Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2012 - 63

book

reviews

Fundamentals of Theatrical Design
A Guide to the Basics of Scenic,
Costume, and Lighting Design

By Karen Brewster and Melissa Shafer; New
York, Allworth Press, 2011. 256 pp. Paper,
$27.50.
Reviewed by Donnell Walsh

guessing, poor assumptions, and possible embarrassment later on. Learning to ask the "right"
questions is the spine of any productive theatre
communication, and the authors are clearly invested in giving young designers both the mental
and technical acumen required to keep them on
track from the beginning.

immersion in the language of
the play

As a practitioner for some thirty years of design
for live performance at both the academic and
professional level, I admit to a certain "O.K.,
show me" attitude when I come across any new
text on the subject, especially one aimed at early
students of theatre and their teachers. In the
case of Fundamentals of Theatrical Design: A
Guide to the Basics of Scenic, Costume, and
Lighting Design, Karen Brewster and Melissa
Shafer, who teach costume design (Brewster)
and scenic and lighting design (Shafer) at East
Tennessee State University, let us know in their
introduction that this book is intended to give
student designers the whole recipe for success.
"How can we make beginning designers learn
to make works of art?" they ask. They work from
the perhaps novel premise that scenic, costume,
and lighting designers are really part of what they
call "the same family." As they say, "They share
the same genetic material and upbringing. So, in
the early stages at least, they should be reared
together." Brewster and Shafer want students to
read and weigh ideas, to think critically, to scrutinize themselves as they arrive at concepts by
asking questions like, "Why am I drawn to this
choice?" "Does it serve the needs of the play?"
"Are there other choices that would be better?"
This notion of teaching students how to
"think like designers" is refreshing and admirable and will save students a lot of confusion,

theatre design

& technology

Part One, The Preliminary Design Process, is an
essential guide to what must take place prior to
any creative expression. A methodical discussion of the value of script analysis reinforces
the significance of the playwright's work as the
storehouse for design opportunities. The authors take students step by step and show them
how language, and not just stage directions, can
reveal deeper levels of information and arm the
designer with insight not apparent on the surface. This pre-production immersion in the language of the play is absolutely crucial to young
designers long before pencil is put to paper, and
the authors are worthy tour guides to the process. They share it in an explorative way which
can quickly engage young learners.
Sections on the objectives of design and
collaboration are also excellent. By far the best
resource in this part is "Researching the Design." Students are invited to make informed
conclusions based not on impulse, but rather on
an organized, sequential search for primary, secondary, and tertiary sources which can impact
the design process. They are taught to create a
"research storehouse." The authors explain why
research is so fundamental to theatrical design,
how to do it diligently, and still have it be interesting. I especially liked the inclusion of the topic of
plagiarism to keep students ethical in an age in
which so much is visually accessible.
Exercises at the end of each section will
make this book useful to teachers and students.
The exercises are quite achievable (even with a
range of student talent in any class) and should
be attractive to students as they learn from each
other's results. For example, one exercise has
students research five images of chairs and their
historical and social context and to consider

winter

2012

which chair would be best for a comedy and
why. This is a gold mine for design teachers who
need well-crafted and tested mini-projects that
speak to today's short attention span students.
The authors regularly introduce terms like concept, form, harmony, mood, perspective, and
modeling just to keep the journey rich and results oriented.

Art into theatre
Part Two is a concise but lively discourse on the
components of visual design, where students
begin to access the tenets of art and how they
translate into theatre. Students with little or no
art background are brought into the world of
color, line, mass, texture, and balance. The authors make sure that all the signposts are covered, so everyone is either refreshed or brought
up to speed.
Part Three goes through the accepted
USITT standard practices for scenic, costume,
and lighting design. This purposely reinforces
the idea that while each focus may become a
separate discipline later, it is immeasurably important for everyone to initially understand the
sequence of thought germane to the individual
design areas. The authors are very conscious
here to differentiate the process unique to each
design area, but they always remind students
that each cook is working on the same banquet
and collaborating on a final product which is
larger than any of their individual contributions.
Students need to hear this early and often.
I was especially impressed with the inclusion in the epilogue of the book of a full and
detailed discussion on "Building a Career in
Theatre Design." Busy design teachers can
overlook "connecting the dots" for freshmen
and sophomores who aren't thinking of the long
term unless encouraged and guided to do so. I
can't count how many times seniors or graduate
students have come to me asking how to put together a résumé or what goes into a designer's
portfolio. The authors think this is important
enough, even at the early stages of learning
about design, to offer examples of cover letters
and to discuss the interview process and graphic and electronic portfolio management.
As Webster and Shafer say, no one book
has it all. But I certainly recommend this

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2012