Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2017 - 51

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

Figure 3

$0.36

Figure 4

$10.00
Dbl. thread stage screw eye,
malleable iron, 1 dozen
Dbl. thread stage screw eye,
steel, 1 dozen

$7.50

Corner iron, 7x7, 1
Hick. Belaying pin, 15", 1 doz.
Movable loft block 4x3/4
Wire gas screen
Grass mat, 2'6" x 4'6"
Sheet iron ﬁre logs

Price

$0.18
$5.00

$0.09
$2.50

$0.00

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1
19 9
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Corner iron, 7x7, 1

Year

$0.00
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Price

$0.27

Year

for people with no imagination-people who will not
believe they are in a parlor unless they see the family
album" (Hopkins 1918, 47-48). With the substantial increase in the cost of stage hardware, the type of realism
producers typically embraced became significantly more
expensive to mount. When simply purchasing the required screw eyes and braces to erect realistic walls now
costs more money, a gravitation-especially by little
theatres and their correspondingly little budgets-toward presentational scenery seems natural.
Larson provides the testimony of Richard Marston,
a British scenic artist describing the prevailing conditions in American scenic work during the generation
prior to the New Stagecraft. While Marston's words
speak specifically to the 1880s, they help to contextualize the mindset of the American theatre producer at
the turn of the century. Marston says, "First and foremost is cost; artistic quality is secondary. Get the artist
who can do it cheapest... Cheap colors are used instead
of the more expensive ones" (Larson 1989, 13). Marston continues to explain that producers would seek out
less-experienced technicians to execute designs copied
from other productions; they sacrificed artistic integrity
at the altar of expense and efficiency. In sum, according to Marston, "The overwhelming influence of the
commercial spirit is crushing scenic art in the theatre"
(Larson 1989, 17). If commercial influence dominated
art, the New Stagecraft melded the artistic instincts of
a new generation of theatre makers with the business
needs of their producing organizations. In a 1923 article
Walter Prichard Eaton wrote, "Experiment in the theater depends not only on the enthusiasm of the artists,
but on their financial resources" (Eaton 1923, 26). In
Eaton's initial framing artistic experimentation requires

financial resources, but a deeper investigation of his
trenchant article reveals precisely the opposite. The very
limitations of resources during the period-owing to
the small budgets of the little theatres and the extreme
rise in prices due to World War I-drove producers,
directors, and designers into artistic experimentation
nearly out of necessity.
New concepts of scenic artistry entered the American marketplace of ideas before Jones's vaunted return
from Germany. Cheney and Macgowan's advocacy
pushed the issue, and Edward Gordon Craig published
On the Art of the Theatre and Towards a New Theatre in
1912 and 1913, respectively. Both books received relatively mixed reactions. As Norman Myers writes, "Those
who saw a need for a change in the approach to scenic
design hailed [On the Art of the Theatre] as vastly important, while those who were more favorably disposed
toward the status quo looked on it with disdain" (Myers
1970, 82). Reviews of and comments on Craig's books
appeared in numerous reputable publications, including
The Nation, The Drama, and The Christian Science Monitor. The ideas that formed much of the theoretical basis
for the New Stagecraft were well-known. Why, then,
did it take several years for producers to embrace this
new style?
Perhaps the answer lies in the economics illustrated
by the Clancy catalogs. When the price of scenic investiture skyrockets, a smart producer looks for alternative
means of presentation. Consider again the previously
quoted comment from Sheldon Cheney: "The American producer has been more concerned with the amusement business rather than with art." In the case of the
New Stagecraft, the interests of art aligned perfectly
with the interests of business. Producers needed an exS p r i n g 2 0 1 7

theatre design

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2017