Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2010 - 91

Examples of three Czech designers during the 1980s and 1990s: right,
Petr Matásek's design for Kleist's Katchen Von Heilbronn; below right,
Jan Dušek's rendering for Danton's Death and below, Jaroslav Malina's
rendering for Miss Julie.

Looking for a new perspective, I discovered
Jarka Burian's book, The Scenography of Josef
Svoboda. Svoboda's tours of colleges and universities in the United States in 1972 (arranged
through USITT and OISTAT) had introduced us
all to the principles of "scenography." Abstract,
metaphorical, and filled with the latest projection and staging technology, Svoboda's designs
were a revelation to the U.S. design community
(see TD&T, May 1973). Svoboda then was the
Chief Designer and Technical Director of the
National Theatre complex in Prague, and he
enjoyed significant state support for his productions. His work was widely imitated here, even
though most of our results were unsatisfactory
because most of us did not have the expensive
projection and staging equipment that Svoboda
enjoyed. We were fascinated by the possibilities
of scenography. Burian continued to tantalize us
with more TD&T articles on Svoboda and Eastern European design. For those of us who were
interested in design theory and documentation,

Burian's writings opened up a new way of thinking and a new field of study.
Accordingly, in 1983 I wrote to Josef Svoboda, whom I had met in 1976 and requested
that I be allowed to study with him. He welcomed me and I was able to arrange a sabbatical
to Czechoslovakia in the fall of 1984. My study
with Svoboda was rewarding, but more important were the contacts I made with a generation
of theatrical designers who were my age. It was
through individuals such as Jaroslav Malina,
Miroslav Melena, Jan Dusek, Petr Matasek, Jan
Zavarsky, and Josef Ciller that I encountered the
theory of Action Design.
The world economic crisis that had been
occasioned by the formation of OPEC in the
1970s had impacted the economies of the entire world. New, less expensive ways of design
and production were needed and the Action
Designers in Czechoslovakia, working in small
theatres, had begun to explore these possibilities. Another new world opened for me. Action

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2010

Design's metaphorical, non-technological style
was focused on the work of the actors, and it
was entirely within our reach if we could only
break out of our realistic way of thinking. Here
was a philosophy of stage design that was completely new to me, and I was attracted to its abstract quality and intellectual depth. In order for
me to completely understand it I began writing
about my experiences. I found that if I set down
my thoughts as clearly as possible, I was able
to clarify what was happening in Czechoslovakia and in my own mind. I submitted a couple
articles in this vein to TD&T and was gratified
when they were published.
I followed my 1984 sabbatical with several
privately financed trips to Eastern Europe so I
could continue my research. Sometime after
1990 I was invited to the University of Texas to
speak on the subject. Eric Fielding, then editor
of TD&T, was also there as a guest artist and he
invited me to become a Contributing Editor of
the journal. Thus began what I can only describe
theatre

design

technology

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