during rehearsals to find their movement voices.

Their vision for TimeLine’s The Crucible remains one of the most arresting Chicago theatre designs. A steeply raked plank pointed straight down into a massive cauldron to indicate the precarious fate of the characters. The actors also had to think about keeping a firm footing while performing. They were lit in smoky blacks and charcoal grays.

"Heather and I went camping one night in the full moon," says Peterson. "We made a fire, which inspired the colors we picked."

Continues Graff, "Our idea for the set was a black cauldron. [While camping], we would stare at the sky and the moon and see how the light affected our faces. We replicated that on stage."

The designers were conscious of making subtle transitions with the lights. When the vindictive young women in the play take over the town, the illumination became more "green" and "leafy." The shadows referenced, according to Graff, "the simplicity of black, white and gray–and how people get stuck in between."

While in Spokane, designing sets and lights for Wings (in which Graff also performed), they wanted audiences to feel–in a multisensory way–the confusion of the play’s protagonist, a former wing walker who suffered a stroke.

"It’s about how she crashed and tried to put the pieces back together," notes Graff.

So Peterson built a model airplane, which he crashed and burned. The designers then used the charred pieces and attached shattered parts of a mirror to them (a leitmotif in the script) to shape the various elements of the set. The lights were projected, at suggestive angles, through these shards of material.

Both artists bring eclectic yet focused expertise to their theatre careers. And they complement each other on many levels. According to Graff, "Rich is very technical and good at seeing lines and geometry. I’m good at…looking at the whole perspective. I also see things from an actor’s perspective. I like to think of the set as an actor’s playground rather than an actor’s trap"–or merely a canvas for their concept.

They both think in terms of "textures and shadows." Notes Graff, "Sometimes what’s not in the light is as interesting as what’s lit."

Their individual paths reveal an emergence of qualities–like versatility, adaptability, troubleshooting capability, instinct and sound technical knowledge–successful theatre designers should embody.

Let’s start with Graff. Born in Skokie, she and her family lived for a time in Colorado and Nebraska before moving back to the Chicago area during her sophomore year in high school. Graff, who says she got a lot of creative support from her photographer father and painter-teacher mother, wanted to be an actor since the third grade. While in Nebraska, she produced a talent show, The Spring Fever Follies, at her junior high school and was in a community theatre production of The Music Man. She continued to perform throughout her years at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.

Then she got accepted into the Acting Conservatory at the Theatre School at DePaul University, only to leave after one year.

"They said I was too short to be an actress and that I should go into design," says Graff, the frustration in her voice growing. "I left. I just got really mad and decided to learn everything about theatre so that no one could ever tell me that I couldn’t do anything."

She then devoted herself to a total hands-on education. Graff was cast in a Latino Chicago production, where she met many talented local theatre artists. Through these contacts, she found herself working at Mary-Arrchie Theatre and then became resident lighting designer at Chicago Theatre Company. She worked at Imagination Theatre and taught acting and design at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Graff made it a point to observe artists–particularly lighting and scenic designers she admired–and attach herself to them so she could learn the craft. Charles Jolls, an accomplished freelance lighting designer and master electrician at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, served as her mentor. Jolls has mentored Peterson, too.

"I did everything from stage managing to gathering props to serving as an electrician," says Graff, "anything to learn more about theatre by actually doing it. By assisting other theatre artists, you find mentors and can expand your range."

Peterson, born and raised in Franklin Park, assisted at his father’s wood shop. While attending East Leyden High School in Schiller Park, he took a ceramics class and tapped into his artistic side. But Peterson also excelled at science and math. He went on to receive an associate’s degree, with an emphasis in electronics, from Triton College in River Grove. Then he pursued his BS degree at Northern. After landing a job at Mitsubishi, he found himself enmeshed in the daily technological grind.

"In the corporate world," says Peterson, "all I was doing was fixing things. I wanted to do something more creative. I thought about rock 'n’ roll lighting."

He then studied lighting design part-time at Columbia College Chicago while working as a field service technician for Chicago Spotlight. Through Chicago lighting designer and teacher Margaret Nelson, he learned of a "Rock Light" class taught at the Liverpool (England) Institute for the Performing Arts. He ranks this two-week course as a pivotal point in his career. The step-by-step class, beginning with hanging a light grid and ending with lighting a full production, helped decide his pursuit of theatre design.

Graff also was inspired by an international theatre experience. In 1997, she acted in and designed for a tour of The Eumenides and Narcissus and Echo staged on a mountain top in Greece. The program was sponsored by the Classic Theatre Company at the University of Detroit, Mercy.

"That was a big turning point for me," says Graff. "It made me aware of how things are put together and how important the collaborative process is."

Graff has carried this idea into her teaching: "You really can’t teach acting or design. But you can empower people to know they’re creative. Acting is not the only thing in theatre."

The design team now plans to branch out nationally and internationally while being based in Chicago. As Peterson points out, "What’s great about Chicago is that there is so much potential for creativity. There are so many projects, and we move from project to project. As designers, we’re never standing still."

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