In Shakespeare's As You Like It, life is famously declared to be a series of performances: “All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts...” (II.vii.146-149).  Though sardonically meant, in actuality the line between nature and art, what's real and what's not, doesn't exist: everything just is.  And as such, director Peter Brook defines performance as an environment created when one person is observing another person. 
But what of those environments that exist solely to showcase performances?  Without the presence of actors or audience, do these spaces possess any significance?  For my project I plan to photographically examine this question, documenting the stage at rest. .  Using only a ghost light -- the bare bulb left on stage to illuminate a space when the house lights are down -- I'll be capturing theatres, opera houses and sporting arenas, whether in use, abandoned or converted.
Steeped in tradition and superstition, the ghost light operates as more than a mere safety precaution: it reflects the spirit and history of the theatre.  Whether the actors believe the light wards off the ghosts of a bad performance or comforts those that haunt the stage, it's always burning.  It textures the silent space and is integral to my exploration of these environments.