Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1993 - 16

This process will nor use rhe rechniques
of realism as rhe basis for all producrion
decisions; and ir \\·ill find new wavs of
approaching realisric rexrs rhar will open
rhem up ro alrernare meanings. i':ow rhis
poinr needs ro be examined carefully so
rhere i no misundersranding. There is
norhing wrong wirh rhe rechniqucs of
realism so long as rhe\' are confined ro
realism-norhing ar all. Bur, rhar is nor
whar has happened in our rhearre. In our
rhearre, realism-which, ir is well ro
remind ourselves, is onlv fI sryle of
design, direcring, and acring-has
become the sryle. Ir has gorren ro rhe
poinr where we are incapable of rhinking
in any orher way. Ir doesn'r maner whar
rhe play or rhe siruarion is-rhe collaborarive process begins, and usually ends, in
realism. And you know rhar is rrue as
well as I do.
Bur do you know why ir is rrue?
Because ir is easy, rhar's why. Ir is objecrive. \Ve all know whar rhe real rhing is.
\Y,fe can find a picrure of ir, and all we
have ro do is duplicare ir or buy ir. We
don'r need ro invesr anyrhing of ourselves
inro rhe process. \Ve don'r need ro confronr ourselves ar all and rhe erhical and
moral dimensions of an remain exrernal
ro ourselves. Isn'r rhar quinressenrially
American? And isn'r ir shameful rhar our
rhearre has become so lazy' Why should
we be so surprised when our rhearre
doesn'r confronr rhe audience if we don'r
confronr our selves in rhe process of making rhearre? How can rhearre connecr
wirh rhe audience if ir doesn'r connecr
fi rsr wi rh us'

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN
TO OUR THEATRE IF IT
ABAN DON EDITS
CURRENT MARGINAL,
ELITIST, REALISTIC,
TEXT-CENTERED,
SELF-CONSCIOUS,
OVER SPECIALIZED,
ASSEMBLY-LINE,
MALE-DOMINATED
STRUCTU RE; AN D
EMBRACED, BOLDLY, A
NEW, RELATIVISTIC,
FULLY OPEN, AND
FULLY HUMANISTIC'
VIEW?

This process will be furrher inclusive in
rhar ir will welcome and celebrare polirical, social, erhnic, and sexual diversir~',
This issue is vasr and complex and our
enrire socie~' is srruggling wirh irs ramificarions. Bur rwo poinrs are viral for rhe
considerarion of a new collaborarive process:

POINTONE:
A new collaborarive process will be
open ro culrural diversiry. A new
awareness IS growlI1g In our counrIT. \Ve are now aware rhar our culrure has been hisroricall\' domin;ued by a whire, male, European
view, and we are also aware rhar our
counrry is changing, philosophicalI)' and demographically, away from
rhar view poinr. This awareness has
14

1993 SPRING

TD&T

endy from men-in borh philosophical and visual rerms. There is
a growing body of crirical and specularive work rhar suggesrs rhar
women nor only reacr ro siruarions
in ways rhar are philosophically differenr from men; bur rhar women
organize rhe visual world differenr
from men. Their visual responses-rheir visual grammar-is differenr from men. Available work in
rhis field is ranralizing in irs implicarions, and a rruly open process of
collaborarion will unleash rhese
new visual forces. \Xfhar fan rasric
possibiliries could our rhearre
enrerrain if we could energize a collaborarive process rhar gave full rein
ro rhis new visual view'

many dangers associared \\'irh ir. Ir
mal' rrigger rhe weapons of repression and regression in rhe hands of
rhe forces of moral absolurism from
borh rhe Righr and rhe Lefr. Or ir
may lead ro a parheric fragmenrarion and "Balkanizarion" as everv
group shrilly asserrs irs demand ro
OCCUPy rhe cenrer of narionaI culrural consciousness, \X'e are seeing,
unforrunarely, how rhose forces
work in our counrrv roda~', How-

ever, rhis awareness may, if
embraced by our rhearre and by a
rrulv open design proce s, as Beeb
Salzar suggesrs in his arricle,
"Teaching Design In A '\ orld
\Virhour Design," , enrich our rhearre and our counrry beyond our
dreams.

CONCLUSION
Whar would happen ro our rhearre if ir
abandoned irs currenr marginal, elirisr,
realisric, rexr-cenrered, self-conscious,
over specialized, assembly-line, maledominared srrucrure; and embraced,
boldly, a new, relarivisric, fully open, and
fully humanisric view? How mighr rhis
change our working habirs and rhe
designs we produce? Whar would happen
if designers were full parrners in rhe
rehearsal process, and if acrors were full
parrners in rhe design process? Could we
srand one anorher for rhar long a rime?
Would ir be chaos? Ir surely would be if
we didn'r approach ir honesrly. Bur if we
were ro find rhe capaciry for rhis honesry-if we were ro really creare in rhe
rhearre as rrue arrisrs, facing our selves
honesrly, wirhour self-piry, and accepring
fully rhe moral responsibiliry for our
choices-whar mighr we creare? Do we
have rhe courage ro rry' Probably nor.
Bur whar will happen ro our rhearre if we
!!l
don'r?
Delberr Unruh is fI contributing editorfor
TD&T, fI member ofthe design JaW/fJl fit
the Universit), of KflnSfl5, find editor of
Towards a New Thearre bJI Robert
Edmond jones,
Endnores
Delbert Unruh. cd ..

Tou"ITds fl :\'~ll' TIJ(alr~.

Th,

POINT TWO:

I rClun'! of Robar /:.dmond JOllr] (:"Jew York: Limelighl

I\luch discussion has occurred in
recenr years concerning The
Feminisr View or Agenda or
Thearre or wharever you wanr ro
call ir; and one poinr in rhar ongoing discussion is of crucial
imporrance here. This is rhe idea
rhar women see rhe world differ-

Edition<, 1~~2)

(,~.

lJnruh -1--';.
j

Lnruh -1---18.

·1

Bed) SJI,l'f. "Tl'.ldting Design In a \,'orld \X'j(hOlit
Design. -, TIJi'111rf Dl"sigll c'- Helm%Kl'. \Vin[cr 1989:

)-6.6'1-6-,

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