Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1996 - 18

~pilogue
The show, Dinosanrs, by Jim DeVita, under the direction of Rob
Goodman, premiered on March 51, 1995 at First Stage Milwaukee. Actors wore body suits painted in abstracted patterns. They had boney
headpieces worn as masks, and some tails and claws. We spent some
time figuring out how to build these pieces ,uld eventually used more or
less conventional techniques. We built a carcass out of wire, covered it
with foam, sculpted it, texrured it and then painted it. I was pretty happy
with the way the costumes looked on stage... but, as the poet said,
watching the dream is so much better th:lI1 waking up; dealb, bone,
bird,fligbl. ligbl. dreaJII,jem; darkness. sial: life.

About the Author'
Each time I'm asked to write my bio for a theatre program, I go to my
computer :lI1d adjust the earlier data-some things go away, some
things are added. Just the other day, I removed from my official bio the
reference to my parents. Was I right' Is a credits bio too insignificant to
deal with such an important subject as one's parents? Life goes by and
it's marked by pretty superficial notes in theater progranls-did this,
went there. 1y bio is more a carcass than a living body.
My parents are theater people and I didn't know any other reality
except the theater until velY late in my life. I sawall my father's productions, many times, and his theater was my second home He was and still
is my most import:U1t teacher. My mother graduated from the

Lenningrad University with a degree in philology. She wrote about thirty
original plays and adaptations which were internationally staged, :U1d
she managed to keep us warm and comfortable at the same time. She is
my father's most devoted follower, critic and dramaturg. They live in St.
Pelersburg in our old apartment :U1d my dad still leaves home at nine in
the morning to go to his theater :U1d comes back at midnight. He is
rurning seventy thjs summer. Until now everything I have done in art has
been verified according 10 the standards set by hjm.
I began drawing when I was three; forlllnately for my parents, who
never had :lI1Y trouble leaving me at home alone when they needed to go
to the rehearsal. Their only problem was collecting all the drawings
spread out on the floor when they canle home. By the age of five I was
attending art classes given by Solomon Levine, an amazing teacher. This
man inserted in our little heads a belief that there is nothjng impossible
for the person with an imagination, and he did it with true grace and
kindness. In hjgh school I took life drawing classes and by the age of
sixteen I could draw a prelly decent nude.
When it canle time to choose my profession, I didn't give it much
thought. Theater design was the only nanH'aI thing to do, so I entered
the Leningrad Instit1Ile of Theater Music and Cinema and studied under
Igor Ivanov, who at that time was one of the hottest names in our profession. He was a resident designer at the Theater of Comedy, an instinllion with a tremendous visual tradition. For many years it was headed by
ikolai Akimov also an excellent designer painter and theater director.
Igor attracted a lot of attention to Ius theater by producing a number of

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1996