Do I need a lighting designer or a lighting technician?

Separate the decisions from the delivery

If you need someone to work out how the production should look, which areas need light and how scenes change, that is a design requirement. If a design and equipment specification already exist, you may chiefly need people to install, focus or operate it.

Programming translates the design into console settings and cues. Show operation follows the rehearsed programme. These tasks connect closely, but they have different preparation needs and may require different people or time allocations.

Describe what already exists

Send the script or programme, venue information, lighting plan and any show file you already have. Say whether the design is approved or still open to development. A technician should not discover on arrival that an equipment list was actually only a suggestion and the whole show still needs designing.

Agree deliverables and rehearsal

Ask what the quoted scope includes: meetings, plans, equipment specification, programming, rehearsals and performance attendance. Identify who approves creative changes and who coordinates with sound, video and stage management.

For a small production, combining roles may be practical. The schedule still needs enough time for each job. Booking someone only for the performance does not create time for an unplanned design and programming session beforehand.