Theatre Design & Technology - May 1973 - 49

the great things I have seen in your company. It would
be a great mistake to size up everything in such a short
time so I will only mention highlights. It's difficult to
pick one particular item that pleased me the most largely
because I met with so many great ones in the field of
theatre; Mr. Kirby, Mr. Duckwall, Mr. Michael, Mr. Goff,
just to mention a few. Was it the thrill in seeing such fine
performances as we have seen in Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall
by the Martha Graham Dance Company? Was it the tours
we took to a number of impressive modern theatres and
the pleasure of meeting students and professors that was
so instrumental in dictating the tempo of our most fruitful visit? It is hard to say.
Professionally speaking, I was most impressed with the
stage lighting techniques and the variety of equipment
used. The plays I witnessed, Via Galactica, lighted by
L. Burlingame; Henry The IV, lighting by M. Aronstein;
Godspell, lighting by S. Mosse; and Pippin, lighting by
J. Fischer, were all professionally composed, precisely
directed and always brilliantly lighted. The beautifully
lighted stages are, of course, made possible by the use
of the new 110 volt Tungsten Halogen lamps and the
patch panel which is totally unknown in Hungary and
in parts of Europe. For this equipment, it is essential to
have outstanding manufacturers like Sylvania, Kleigl Bros.,
and other lighting manufacturers. But hundreds of lighting
instruments and a most flexible control system are only
the start of a well-lighted production. To no one's
surprise in the U.S.A., you have the lighting designer, an
unknown profession in Hungary where the stage designer
and the ch ief electrician are in charge of the stage
illumination with varying results. When you have lighting
designers such as Mr. Gil Hemsley or Jules Fischer and
excellent stage lighting equipment, beautiful lighting is
assured.
While the stage lighting and the designs were most
extraordinary, I was surprised to notice the minimal use
of the very efficient electrocoustical sound effects systems with which most theatres are well equipped. Sound
equipment as I saw it was used mainly for music and amplification of sound, where we are used to more pure sound
effects to accompany the production on stage. I was also
very surprised at Bloomington, Indiana where I toured a
very European style theatre; the Musical Arts Centre. I
was mainly on the lookout for American styles which are,
of course, readily found in the universities with their awesome size, modern equipment and extremely flexible
stage lighting systems. I was especially interested in one
new approach (a revolutionary "first" - at least for me)
and that was the combination of theatre, TV & radio
studios I witnessed in Madison, Wisconsin. To a general
observer, these three forms of art might seem related but
we in fact know they are very hard to combine under
one roof. The success of this facility was evident to me
and is further proof of great American ingenuity. Having
established the richness, beauty, and the great potential
of theatres on American campuses where the equipment

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

IVAN SZABO-JILEK

is modern and flexible I was not altogether surprised that
it is almost impossible to use it to its fullest capability.
I must say that some of the theatres, professional facilities
like the ones you find off Broadway, are in great need of
modernization. The buildings themselves seem a thousand
years old and much of the equipment is outmoded.
Next, I find myself asking; what is the role of theatre
at the universities in relation to the professional theatre?
If its purpose is purely to produce actors, directors, stage
managers, and other professions useful in everyday life
I think this would be an ideal purpose. It should not
serve merely as entertainment or as a student's hobby.
Hopefully, these students, in their profession, are bitten
by the theatre bug because they must and will bring
about the changes in the profession that are so very
essential to revolutionize and bring out the best in
American theatre. I found some of the most brilliant
teachers in our field when I met Mr. N. Bowman,
Mr. O. Parker, Mr. M. Lippman, Mr. G. Gaiser, and Mr. T.
Jones, just to mention some. I would like their type of
work to be more evident in the productions I saw which
were, with some exceptions, low in caliber and somewhat
amateurish. But I believe that the great potential, desire,
and teaching methods will bring a very rapid and fruitful
conclusion in the near future.
It is very obvious that the American theatre is now in
a very open and experimental stage trying to find new and
better ways to produce that differ from the European
tradition. The change is also evident in new theatres such
as Lincoln Center, New York, the Kennedy Center in
Washington, and the Music Center in Los Angeles. These
facilities seem a little overly modern in great contrast
to some of their houses like the Met in New York or the
Pavillion in Los Angeles where the Italian-French Renaissance plan is very obvious as it should be because of the

MAY. 1973

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