Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1991 - 18

world around them or rhe space around
them that makes rhe sculprures."
The sculprures are cenainly inspired
by the plays, but they are concepts or
essences and signiflcanrly, they are often
completed after a show is over. "When I
work on a real show I don't have time to
do something like this. That's why I
needed to do these sculprures, so I could
evenrually realize that need taken away
months ago," he says, laughing. "You see
something in your mind that is not necessarily possible in that particular theatre.
It's an idealized world that exists only in
your imagination. That's what makes it
interesting in a way. But here, it takes
another leap."
By coming back to the sculptures after
the completion of a show, Tsypin creates
a son of memorial or monument to the
show, as he describes it: "The show happened. Usually I've dealr with wonderful
works of literarure or music, yet it JUSt
came and went. That's all that's left.
There's a tension between the fact that I
work with this very solid material and yet
it JUSt goes away like this, whoosh. You see
your sets destroyed and burned. In a way
it's Manhattan alrnosr."
The gallery show was more than a
simple display, however. It was a rotal
environment that reflected Tsypin's
vision of ew York as a multilayered city.

Part of the gallery floor was covered with
metal plates-the kind used ro cover
excavation sites in ew York City streets.
Anyone familiar with the city has heard
the metallic thumping of cars and trucks
riding over improperly secured plates. As
visitors to the gallery walked across these
plates it triggered a taped sound score
composed by Bruce Odland, pan of
which consists of sounds collected by riding around the city with a microphone
atrached ro the underside of a car (see
sidebar on page 17).
Tsypin calls these "underworld"
sounds." owhere else in the world do
you have such a strong sense of underworld as in ew York-layers and layers.
That connects with the whole sense,
especially in Don Giovanni, of abyss and
underworld." Above the space, golden
threads, based on "K1inghoffer," also create sounds. "In a way," he continues, "its
a theatre, bur there are no acrors-you
become an actor."
he fact that Tsypin takes the
time ro create these "monuments" sets him apan from
almost all American designers
who keep vinually no records
of their work. But Tsypin feels that this is
a necessary part of his anistic process. "I
don't know how they do it-I 5 or 20

shows in a row every year, one after the
other," he marvels. "Then it becomes a
job and you hate it. Its a rourine and
you're exhau~leJ. I have ro get some
other perspective." Tsypin's increasing
popularity and the demands on his time
may, unfortunately, begin (Q change
some of this.
Tsypin claims that the sculptures and
the working models are often very similar, though. "Strangely enough, you aim
for that kind of conceptual essence of the
model, and almost always, if the idea is
strong enough, you can do it. The
stronger it is, the easier it is to do ir. But
what do I give the shop? I complete the
model. I find that if you like a model,
and really work on a model, the more
energy and kind of love you give to the
model, it will all transfer to the real work.
You might build people and then you
will see those people onstage. I always
found that if I acrually rook care and
built people I will see them onstage. I
don't know how-it JUSt gets ingrained
in everybody's mind. You might build in
lighting and you'll see that lighting."
For many designers, the mechanics of
preparing drawings for the shop are
tedious and are generally left ro assistants. At best, most designers consider it
technical, not anistic work. Bur here,
roo, Tsypin is different; he may be the

Dealer Data Sheet
Name:
Robert A. Roth
Company:
R.A. Roth, Inc.
Title:
President
Location: Tucker. Georgia
Years in Business:
16
Current Project: Several projects including Winger,
Barbara Mandrell. Hank Williams,
Jr., and Barysnikov's White Oak
Dance Project.
Current Quote: "R.A. Roth has done business \\ ith
Strong International for a number of years. We are
quite pleased with the product Strong supplies us. as
well as our good working relationship with our Strong
Representatives. Strong products are dependable and
consistent. When it comes to front of house followspots or video and film key lighting. Strong is my only
choice!"
II
*** :

I
I

11'1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1991