Theatre Design & Technology - May 1970 - 22

VISIONS IN SPACE, ..

RICHARD THOMPSON (Moderator!: I have
prepared a list of questions for the panel,
which I hope will generate discussion areas.
One question is: Why do we want to use
projections in the first place in the theatre?
Some people have been very happy with
three-dimensional scenery, or painted drops,
or some other form of scenic representation. I will call on Mr. Mielziner to tell us
in his view why we should want to use proj ected scenery.

J 0 M I ELZI N ER: In the first place, if anybody
puts a new dimension or a new texture or
new instrument in front of me, I want to
use it. Because part of the beauty in the
art of the theatre is a sense of mood and
character, texture and form; I would never
think of designing a set I didn't like. Many
things, I think, are much more beautiful if
they have motion. I think projection comes
into that. I think projection is wonderful to
change the mood of painting. The modern
playwright who wants to be free to write a
play or an act in 50 scenes should be free,
and I think that projection is of enormous
value in this department.
.Now some of
us old timers are aware that projections
have been used in our theatre in spite of
the general lack of knowledge about them;
they have in fact been used in this country
for a good many years, specifically in the
New York area. Probably no one up here
has more contact with them than Edward
Kook. Can you relate to us, from your experience, how Broadway has approached the
use of projections?

EDWARD KOOK: The use of projections
has been growing faster in the last three or
four years and has been accelerated by the
activities of designers who operate offBroadway rather than on. Primarily because
the problem of economics gets in the way.
There is very little time, and some technical deficiencies still exist; maybe today's
demonstrations will prove that they have
been overcome.
Generally speaking, projection is used in
conjunction, not as a substitute. Any time
you attempt to use it as a substitute, it
generally fails because the problem of realistic doors, windows, steps, etc., rears its
head. Projection, remember, is not intended
to take the place of conventional scenery.
It is a collaborative art; we start with the
author- by giving him a better understanding
of projection, we can I iberate him to imagine
even better than before. But it is still a
very limited activity on Broadway, less so
off-Broadway.

RICHARD THOMPSON: I'd like to make a
comment which I think will tie in here. One
of the reasons we came up with the idea
for this seminar is because we found that
in this country there is a vicious cycle. You
sit down at the first production meeting, and
somebody says, "Well, we do not have a
big budget, so why don't we do it all with
projection?" So everyone goes off on their
merry way, and suddenly there is that day
when the show is set up on the stage-and
the actors walk onto the stage, and the de-

signer suddenly discovers that the director
has blocked the actors two feet away from
the projection screen; the light is bouncing
all over the screen; and there has been no
awareness of all the limitations placed upon
the production. But you can't just walk off
and do your own thing. It must be a collaborative effort. Many of us have heard some
designer walking out saying, "I'll never use
scenic projections again in my life!" And of
course everyone who has been working
with him on the production has th e same
bad taste in his mouth; and so we sit and
stagnate. Hopefully this meeti ng here today
may break down this vicious cycle ..

JAMES SANTANDREA: My experience has
been in multi-media for the last five years,
and particularly the industrial show area
which in the last eight years has grown very
rapidly. It seems to be converging somewhere with the legitimate theatre and film
work; and there seems to be a mixture of
the two going on now. I think we are trying
to find a "third theatre." The younger generation, brought up on TV and electronic
audio-visual aids, is really hungry for rapid
communication or what is commonly called
"total environment." That is, creativity
where you envelop an audience with a multiplicity of projections and also live activity.
I suspect that whether proj ections are effective on Broadway today is a question that
has been raised for the past ten or fifteen
years and will probably continue to be
raised. Again, I think, we ought to pay at-

The above model presentation for Schenley Industries shows the variety of screenings
used by James Santandrea of Melandrea. On pages 20-21, a model of Santandrea's
"innershpere," and viewing tunnel, both used in industrial shows and exhibitions.

22

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THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

MAY, 1970
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - May 1970
