THEATER DESIGN

Presented by Nisha Ahmed CMS 28454

THEATER DESIGN Theatre design is the art and science of

creating auditoriums for live performance. A theatre is fundamentally different from a

cinema or any auditorium meant only for presentation, because it’s a space where performers and audience create the performance together, actively exchanging attention and energy. A successful theatre supports and enhances this exchange.

PRINCIPLES OF THEATER DESIGN Clearly, more is involved in designing a

successful theatre than just providing good sightlines and acoustics. We’ve outlined what we see as four basic principles of good theatre design.

PRINCIPLES OF THEATER DESIGNING The audience must feel closely linked with the

performers and each other. The audience should be clustered around the

performers, within the limits of good sightlines. A good design places spectators where they can connect intimately to the performance, and where they can see each other respond to it. The auditorium must be scaled to sustain and enhance the performance. There is no live performance without the performer. Every detail in the design of the auditorium must support (not dwarf) the performer.

PRINCIPLES OF THEATER DESIGN a sense of excitement and community

should be encouraged. Audiences often see spaces with dark

finishes, uniform and undifferentiated seating, and high unlit ceilings as unpleasant or even depressing. Rich colors and distinct seating areas offer more layers to the experience, creating dynamic spaces that encourage an active response from the audience.

SCENIC DESIGN

SCENIC DESIGN Scenic design (also known as stage design, set

design or production design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery.

The 'stage picture' is the 'look' or physical appearance of the stage for a play, whether in rehearsal or performance.

It reflects the way that the stage is composed artistically in regard to props, actors, shapes and colors.

The stage picture should express good principles of design and use of space.

It should be visually appealing for the audience or should express the show's concept.

SCENIC PAINTAING Theatrical scenic painting is a wide-ranging craft,

encompassing virtually the entire scope of painting techniques and often reaching far beyond.

To be a well-rounded scenic artist, one must have experience in landscape painting, trompe l'oeil, portraiture, and faux finishing, to be versatile in many different media (such as acrylic-, oil-, and tempera- based paint), and be an accomplished gilder, plasterer, and sculptor.

However, the techniques of the scene painter are different than traditional studio artists in many respects. The scene painter replicates an image on a very large scale. This is achieved with specialized knowledge that isn't taught in artist studios. In addition one is often expected to make the finished product fire-proof, and to work quickly and within a tight budget.

THE SCRIPT The content and style of the collaborative

process will be strongly shaped by the needs of the individual script.

Many productions are so specifically defined by the author, that to alter that reality would be to alter the meaning of the play.

As you will see over time, some plays will need more discussion than others.

CASE STUDY 1 Signature Center Location 42 Street New York. Designer: Frak Ghery

The Center is comprised of three unique theatre spaces, two studios, a dynamic, shared lobby with a café, bookshop, and concierge desk, and administrative offices that span 70,000 contiguous square feet in MiMArank Ghery

IRENE DIAMOND STAGE The Irene Diamond Stage evokes a heightened sense of drama even before the lights come up.

A straight rake of seating rises from the stage edge and is contained within plywood walls that give the space a subtle architectural expression. The shaped plywood panels, which evoke the texture of cracked earth, wrap around the walls and will be painted to fade to black as they approach the stage, creating a transition from the architectural space of the room to the scenic space of the play. A single, grand doorway will connect this theatre to the lobby. The ceremonious closing of this door will indicate that the play is about to begin.

IRENE DIAMND STAGE

THE LINNEYThe 191-seat flexible Linney Theatre offers our playwrights complete freedom to explore the relationship between audiences and performers.The courtyard form, which has a long history in the development of theatre, makes this space distinct from the Center's other two spaces.  This theatre can be used in an end stage format, as a modified thrust stage, a runway, a flat floor format, and many more configurations.  If a writer can imagine it, they can create it in The Linney.  Each configuration has a second level gallery that seats patrons in a single row overlooking the stage, which encourages the performers to activate and engage with the entire space.

LINNEY COURTYAD THEATER

ALICE GRIFON JEWEL BOX OPERA THEATERGrand opera house design and Off-Broadway

intimacy elegantly combine in the 191-seat Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre.The Griffin is truly a one-of-a-kind performance venue with an inherent theatricality and dynamism. Upon walking into the theatre, patrons will gaze up at the crafted plywood panels that frame the proscenium, wrap around the balcony front, and create a ceiling under the lighting bridges above the audience. Each wood panel will be stained a deep chocolate brown that will fade to black as the lights come down on the audience. The panels are also acoustically engineered to fill the house with full, clear, and rich sound. Modeled after a miniature opera house, The Griffin features boxes so close to the stage audience members can almost reach out and touch the actors. Whether in the orchestra or in the balcony, The Griffin immerses its audience in the world of the play.

JEWEL BOX THEATER

JEWEL BOX OPERA THEATER

SCENIC DESIGN CASE STUDY

Designer Neil Patel Signature returns to the rich body of work of its 2006/07 Playwright-in-Residence August Wilson with a new production of his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Piano Lesson. In Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1936, the Charles family battle their surroundings and each other over their shared legacy -- an antique piano. 

THE PIANO LESSON

THE PIANO LESSON

BETTER DON’T TALK A One woman show, by

and performed by Naava Piatka, about her mother and star of the Yiddish Theatre and Broadway, Chayela Rosenthal. Presented by The New York State Theatre Institute in the fall of 2006. Scenery Design is by Richard Finkelstein. Costumes by Robert Anton, and Lighting Design John McLaine

 THE DEPICTIONS ON THE DROP ARE FROM REAL ARTIFACTS FROM THE STORY. THESE WOULD ILLUMINATE AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. THE PAPER SCRAP HIGHLIGHTED IN THE BACKGROUND IS FROM A POSTER FOR ONE OF CHAYELE'S GREAT STAGE PRODUCTIONS AS NAAVA RECOUNTS THAT MOMENT IN HER MOTHER'S HISTORY. A RELATIONSHIP LIVES BETWEEN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, AND IS REFLECTED NOT ONLY IN THE SCRIPT, BUT THROUGH SCENERY AND LIGHTING AS WELL.

THE SETTING AS IT APPEARS ON STAGE AS THE AUDIENCE ENTERS. NOTE FROM THE LAST PHOTO ON THIS PAGE HOW CLOSE WE CAME TO THE INITIAL CONCEPTUAL RENDERING.

EMPHASIZING ON DROP IMAGES

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