Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1989 - 21

with its raked triangular platforms with a three-step series
raised center. Hanging above at varying lengths were
looped strips of cloth and three prominent rope ladderson which the Emperor swung onto stage as a breath-taking
punctuation to a scene in which he shoots into the crowd
of "formless fears" (dance chorus). The previous pursuit
scene showed him leaving moments before through the
orchestra pit. The cyclorama was used extensively and
featured a moon in varying stages of fullness as the dancedrama progressed.
One decidedly jarring element interrupted the effectiveness of the environment - a series of paper cut-out
limbless trees during the scene where Jones held the Witch
Doctor aloft Christ-like atop the center stepped-platform.
That moment was otherwise riveting in its Christian symbolism harkening back to O'Neill's exploration of Jones's
morality within the script.
Very little dialogue was uttered throughout-only an
occasional word or phrase directed presentationally to the
audience, mocking laughter, or a loud crying-out by Jones.
The prominent vocal element was not voice but music of
the African tom-tom which spoke to the players and audience like the legendary talking drums of Africa. O'Neill
specified that the drums be used for emotional impact as
well as to communicate direct meaning as to action and
character. This need was met in the Nanjing production,
but with some problems. The drumming needed to be
better synchronized as to timing of the varying sound
levels. The company needed to choreograph the drums in
the same excellent way it choreographed the dancer/
actors.

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WE WELCOME TO OUR EXECUTIVE STAFF

Dr. Joel E. Rubin
Jose F. Sanchez P.E.

Perhaps the most moving moment in the dance-drama
that truly held the magic of transport and transcendence
we all wish for in the live theatrical experience was the
moment Jones was literally and figuratively caught in the
Witch Doctor's web, as the dance-chorus impaled him
against the Witch Doctor in the center of a huge spider web
lowered from the fly loft. After swallowing to release the
breath we all held when the dramatic truth of that moment first caught us, the audience applauded wildly. It was
in that moment that we all understood - audience, players,
and the attendant O'Neill alike-that the new day of Chinese modem theatrical production had arrived and its
glorious promise was subsumed in this production of one
of Eugene O'Neill's most complex works.
The Nanjing production of The Emperor Jones by the
Jiangsu Art Theatre should travel to the West and plans are
underway to see that it does. When this production comes
to America, let us hope it gets a wide presentation from the
coasts through the hinterlands, for it has much to teach us
about global perspectives in the magic of theatre production and the need for better understanding through the
cross-culturalization possible in the art of the live theatre.

Betty Jean Jones is an associate professor of Theatre in the
Department of Communication and Theatre at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. During the Summer of 1988, Dr. Jones participated as an American
theatre scholar/artist in three international conferences
in Belgium, Sweden, and China celebrating the centenary
of American playwright Eugene O'Neill.

LIGHTING CONTROL AND
DIMMING PRODUCTS DIVISION

Phil Alward
Mark Lewus
Dr. Joel E. Rubin
Jose F. Sanchez P.E.

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SPRING 1989

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