Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1989 - 52

USITT
ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
AND STAGE

~~~~ EXPO
~~

Visit the Conference '90 booth in c.Jgary

The United States Institute for Theatre Technology
brings you:

"30 Years Brewing a Better Future
in Perfonnance Art & Technology"
April 11-14, 1990
For more information contact Leroy Stoner at
WI 53201

slrr 1990, UWM Box ~13, Milwauk.."

MIU
ous equipment to provide different
lighting positions. Next, electricity
and wiring are discussed. The author
assumes that the reader has a basic
understanding of electricity. The following chapter, "Lighting Control," is
a somewhat laborious description of
the various patch and control systems
available.
The next section begins with a
chapter on color which is a relatively
nontechnical discussion of the characteristics of additive and subtractive
mixing as applied to lighting. The
chapter describes the effects of the
wide variety of color media. In addition, there is an appendix that includes a reproduction of Rosco's
"Color Media Guide." Chapter Six,
"Projections and Special Effects,"
briefly examines the various types of
projection techniques and their potential uses. Although brief, this section
is effective at presenting both the practical considerations and the more
50

TD&T'

SPRING 1989

authors as Parker and Smith, Bellman,
and Gillette, to name a few. His solutions, though they may be different,
are no more or less valid than the solutions of the other authors. One major
reservation for the reader may be the
high cost of these spiral-bound books.
Regardless of the cost, these handbooks can be a useful addition to the
theatre tech.nician's library.
Wayne Merritt
University of Maine

The Critics' Canon:
Standards of Theatrical
Revievving in America

by Richard H. Palmer.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
Inc., 1988. ISBN 0-313-26211-X, xii
+ 183 pp., 539.95 cloth.

ichard H. Palmer's new work attempts to describe and define the
standards for effectively evaluating
performance. Using approximately
300 reviews of professional as well as
amateur theatre productions presented during the 1986-87 season, the
author examines the techniques that
were employed by the writers of those
reviews. He is, for the most part, successful in illustrating the effective
methods of criticism. This is probably
due to Palmer's practical experience in
directing, designing, and teaching
theatre.
In his first chapter, Palmer lists
eight major functions of a review: to
inform, to document, to judge, to provide background, to instruct, to entertain, to make suggestions to the
participants, and, finally, to advocate
addi tional suPPOrt for the theatre.
With these assumptions, he proceeds
to the "Journalistic Requirements for a
Theatrical Review." This second chapter explores the relationship between
the media and the performing organization and examines the minimum
and maximwn requirements of a review. For example, Palmer suggests
simple solutions to the problems of
condensing plot summaries, including
long lists of personnel, and mentioning each of the production elements.
It is in the next section that Palmer
discusses the considerations of reviewing a performer. In Chapters
Three and Four, "Voice and Body" and
"Characterization," he focuses on
such element as audibility, suitability, and conU11UlUCative ability. He

imaginative app!jcations of projected
scenery.
The final chapter, "Planning and
Designing the Lights," provides a concise discussion of the execution of a
lighting design. Included in this chapter is a step-by-step view of the process: paperwork ("plot," "hook-up,"
"cheat," and "magic sheets"L hanging
and focusing; and a description of the
technical rehearsal process. This section is generic in its format because
there are so many systems in existence. However, the e>-'})Ianation of the
cue recording process provides a positive addition to this chapter. In addition to the material in this section,
Sweet includes an appendix of the
USITT "Standards for Graphic Language for Lighting Design."
The Handbook of SceneJ).~ Properties. and Lighting: Volumes I eJ II offers many different solutions to
traditional scenic problems than
those offered in other books by such

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1989