Put up beams of light for the audience (5)
I believe the answer is:
raise
'put up' is the definition.
('raise' can be a synonym of 'put up')
'beams of light for the audience' is the wordplay.
'beams of light' becomes 'rays' (I've seen this before).
'for the audience' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'rays' sounds like 'RAISE'.
(Other definitions for raise that I've seen before include "Make higher" , "Produce" , "Erect; grow" , "Care for during childhood" , "Hoist" .)