Theatre Design & Technology - May 1970 - 24

VISIONS IN SPACE . ..

has been used for years in industrial shows
and on Broadway; but how can we bring it
all together? I think it's an exciting thing to
try. . .

RICHARD THOMPSON:
We've talked
about all this as a collaborative effort; and
we've been fortunate in having at this meeting the scenic designers, the creative artists,
the lighting designers. I don't see any directors here, but I do see one playwrightSidney Kingsley. I think we ought to hear
from him to find out his reactions to projections. Because it all starts with the playwright and we should not overlook that.
SIDNEY KINGSLEY: I want to begin by
saying that I think that theatre technology
is enormously interesting. But you can have
too much technology. Or you can have faulty
technology, like loud speakers where you get
voices from out of the blue. And you can
have good and useful technology. Now we've
been discussing what some people refer to
as a new art, and what some have pointed
out has been used from time immemorial.
When the Greeks began their plays at dawn
and watched the sun come up, they were
using light; and we've been using light ever
since. We're talking about a new theatre, a
new art. In using this element for the theatre, we can perhaps develop a new kind of
theatre in which the element of light and
its special applications become the predominent art. So I think almost any combination
of uses we can talk of is acceptable and
valid, which is perhaps not what you expected me to say as a playwright. But I am
also a director and started out many years
ago as a scene designer; so I am interested
in all facets of the theatre-and I take the
approach that the theatre can ideally use all
the arts. The question now is which emphasis, which art we want to make the important art. I think that the play is the important element. If we are talking about the
theatre, it seems to me that we are very
derelict, for example, in not inviting a
whole group of artists here.

been using instruments is your literalism. It
always has to look like clouds in the sky;
but we know what clouds in the sky look
like, and this stuff can't compare to the real
thing. So show us something from the
depths of your imagination. I think media
can be used not only for itself, but for the
playwright, to enhance his work enormously.

some sort of a mechanical device, either an
iris or a douser in order to take it all the
way out. But if you ever have the opportunity to work with this kind of a projector,
you have to figure into your total lighting,
scenic, and projection design effects the
problem of the douser, in terms of cross
fading or dimming on and off.

RICHARD THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr.
Kingsley. We're going to start now with
our demonstration of projection equipment.
It's one thing to talk about whether indeed
we should project--and quite another to
know how! I'll turn the meeting over to
Carol Hoover, co-chairman of this meeting,
who will show us some of the more advanced projection techniques.

Next is the 5,000 watt Slide Projector
(Figure 3). It has calibration markings for
horizontal and vertical positioning, so that
you can set the projector for one scene or
for the opening of a scene and then set it
into another position for a second slide projection in the same scene. When the light
dims out and when it goes on again, you
are projecting onto something else, another
piece of scenery or the floor or whatever.
With this gradation system, you can hit that
mark pretty successfully; I would say almost
100% successfully.

CAROL HOOVER: Thank you. All of the
projection equipment I am showing at present is manufactured by the West Berlin
firm of Reiche and Vogel. First is the Xenon
Flood (Figure 1), which can be used for
either front or rear projection, on scenery or
a cyc or whatever. It gives a horizontal
spread of 180 degrees, so it's good for
lighting a curved cyclorama-because of the
side beam spread. It can also rear project
from a very short distance.

Finally, the Double Image Projector (Figure
4) uses one light source and a double lens
system and mirrors to superimpose either
one image on top of another-or, depending on how you focus it, two images next
to each other but still using only one light
source.
Generally speaking, in rear projection, depending on the type of screening material
you use, you may get an image from the
filament through the screen. One lighting
designer has told me about having to use a
rear projection screen so translucent that
one couldn't see the projection on the
screen from behind. And so when making
corrections on slides from behind the screen,
he had to have someone else out front to
relay instructions.

The second piece, the Xenon Lens Projector (Figure 2), is for slides or moving
effects. The problem with the Xenon is that
you cannot dim it on and off in the way
that you can an incandescent lamp. You can
dim it down to about one-fourth of its original intensity, and then you have to use

Since we're onto the matter of making corrections, we should mention the reasons
why we hand-paint slides. Simply because
in hand-painting you can quickly correct distortion, and you can paint things out while
the slide is in the projector. Transparencies
have the advantage that even if the slide
breaks, you still have the transparency. The
fact is that if you have a lot of slides to be
made, or if you have a lot of corrections,
you can always take that paint off the slide
and start all over again, without waiting for

In technology, I think we have advanced far
but not far enough. With all the advances
in technology, you can't have front proj ection without wiping out the actor, and you
can't light the actor without wiping out the
projection. I am suggesting a practical program for this institute, which would be
enormously useful to us as individuals and
to the art of the theatre. I think we should
have what the visual arts have: an organization called EAT, in which the artists and
the engineers and technologists work together. I wish some of them had been invited
to come here, because they regard themselves as the new theatre (I don't regard
them as such, because as I said they are
lacking again the playwright). But then what
we call new theatre here is not lacking in
playwrights.
One of the problems in the way you have

Figure

1. 1600, 2500 W. Xenon Flood
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THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

MAY, 1970

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