Big Epiphanies in Little English

I am extremely grateful for the assignments and research I have done during the course of Eng 20. At first, I will admit a certain reluctance. I did at one point or another utter the phrase, "Oh my goodness, what the hell good is this going to do?!" But I was dead wrong- this class and keeping my thoughts in this blog has been a blessing. I was under the impression that after reading a script and looking through some picture books of interior design my time reading and writing for a show would be over, and I was dead wrong. I knew about the trade publications that all the technicians read, but I thought it was for fun. Through my research on this topic, I have come to understand that at least twenty percent of my life as a theatre technician will be spent reading and responding to emails, reading scripts, studying building and design methods, investigating new technologies, filing out paperwork such as purchase orders, etc. At least I know now, rather than be shocked and awed at the unexpected work load after graduation. But hey, it's all part of the gig.

Usefull journals are nonexistant

Since I was unable to find a journal in the field, as the last one went out of print in the late 80s, I decided to use the print versions of my websites (Live Design and PLSN Online)as my journals and find new websites. Extremely relevant research materials have been few and far between, and my interviewees weren't able to point me in the right direction.

Interview with Ron Reisner

Ron Reisner, the head of the Tech program at CSU Sacramento, gave me an in-depth look at the responsibilities of a scenic designer. I had no idea about the amount of paperwork involved in my career. Kind of dreading it actually.

For people in my prefession, these are the bibles, so to speak:

Live Design Magazine: http://livedesignonline.com/

PLSN (Pro Light and Staging News): https://www.plsnbookshelf.com/catalog/

Interview Progress

My amazing friend, Ben, is a lighting designer for a theatre company I used to work for. He gave me an interview on the research, reading, and writing involved with Lighting, and technical theatre in general. He is a designer and Technical Director for a school district, and also owns his own lighting company that does events and rentals. He confirmed my ideas about reading and writing in the discipline- read the trade magazines and look at the pretty pictures.

Writing in My Discipline

So, Technicians. What kind of reading or writing do we do? Specifically, what do scenic designers read and write? Well, we read trade magazines, history and art books, examples and ground plans of former work. We write our plans and letters to directors.

Theatre Arts; Scenic Design

Theatre has always been a passion of mine. I began acting in school and community theater when I was ten years old. In high school, at the insistence of my drama teacher, Mrs. Julie Andrews, I began to branch out from simply acting. She suggested I take a Stagecraft class our school district offered to broaden my horizons and expand my knowledge of theatre. One of my first tasks was to design and paint a twelve foot high by thirty-two foot wide, reversible flat for a dance concert. I fell in love with the process, and I have been doing technical theatre ever since. At the end of my senior year, I was offered the opportunity to stay on at the theatre I had been schooled in as an employee. I have worked in a technical theatre setting for three years at the Mercedes Edwards Theatre in Clovis, CA and for various other companies throughout the Central Valley. I moved to Sacramento to finish by BA and learn form a different group of people how to design and bring a show to life. I am currently a Theatre Major, with a Technical emphasis, at CSU Sacramento where I am enrolled in my first college-level stagecraft class. I hope to graduate, get an MFA at CSU Long Beach, and peruse an active career in Scenic Design and possibly Technical Direction for a small, local theatre company. I would like to eventually wind up in an educational setting- either as a professor or an instructor at my home theatre, Mercedes Edwards, when one of the people current employees retires.

I hope that this project will allow me the opportunity to get a more clear idea of the responsibilities and process that are involved with my chosen profession. As a young artist, who has too often been given way too much free license, sometimes I neglect the necessary, proper procedure for producing a project. I would like to have a better knowledge of how to effectively convey my ideas to those I am working with, who can’t see the pretty picture inside of my head. I would also like to know how people in my field study: what books do they read? what are the most reliable sources of information? I expect that people in my field, beyond the obvious text of a play itself, probably study books with pictures of previous productions of a specific work or an era to be replicated, magazines such as “Live Design” to keep updated on what is going on in the industry, etc. in this field, we discuss everything from lighting to paint samples, 1x3 pine or 2x4 dogwood, historical eras, physical representations of metaphorical ideas within the text of the play, etc.

Where did the Audience go?

I have noticed in the past few years that long-practiced methods of communication, such as posters and marquee signs no longer attract the sort of attention to shows that we Theatre people like to see. Why? Have subtle, artistic displays becoming unnoticeable in a world where we are bombarded by images and advertisements everywhere we turn? We still have the reviews in the paper, but we need another way to reach outside our own dynamic. Thoughts?