Theatre Design & Technology - May 1969 - 25

Jo Mielziner Designs For The Theatre
"Jo Mielziner Designs for the Theatre," an
exhibition of more than ninety watercolors
by the famous American stage designer, will
be circulated for one year by the International Exhibitions Foundation.
Originally mounted by the Virginia Museum
of Fine Arts, the exhibition covers a 44period and includes stage and costume designs from eighty plays. Among the memorable Broadway productions designed by
Mielziner are "Guys and Dolls," "A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn," "Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof," "The Madwoman of Chaillot, ""Death
of a Salesman," and many others.
Mielziner attended the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia, where he won two Cresson Traveling Scholarships, which he used to
study contemporary theatre in Europe. His
first professional experience came in the
summer of 1921, when he joined a stock
company in Detroit as actor, designer and
stage manager. On the advice of his brother, the actor, Kenneth Mac Kenna, he undertook to play small parts in order to learn
designing from an actor's point of view, instead of using a purely pictorial approach.

"South Pacific," "Death of a Salesman,"
"A Streetcar Named Desire," and "Mister
Roberts" were running concurrently on
Broadway, all designed by Mielziner.
The designer has won almost every prize offered in the field of stage design. Among
these are five Donaldson Awards, three
Antoinette Perry Awards, and the shows he
has created stage sets for have won nine
Pulitzer Prizes and nine Critics; Circle
Awards. In addition to an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Fordham University,
he has also won an Oscar for his color art
direction of the movie, .. Picnic," the New
England Theatre Conference First Award
for Creative Achievement in the American
Theatre, the Charlotte Cushman Award, and
the Brandeis University Award for creative
Achievement in the American Theatre.

1969-1970 Itinerary

1969
July 14-17

The Corning Museum of
Glass
Corning, New York

October 1 -31

The Tampa Bay Art
Center
Tampa, Florida

1970
January 1-31

University of Illinois
Champaign, Illinois

(Persons interested in further information on the
Mlelziner exhibit may contact Mrs. John Alexander
Pope, President, International Exhibitions Foundation,
1616 H. Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.
Telephone 202 -63 8·66 77)

"Romeo and Juliet" (7934J Costume for
Capu!et

In 1923 Mielziner made his New York debut
as a bit player and assistant stage manager
for the Theatre Guild, a job which gave him
the opportuni ty of working under Lee Simonson, then the Theatre Guild's designer.
Simonson was particularly interested in lighting techniques, and it was he who made
Mielziner aware of the importance of stage
lighting. Meilziner has since become an acknowledged expert in stage Iighting, has
served as consultant to CBS-TV on lighting,
and the only American honorary member of
the British Theatre Lighting Designers.
The artist got his first break when the
Theatre Guild commissioned him to design
in 1924 the memorable stage production
of Molnar's "The Guardsman," which also
launch ed the acting partnership of Alfred
Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
After the War, Mielziner returned to designing for the Broadway stage and also began
to participate in the planning and designing
of new theatres. He worked with the noted
architect, Eero Saarinen, on the design for
the Vivian Beaumont Repertory Theatre at
New York's Lincoln Center.
"When I start to design a show," Mielziner
says, "I do a written breakdown of what
the play needs. Then I make Ii ttle rough
sketches and plans before I do the elevations. I do in1aginative drawings with people
in costume, because a play is about peoplenot scenery or lights. I start thinking in
terms of character."
Mielziner's poetic, evocative designs have
introduced important technical innovations:
they exhibit an astonishing variety and inventiveness. During the New York 1937-38
season, he was represented by no less than
ten shows on Broadway, six of them running
simul taneously. By 1949, productions of

l]ITC] THEATRE DESIGN ANO TECHNOLOGY

MAY, 1969

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - May 1969