Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2010 - 6

theatre
design &
teChnology

from the

T he peer-review jour nal
for design, production and
technolog y professionals
in the perfor ming arts and
entertainment industr y.

editorial office
david rodger
editor

deborah hazleTT
art director

*
3001 Springcrest dr.
louisville, KY 40241-2755
502-426-1211 fax: 502-423-7467
e-mail: TdT@broadwaypress.com

associate editors
raYmond KenT
architecture

peggY roSefeldT

Costume design & Technology

paTriCK m. finelli

Computers & Software

William KenYon
education

jerrY gorrell
engineering

david C. gloWaCKi
health & Safety

riChard devin
lighting design

riChard peTerSon
management

roberT l. SmiTh & heidi hoffer
Scenic design

dave ToSTi-lane
Sound design

bill broWning

Technical production

arnold WengroW
book reviews

William j. bYrneS
inside USiTT

contributing editors
arnold aronson * eric fielding *
sarah nash gates * joel e. rubin *
beeb salzer * delbert unruh *
tom watson * arnold wengrow

advertising
miChelle l. SmiTh

membership & ad Sales manager
315 South Crouse avenue, Suite 200
Syracuse, nY 13210
800-938-7488 / 315-463-6463
fax: 866-398-7488 / 315-463-6525
e-mail: michelle@office.usitt.org

international affiliation
USiTT is the United States Center of oiSTaT: The
international organization of Scenographers,
Theatre architects and Technicians.

theatre

design

teChnology

e ditor
fifty years

is a long time to remember things clearly. We are very fortunate,
therefore, that prior to embarking on this
anniversary issue, two projects gave us
unprecedented access to historical documents. first, richard stephens, usitt's
archivist, and members of his committee
spent weeks going through rooms full of
boxes and filing cabinets, organizing and
cataloging everything. bill browning also volunteered to digitize thousands and thousands of pictures
and other graphic material. this issue would be pretty boring, visually, without bill's long hours at the
computer. and fact-checking would have been impossible without rick's very generous time spent
on our behalf wading through old board minutes, membership directories, and issues of usitt's
newsletters. second, Will bellman had the wisdom as a longtime champion of usitt publications to
keep all his back issues of TD&T, and barry cleveland and his students at california state university
at northridge were willing to spend countless hours sitting at digitizing equipment. consequently, we
now have a complete digital collection of both TD&T and Sightlines that the editors, who are spread
all over the country, could easily access.
Many thanks to the volunteer associate and contributing editors who responded enthusiastically
to my request that they provide the core of this anniversary issue-stories about the commissions,
which are the energizing force behind so many of usitt's activities, and about special individuals
or events. another group who made this issue possible are the photographers who created a visual
record of conferences and other usitt events. three in particular-richard finkelstein, bill browning, and tom thatcher-have my special admiration and appreciation.
this issue isn't meant to be a history of the institute. fortunately, richard stephens is working on that endeavor. instead, it's a look at who we are today, a commemoration of the people
who have shaped and steered usitt through the years and a review of some of the activities they
produced. the editors have taken a personal approach to telling these stories, because in the end,
friendships and shared experiences are what mean the most to us, and are what we remember
with the most detail.
as we peer back through the last five decades, recalling important people and events, it is clarifying to look at what usitt presidents and other leaders said about the institute, contemporaneously,
at various anniversaries. in 1970, founding president thomas degaetani commented on the "moral
and material pluralism," that he said was "essential to the preservation and future flourishing of the
arts in america." He added, "apropos of pluralism, the very roots of usitt are pluralistic in that the
initial concept was supported and actively furthered by such diverse guilds and organizations as actors equity, the american national theatre and academy, the international alliance of theatrical and
stage employees, the american institute of architects, society of stage directors and choreographers,
Kliegl brothers lighting, Juilliard school, century lighting, american educational theatre association, the u. s. center of the international theatre institute and united scenic artists."
in1970, the current president, c. ray smith, outlined an agenda for the future: "two steps, as i
see it, are primary for the institute: first, we must make a final move away from the volunteer (and
consequently sometimes undependable) operation on which we have depended in the past. instead,
we must aim for and achieve a truly professional operation-professionally run and professionally
financed-so that our activities and services will be commensurate with our posture as a professional organization.

W I N T E R

2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2010