I created this blog to provide an opportunity for anyone, amateur or professional, to comment on the aesthetics and/ or methods for designing for the stage. There are many books and publication available on the subject; the best I have found are and continue to be, Robert Edmond Jones', The Dramatic Imagination, Darwin Reid Payne's, The Scenographic Imagination, and lastly, Mordecai Gorelik's unpublished manuscript, The Scenic Imagination to name only a few. Neither one presents itself as a "how to book" because there is no set formula for designing for the stage. I have methods and techniques that have worked for me after years of experience. These methods and techniques will not necessarily work for other designers, and most certainly not work for every director/ designer collaboration. The techniques I have used have been adapted and modified to fit the needs of each dramatic presentation.
It is the purpose of every theatrical production to provide an experience for an audience. Theatre is to be experienced, NOT viewed. As I look back on my work in the theatre, both as a director and designer, I work to excel to this end. At the conclusion of the evening's performance the audience should leave the theatre feeling differently than when they first arrived. If this has not occurred, then something in the process went wrong.
It is my hope to encourage anyone involved in this most wonderful and creative art form to share their thoughts, experiences and even failures on the process.
