Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1969 - 3

EDITORIAL AND NEWS, , ,
Obituary: Stewart Chaney
It is with deep regret that we note the
passing of Stewart Chaney, November 9,
1969 at his residence in East Hampton,
Long Island. Mr. Chaney's work as stage
designer spanned two continents, and included production designs for the ballet, opera, television, and film as well as for the
Iegitimate stage.
Chaney was born June 23, 1910 in Kansas
City, Missouri. He studied theatre with
George Pierce Baker at Yale University and
painting with Andre L'Hote in Paris. His
first stage production was Seventh Heaven
in 1932 at the Utica (N.Y.) Little Theatre.
Subsequently he was scenic designer at the
Westport (Conn.) Country Playhouse; and
shortly thereafter designed sets for The Old
Maid with Judith Anderson, his first Broadway production, which also won the Pulitzer
Prize. In his review, Brooks Atkinson wrote
that "Stewart Chaney, hitherto unknown to
this department, has dressed the characters
and the drama in costumes and settings that
are vigorously splendid."

In 1937 he received a Guggenheim fellowship for the study of the European theatre.
While in London during the following year,
Chaney designed a production of The Rivals
at the Old Vic, and thereby became the only
American designer to work for that noted
company. He also worked with Leslie Howard on Hamlet, and designed a production of
Faust for the Covent Garden Opera. He produced designs for Stravinsky's Appol/on
Musagete, for the Ballet Russe de Monte
Carlo and for the world premier of Bronislav
Nij inska's Schumann Concerto at the Metropolitan Opera House. After the ballet, Chaney displayed his talents in the cinema by
creating designs for Danny Kaye's color
film "Up in Arms" and soon after, for "The
Kid from Brooklyn," both for RKO studios.
He returned to New York, and by 1944 had
10 productions mounted on the Broadway
stage. Among them were the sets for The
Moon is Blue, Blythe Spirit, Arsenic and
Old Lace, Jacobowsky and the Colonel,
sets and costumes for The Late George

Apley, and for The House of Bernarda Alba, which he also produced. He has considered his sets for Life With Father, The
Voice of the Turtle, and the 1935 production of Ghosts with Alia Nazimova his finest. Mr. Chaney also designed The Bad
Seed at the Aldwych Theatre in London.
His first television assignment was the design for The Circus Hour (1945) and he
had since been designer for many commercial tel evision films.
In addition to his work as designer and producer, he was the former operator of the
Red Barn Theatre in Locust Valley, L. I. In
1944, William Du Bois wrote in The Times
(London) that "Mr. Chaney agrees with
Plato-there is no reality like illusion. To
him a living theatre is a thing of mood and
emotion. In every setting he has done, he
has searched for these essentials in the
script and worked to highlight them."
Leonard A. Feldman
University of Alberta

Obituary: Will Steven Armstrong
I have always believed that every aspiring
designer brings with him cupped in his hand
a flame-visible only to himself. He nurtures
it, fan's it into life. This secret flame is the
symbol of his creativity. Will Steven Armstrong possessed this glowing energy in
abundance. His first Broadway production
was The Andersonville Trial set in a southern prison camp during the Civil War which
he designed in warm chiaroscuro with dramatic lighting. This self-effacing design was
followed by an unorthodox spectacular production for Camus' Caligula in which "by a
series of devices" he almost destroyed the
proscenium of the George Abbott Theatre
trying to create the impression of the action
taking place practically in the laps of the
audience. The moment he found himself
cramped behind the proscenium arch of a
theatre he tried to break through it. He was
ever rebellious!
For three years I shared in the privacy of
his growing pains. Most of the time I gave
him his head for I knew and instinctively
Will knew where he was headed. HIS projects for O-Neill's Lazarus Laughedand Stravinski's Rake's Progress mirrored the depth
of his imagination and talent. He designed
a major production of Shaw's Misalliance
with such captivating wit and freshness
that he seemed to invent a 'new' Art Nouveau style all of his own. During summer
months designing for the Williamstown Summer Theatre sharpened his technical experience.

Stewart
Chaney's
design for Ibsen's
GHOS TS, with Alia Nazimova playing Mrs.
Alving. Lighting by Abe Feder. (photo:
MASTERS OF THE DRAMA, by John Gassner; New York, Dover).
At length Will knew he was ready for
Broadway and that he would pass the Union
Examination, and of course he did! His first
months in New York he painted scenery at
Fort Lee. We all knew Will was ever inordinately neat and that he dressed with flaira wh ite polka dot, sky blue ti e or a vivid
vest. He could paint all day in his best suit
and by 4:30 PM never a spot of paint on
his clothes to reveal his labors. Shortlyaher
Fort Lee he served brief assistantships working wjth me and Boris and Jo. With us I'm
afraid he quickly learned the hard facts of
life on Broadway.
Will was at once a successful and much
sought after Broadway designer for plays and

musicals all the way from his imaginative
mobile design for Carnival, for which he
won a Tony Award, to his ingenious manipulation of the many scenes for Forty Carats.
Will found a stimulating outlet for his talents
designing scenery, costumes and lighting for
many theatre organizations, not necessarily
associated with Broadway-the Phoenix Theatre's Peer Gynt, The Power and The Glory
and Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. He designed the productions for two seasons of
the National Repertory Company. In the
Stratford Connecticut Shakespeare Theatre
he discovered a freedom of expression in a
theatre to which he delighted to return season after season. For this theatre he designed a permanent raking, hexagonal stage.
(concluded on page 24)

@!!O THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

DECEMBER,1969

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