Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997 - 74

Carter's death in 1990 from his notes and "remembered conversations"), is a valuable updating of the previous ones and
clearly belongs on every technical director's bookshelf and in
evelY scene shop.
This is not a text, although it might well be used as one. 11
is intended as a reference for finding those facts and ideas
which designers and TDs need, but sometimes don't recall, or
don't know where to find. As Carter pointed out in his preface
to the earlier editions, it is not a "how to" book, but a "what
is" collection of facts and figures. The information is presented in the form of tables and simple, clear line drawings. 11
includes almost everything one might think of which a scenic
designer or technician might need to know, or find out. It may
be the easiest to use resource available for finding everything
from the weight of plywood to properties of adhesives to geometric concepts and formulas (who really remembers all that
snIff from high school geometry class?) to fabric terms and
definitions, to almost anything else.
The book is organized in a number of chapters, many of
which have been expanded, or revised, for this edition. The
chapter on Tools includes such new categories as: Grip Equipment; Painting Tools; Safety Equipment; Pneumatic Tools;
Power Tools and Welding Tools. The Hardware chapter has a
new categOly, Pipe Clamps, and has been updated in many
small ways to include more recent, or more Widely used, hardware types than were previously included.
The Materials chapter has been expanded with new categories: Paint Formulas; Paints and Dyes; Chemical Definitions; Temperature Standards and Wind Intensities. Additions
to the chapter on Electrics include Power Requirements,
Lighting Terms, Color Temperanlre, Color Correction, Diffusion Materials, Graphic Standards (USITT), Film Lighting Instruments and Connectors. The Theatre chapter has added the
USITT Scenic Design Graphic Standards. The chapters on Shop
Math and Architecture have not been changed in a major way
but remain extremely useful and, given that these areas haven't
changed greatly, they probably didn't need revision.
One might suggest that some of the hundreds (thousands?) of drawings could be larger and/or that exploded diagrams might be useful in better understanding how some
things work, but tllis would appear to be qUibbling \vith the
book's premise. There might be some argument over whether
the list of slang names for various tools and materials is as extensive as it might be (although it seems fairly complete: an
adjustable end wrench, for exanlple, is also listed as a Crescent wrench and as a C-wrench).
The Table of Contents will usually get you to the correct
portion of the book to find the information you need. The
quite complete fourteen-page Index will almost always get you
to tlJe specific infomlation even faster. My biggest problem \vitIJ
tlJis book is that 1get too easily distracted by information I find
interesting when looking through it for something specific.
While I am very pleased with tlus edition as it stands,
there are some things it doesn't have tllat I wish were included. Cluef anlOng these is a listing of lanlps by ANSI code.
While basic lamp shapes and base types are included, it would
be useful to have complete lamp descriptions and ANSI codes.
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TD&T

Willie the catalogs of various suppliers and manufacturers
contain tlus information, it would be nice to find it here. Still,
one should probably not expect to find a single source which
would completely satisfy all possible shop needs.
There is one important change 1would like to see for funu'e editions (and I hope that someone will continue to update
and expand this book). I would like to see it bound in a way
which allows it to lie flat on a shop desk or work table. The
soft binding of the current (and Pl'e\~ous) edition is too easily
destroyed through the heavy use wluch a book like tlus is
likely to receive in the shop. Aspiral binding would be an improvement. Aring binding would allow the same sort of flexibility in use and nught allow for easier incremental updates.
Even \\~tll tlJese quibbles (and tllat is really what tlJey are),
tlJis book \\ill have a pelwanent place on tlJe desk in my shop. In
fact, I have a copy in my shop and one in my office. My somewhat worn copy of the Second Edition resides in my home office. As far as I anl concemed, tlus book is a "must have."
Richard S. Beam, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts!
Designer!I'echnicai Director Western Carolina University

Theatre of the Fraternity:
Staging the Ritual
Space of the
Scottish Rite of
Freemasonry,

1896-1929,
Conceived and curated
by C. Lance Brockman.
Minneapolis: Frederick
R. Weisman Art Museum,
University of Minnesota,
1996. 128 pp. Distributed by University Press
of Mississippi.
1am always wary when I read that a book is at once handsome, informative and interesting. But the illustrations and
fine collection of essays in Theatre of the Fraternity are
indeed interesting and informative and the layout and presentation is quite handsome. Designed as a companion
piece to an exhibit presented first at the Weisman Museum
at the University of Minnesota and then at museums in
Ohio, Massachusetts, California and North Dakota, Theatre
of the Fratemi~)1 explores the rites and ceremonies of the
Masonic Order of the Scottish Rite, especially as those ceremonies embraced and employed the scenic techniques of
the American theatre in the thirty years between 1896 and
1929.
The period studied coincides with a sudden surge of
interest by Americans in fraternal organizations. Between
1885 and 1900 Americans formed more than 150 new fra-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997