Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1976 - 21

uate professional level be primarily concerned with the
realities of the world and not the isolated objectivity
of the academy.
Prior to setting up the course of study in theatre
design-engineering, there was already a well-established
curriculum in backstage theatre technology - the main
thrust of which was, and still is, directed to the teaching of operational procedures associated with theatrical production problems. There are, therefore, two
separate sets of requirements for admission to the course
of study in theatre technology, which is unequally divided as to numbers of students (about 54) between theatre
technology as it relates to production and theatre designengineering as it relates to the theatre building; with the
latter being limited to those student applicants with previous academic undergraduate degrees in a recognized
discipline of engineering or science. Ideally, admission to
the course of study in theatre design-engineering should
require in addition that the student have a background
in both architecture and technical theatre; practically,
however, this rarely happens. Courses of instruction in
both architecture and theatre technology at the undergraduate level are, with rare exception unfortunately,
based on aesthetically oriented hypothetical theatrical
as well as architectural problems and almost completely
unrelated to the basic disciplines of science, engineering,
and architecture as they are practiced professionally.
Before I go further it is essential to understand the
difference between the process of theatre design-engineering and that of theatre design as a purely aesthetic pursuit. From the very beginning my theatre consulting practice, unlike others in the United States, has always been
characterized by a strong scientific and engineering bias,
because it has been based on work carried out in an experimental laboratory. I believe the essential problems of
contemporary theatre design in the technologically oriented societies of the Western hemisphere have more to do
with the realities associated with engineering execution
than with the aesthetics of architectural design. This,
~ requires an understanding of how modern technology can best be applied to solve problems in theatre
design, and is therefore the reason for two separate
courses of study with two sets of entrance requirements:
First, those students completing three years of course
work as theatre technicians, graduate as backstage technicians; second', those selected students who after completing three years of coursework in theatre design and
engineering are admitted to either the consulting practice and/or positions in the laboratory, which in a very
practical sense has come to represent a postgraduate
fellowship in theatre design-engineering.
Because a considerably higher standard of technical
competence is required of those who are admitted to the
laboratory and the practice, the distinction is automatically made between education for the backstage theatre
technician and education for the theatre designer-engineer. The implication in the first instance is that the
position of the technical director and the duties of the
stage technician are operational and are concerned with
back-stage scenery handling, lighting, etc., as these are

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ancillary to theatrical production. The latter infers that
of the designer-engineer, whose talent and technical
competence is directed to the design and often the invention of machinery and its related controls for the stage
which eventually must also be concerned with matters
of seating geometry, sightlines, acoustics, etc. In fact,
the theatre design-engineer should be entirely at home,
not only with the whole backstage production apparatus, but must concern himself with design of the entire
theatre, not excluding the architectural and structural
design of the building itself. This is admittedly a large
order, but steady progress in this direction, both in the
experimental development efforts that take place in the
laboratory and the expanding activities of the professional
practice, has been made during the past 35 years.
I point out, however, that this situation was not predesigned, but developed gradually where now a course
of study for the gifted student who comes to the school
with the proper undergraduate technical training, is
tailor-made to fit his talent and educational background,
as well as his intended future development. A program
where further specialization in the disciplines of structure,
mechanical, electro-electronic engineering and applied
physics is now possible by means of an arrangement between the Drama School and the other graduate professional schools within the University, with the student
enrolling in courses of his choice in those schools concurrently with his coursework in the Drama School.
All of this work culminates in a thesis problem in theatre
design-engineering carried out as a program of directed
independent study.
Here I must make further explanation concerning
the laboratory which is not constituted, nor was it ever
intended, as a student-oriented facility. It perhaps can
best be compared to the operation of a professional
repertory theatre, as both are associated with a drama
school. As the professonal repertory theatre operates
with professional actors, directors, and technicians, so
th is laboratory is staffed by professional engineers and
laboratory technicians, and while the students who during
their course of study often take part in the work of the
laboratory as part-time paid assistants, the main thrust
of the work is based on an intensive program of developmental engineering performed by the professional staff
under the personal supervision of the Director.
It is precisely the fact of the laboratory's being professional that makes it unique and also valuabl\!, because
here the student participates with professionals working
on rear projects intended for use in real theatres; not
hypothetical projects dreamed up for hypothetical theatres. It is the pressure and urgency of reality that is
the driving force here. One example of this effort, underway for the past two and one-half years, is a current project in the application of digital computer control to
electro-mechanical rigging, the first installation of which
will be made at Sala de Conciertos Rios Reyna, now under
construction in Caracas, Venezuela.
This experience at Yale is the only one of its kind,
both in graduate professional education and in the devel-

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

SPRING. 1976

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