peggy clark, pioneer designer of stage lighting, dies at 80

Written by dinitia smithjune 1996, this is a digital version of an article from The Times Print Archive, before its online publication began in 1996.
To keep these articles as they appear initially, the Times will not change, edit, or update them.
There are occasional copywriting errors or other problems during the digitization process.
Please send a report of such issues to archid_feedback @ nytimes. com.
Margaret Bronson (Peggy)
Clark designed lighting for more than 60 Broadway productions, including brigado, Goodbye Bird, and aunt Plum, who was in Lexington, Georgia on WednesdayShe was 80.
Her friend Elmon Weber says she died after a series of strokes. Ms.
Clark helped make lighting design a career on Broadway and was one of the first women to achieve a career in the field.
\"She is a pioneer in creating this field . \"
Webb is a commercial agent for United landscape artists, representing the Alliance of lighting, landscape and costume designers.
By the 1930s, lighting design was a relatively informal process, usually in the field of electricians. Ms.
Clark found her first job as a lighting designer on Broadway in 1941.
Her work caught the attention of Brooks Atkinson, the New York Times drama critic.
In 1944, she served as an assistant to Oliver Smith in small town.
Her work tends to be naturalist, not experimental.
\"Peggy Clark\'s lights make the movie look cool ,\"
Atkinson mentioned \"three Pence Opera\" in 1958 comments \".
\"Lady advertising
Clark designed lights for many of George Abbott\'s shows, including the revival of \"painting your carriage\", \"friend Joey\" and \"Wonderful Town.
\"George Abbott likes the light under the stage . \"
Clark told the New Haven Register in 1955, \"because he plays all the comedy scenes there.
Advertising by Ms. Judith Anderson
Clark designed lighting for 1947 of the production of \"Medea\" and she only asked for \"to be seen \". Clark said.
The equipment arrived late and there was no time to rehearse.
Anderson usually left the place before the light arrived.
\"Please click on the box to verify that you are not a robot.
The email address is invalid. Please re-enter.
You must select the newsletter you want to subscribe.
View all New York Times newsletters. Ms.
Clark was born into an academic family in Baltimore. Her father, Dr. Eliot R.
Clark was later a professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Ms.
Clark wanted to be an actor, but she told New Haven magazine, \"I\'m too tall to play the role of a man.
She graduated from Smith College in 1935.
She later went to Yale where she studied in the Department of Drama and design and received a master\'s degree in Fine Arts in 1938. In 1968, Ms.
Clark was elected president of the American Association of landscape artists, 829 local people, the first woman to hold the position.
She taught lighting design at Smith College in 1967 and 1969, and lighting design at Yale Theatre College in 1969 and 1970.
She has lived in Brooklyn Heights for years, where she has a bulldog.
She is the president of the French Bulldog Club in the United States. Ms.
Clark\'s husband, Lloyd R.
Kelly, a theater electrician, died in 1972.
Her brother Douglas N survived.
Clark is a professor of mathematics at the University of Georgia in Athens.
A version of this obituary;
The biography was printed on page 1001044 of the National edition on June 22, 1996 under the title: stage lighting pioneer designer Peggy Clark died at the age of 80.