Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1993 - 12

sisring of Bowman and his wife Gloria, rhe
chairman of rhe Inrernarional Commission,
Joel Rubin, and his wife Lucille, rhe undersigned and wife Hazel-embarked on a
memorable joy-laden canrer rhrough
mideasrern Europe from Prague via rrain ro
Vienna (rhearre, workshops, Pani, cockrail
parries), rhen via hydro-foil on rhe Danube
ro Budapesr for rhe ITI Conference, being
mer rhere by our hosrs wirh roses and kisses
for rhe ladies.
So-incomplere, rhough rhe record
is-rhis sarisfYing survey of a life well lived,
leaving a loving family and successful children, recounrs wirh encouragemenr whar is
worrhy of emularion and makes us rhe berrer for ir.

-Gary W Gaiser

13-16 APRIL 1994

PRE-CONFERENCE
EVENTS
APRIL 11 & 12

1993 FALL

TD&T

Ned A. Bowman, who died on May 6,
served as rhe sixrh Presidenr of rhe Insrirure
in 1972-73. He served variously on rhe
Insrirure's Board of Direcrors, was rhe recipienr of rhe firsr "Founder's Award" in 1970,
and was in rhe firsr class ofInsrirure Fellows
in 1976.
Ned was rhe iniriaring ediror of
USITTs Theatre Design & Technology. Ned
served as ediror for five years, handing over
rhe edirorship ro Tom Warson some 20
issues larer. "Ir is heady business ro creare a
journal wirhour precedenr or blueprinr," he
wrore, " ... [one, in which he was allowed]
ro regulare rhe climare of edirorial freedom."
No display adverrisemenr appeared in
rhe journal during Ned's rerm as ediror, a
maner which USITTs finances did nor
long allow ro persisr. The journal had a
world view on subjecr maner, including
conrriburions from Czech, German, and
Russian aurhors as well as arricles devored
ro rhe American scene.
Ned was born in Bozeman, Monrana,
did his undergraduare work ar Indiana
Universiry and rhe Universiry of Iowa, his
masrer's work ar rhe Universiry ofIowa, and
his PhD ar Sranford Universiry. He was on
faculry ar rhe Universiry of Norrh Dakora,
ar Sranford Universiry, and had a 16-year
srinr ar rhe Universiry ofPirrsburgh.
Ned was a consumare bibliophile. Soon
afrer joining rhe faculry ar Pirrsburgh, he
commenced publicarion of a series of shorr
monographs ricled "Recenr Publicarions on
Thearre Archirecrure" which appeared regularly under rhe auspices of rhe Depanmenr
of Speech. Evenrually USIrr incorporared
rhese lisrings wirhin rhe journal, wirh rhe
final roral over rhe nexr ren years numbering more rhan 2,500 lisrings. Contempormy
Theatre Architecture (published by rhe New
York Public Library in 1965 ro nore rhe re-

opening of rhe performing am collecrions
of rhe Library ar Lincoln Cenrer) conrained
Ned's comriburion "A Checklisr of
Publicarions: 1946-1964," along wirh
Maxwell Silverman's illusrrared survey of
new rhearre buildings. This book remains
an imporranr research source.
Ned's publicarions commenced in rhe
lare 1950s including early work on behalf of
borh rhe Technical Developmenrs and
Thearre Archirecrure Projecrs of (rhen)
AETA. Subsequenr arricles appeared regularly unril rhe rime of his dearh, including a
mosr recenr one bemoaning rhe fan rhar
American rhearre pracririoners don'r rake
rhe rime ro publish. A recenr profile prepared by Ned lisrs more rhan rwo dozen
arricles in narional and inrernarional publicanons.
Quire possibly Ned's favorire work
was one he dubbed "Bowman's
Cookbook." The Handbook of Technical
Practice for the Performing Arts was priva rely published in 1972 in looseleaf
binder, and revised in 1975. Ned's "cookbook" had recipes for plasrics, glues,
resins, makeup formulas, paims, roxiciries-lirerallya how-ro-do-ir from rhe
basic supplies on rhe scene shop shelf.
Ned's inreresr in rhese "recipes" made him
largely responsible in larer years for rhe
developmenr of fog machines and fog
fluid on behalf of rhe Rosco Laborarories.
Ned was an avid parricipanr in
USITTs inrernarionaI acriviries, serving
one rerm as Chair of rhe US Cenrer of
OISTAT (1979-81) and as chair of OISTATs Publicarions Commirree from 197179. He was in Easrern European for several
srudy rours on faculry grams programs
from rhe Universiry of Pinsburgh and
served informally as "ambassador" ro inrroduce American rhearre design and rechnology behind rhe "cunain."
Many of us in USIrr were privileged
ro share warm family relarionships wirh
Ned, his wife Gloria, and rheir four children. We have remembered many of rhose
rimes in rhe pasr weeks, rhankful for Ned's
many accomplishmenrs and conrriburions,
his wry sense of humor, and his abiliry ro
casr himself as an iconoclasr ro mask a son
hean inside. Helmur Grosser, presidenr of
OISTAT, has wrirren of rhe "loss of a colleague, a good friend, and a real rhearre
man." Ned's dearh is indeed a real loss ro his
friends and colleagues allover rhe world.
-Joel E. Rubin

Gary W. Gaiser is professor emeritus at
Indiana University and a USITT Fellow. Joel
E. Rubin is a fonner president of USITT, a
contributing editor for TD&T, and a member of the management team at Artec
Consultants.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1993