Designers: Scenery and Costumes

Outside reading...
         J. Michael Gillette. Theatrical Design and Production, 5th edition. McGraw-Hill. 2004.
         Rosemary Ingham and Liz Covey. The Costume Designer's Handbook, 2nd edition. Heinemann Drama, 1992.
         Robert Edmond Jones. The Dramatic Imagination. New York: Meredith. 1941. (Theatre Arts Books, 1987 reprint)
         Jo Mielziner. Designing for the Theatre. New York: Atheneum. 1965.

The "action-documentation-metaphor" approach to design was developed and taught by New York designer Mordecai Gorelik (1900-1975). At the end of World War II, in the fall of 1945, the US Army created the Biarritz American University in southern France for the American forces serving over seas. One of the Fine Arts courses offered was Scene Design. The professor was Mordecai Gorelik. Ten year later, in the mid 50's, he was conducting 12 week workshops for designers, directors and playwrights in New York City. Twenty years later, in the mid 60's, he was teaching The Scenic Imagination, a two quarter, 20 week graduate level seminar at Southern Ilinois Univerity in Carbondale. The course title was probably chosen in homage to his mentor, Robert Edmond Jones, the author of The Dramatic Imagination (1941).

Action: Provide those elements -- doors, windows, steps, furniture -- needed by the director and the actor to stage the show.

Documentation: Locate the action of the play in a specific place -- London, Berlin, New York -- and a specific time period -- 1890, 1936, 2000.

The Metaphor is Gorelik's trademark and is used to assist the designer in developing a specific tone, mood, style, or feel for the play. According to the Free Dictionary, a metaphor is "A figure of speech in which a word ... that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison..." For example: "All the world's a stage,..." (William Shakesepare, As You Like It, Act II, scene 7). In less poetic terms -- the world is a stage. (Note:A simile would add the work like: The world is like a stage.)

A possible scenic metaphor for Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid (1673) could be "an apothecary's shop," a drug store. Argan, Moliere's imaginary invalid, does not live in a drug store (according to Gorelik: that would be "crude expressionism,") but the set, his sitting room, could have the tone, mood, style, and feel of a 17th century drugstore.

4. Which American designer is credited with developing this approach?

Mordecai Gorelik.

5. What is the difference between representationalism and presentationalism?

From the Cambridge Guide to Theatre:

Representational theatre tries to create an illusion of reality. Presentational theatre emphasizes theatricality and acknowledges the theatre as theatre--there is no illusion.

In scenic design, a representational set gives the illusion of reality, a presentational set is a "backdrop" behind the performer.

    Which is more realistic?

Representationalism.

    More theatrical or nonrealistic?

Presentationalism.

6. What are five limitations on a scene designer's creativity?

1. The play,
2. The director,
3. The theatre and its physical facilities,
4. The budget (in both time and money), and
5. The experiences and abilities of the crew.

7. List five elements of scenic design.

1. Line: the outline of the scenic units onstage
2. Mass: the bulk or weight of the scenic units
3. Composition: the balance and arrangement of the scenic units
4. Texture: the "feel" of the scenic units
5. Color: the color and tone of the scenic units

8. What are the scenic designer's responsibilities?

1. Establish the size and shape of the acting area,
2. Locate entrances / exits to this theatrical space: doors, arches, ramps, steps...,
3. Create a color and texture for the general background,
4. Determine the number and location of scenic pieces: chairs, couches, tables, desks...,
5. Develop a colored rendering or build a scale model of the proposed set,
6. Draft the ground plan, and designer's elevations, and
7. Supervise the construction, painting and rigging of the set.

Scenic Model Twelth Night

Rendering The Tempest

9. What is the difference between the presentational material and the working drawings?

Presentational materials are the drawings (rendering or model) a designer uses to sell his ideas to the director and producer. See the designs for The Tempest (a model) and Twelth Night (a rendering) above. Both productions were staged on a "unit set" by the Ilinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington.

The working drawings are the "blue prints" used by the crew to build, paint, and assemble the set.

10. Which product, a colored rendering or a scale model most accurately reflects how a set will look under light on opening night?

A rendering. See the rendering for The Tempest above.

11. Which best reflects a set's spacial arrangement?

Scale model. See Photo 2: A scenic model of Great Expectations on page 220 of Chapter 12 of Wilson and Goldfarb or the model for Twelth Night above.

12. What is the difference between a physical model and a virtual model?

Virtual Model Proposed design for Disney's Beauty and the Beast

A physical model (like the model of Twelth Night at the top of this page) is created with illustration board and glue. A virtual model is created in memory by a computer aided drafting (CAD) program and is saved on the hard drive of a personal computer. As with a physical model, the virtual model can be viewed (using the programs FlyOver tool) from a number of different positions. The virtual model can also be exported to a rendering program (such as Art*lantis) where colors, texture and dramatic lighting can be added.

13. What is a floor plan?

A top view of the set. The floor plan is used by the crew to locate the set on the stage floor. See the drawing on page 176 of Wilson and Goldfarb.

    A designer's elevation?

A front view of each individual piece of scenery. The designer's elevations are used by the shop crew to determine the height and architectual detail of each scenic unit.

14. What is a flat?

A wood frame (1x3s) covered with canvas (or plywood). Flats are usually assembled to create the walls of a realistic interior set.

    A platform?

A wood frame (2x4s) covered with 3/4 inch plywood. Platforms or used by a designer to create different levels on the stage floor.

    A drop?

A large piece of painted canvas hung from a pipe (or batten). Generally used as a backdrop behind the set.

15. What is the difference between a scrim and the cyc?

A scrim is an open-weave fabric which appears to be opaque when lit from the front and transparent when lit from behind. It is often used for "ghost" effects and flashback scenes. The cyc, short for cyclorama, is a backdrop used to represent an "endless sky."

A colored rendering of the finished costume. See the costume design for Bertram from the Illinois Shakespeare Festival production of All's Well That Ends Well at the top of this section or the costume sketches for Hairspray on page 185 of Wilson and Goldfarb.

23. What are the elements of costume design?

1. Line and silhouette
2. Color
3. Fabric (or texture)
4. Accessories: fringe, lace, ruffles, feathers, belts...

24. Which design element does the costume designer use to establish the plays period and locale?

Line, shape or silhouette.

    Character relationships?

Color.

    A character's social-economic position?

Fabric (or texture)

25. List five ways of obtaining finished costumes.

1. Build (or make),
2. Pull from stock,
3. Borrow (usually from the actor or another production company),
4. Rent, or
5. Buy (often from second hand stores).

26. Which technique provides the designer the greatest control over the finished product?

Building, or constructing the costumes in the shop.

27. What are the two major problems associated with costume construction?

1. The lack of patterns for period shows and
2. The amount of time needed to build a show. Most shops budget 10 crew hours per costume. If there are 50 costumes in a show, that's 500 hours. If you have four weeks to build the show, and your shop is open four hours a day, five days a week (a 20 hour work week), you will need a costume construction crew of 6.25 persons.