Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1995 - 25

\ras done for opera and the other \ras
and so \ras the set that it engendone orerseas at Great Britain's Roral
dered. On close inspection I deter\ational Theatre. \\'here are the exmine that the model is not notablr
amples of designs for .\nterican plars
imaginatire nor does it proride an
presented on :\merican stages. I \roninsightful metaphor for the musical
del" Where are the examples that \rill
plar. Rather. it is a gorgeous bit of
help me hear :\.merica singing'
background decoration for a pro:\round another bend I find
duction which I found tepid and
George Tsypin's contributions to the
tedious \rhen I sarr it in the theatre.
exhibit. including his brilliantlr imagLike the designs for GI(l'S alld
istic design for Peter Sellars's producDolls. this seems to me great craft
tion of Olirier ~Iessiaen's Saillt
in the sen'ice of minor dramatic
Frr/llr,;ois d'rlssise that \ras presented
literature-a raluing of size. specat the Salzburg Festiral and the
tacle. and form orer substance and
humanistic content. This is not \rhat
Bastille Opera. Once again I am proud
I had hoped to find. so I file ;I\\ar
of the quality of an American
designer's \rork. though once again I
mr first two impressions and more
am uneasv to find it is for opera
on to other parts of the exhibit.
instead of theatre, and that it \ras
:\round a bend. I find some
Robert Israel's model for The Voyage, by Philip Glass and David
done outside of the [nited StaIes.
exciting designs br Robert Israel for Henry Hwang at the Metropolitan Opera, 1992.
Ts\Vin and Israel are presented as
The I'~l'age br Philip Glass and
international designers more than as American designers. I hare ret to
David Henry Ilwang and for Alice's Adrelltllre Clldergrolllld bv Christofind a dominating icon that says ··America.··
pher Hampton. These are the sort of gloriously imaginatire designs that
Ann Hould-Ward's costume designs for Beall~)' alld tbe Beast are
are much in eridence in the other national exhibits I're been enjoring.
an extension of the kind of designs that first greeted me in the L.S.
These designs are not decorations but integrated contributors to a rital
exhibit-more glitter. craft. and expense at the selyice of \rhat I can
performance. But the signage teaches me that the first of Israel's designs

touch and experience his costumes directly.
(Editor's llote: Willimll fue)' LOllg was Illlable to attend PQ

'95

becallse he was opening a llew sholl', SplendonL at the Ba)' Street
Tbeatre ill Sag lim'bol: NY}

GABRIEL
BERRY
Interviewed by
Greg Robbins
* On assembling her work for the exhibit:
\\~Ien

Amold Aronson, producer of the C.S. Exhibit, contacted Berry and
asked her to exhibit her designs, she panicked because her work is almost
totally undocumented: her design process is rel~' evolutional)' alld so does
not include beautiful costume renderings (all "lll1neCesary"' alld 'llllproductive" step) and she does not photograph her work. Contacting lJien(L~ to
see what photos were available, she was able to assemble the collection of
pictures for the exhibit.

* On the U.S. exhibit:

She felt the U.S. exhibit displayed a schizophrenic attitllde. It didn't
present a unified view of Ule state of design in the u.S., rauler it displayed
vastly different designers and stvles next to each other.
* On the student exllibits:
She was lIIlimpressed \\~th the caliber of the Anlelican sllldent works.
The design work was uninspired, the designs shO\red no inSight, tnlth
nor beauty. They looked like exercises in completing assignments. She
rem;u'ked that ule stlldents could use more m1 classes mld ulat the costllme designs looked like ule stlldents got uleir ideas about theatre from
1970s design books; a style she called, "old-fasllioned dead t1leatre.'·
* On overall impressions of the Quadrennial:
She noticed two basic styles of exhibitions. The more traditional style
presented renderings and photos of productions in a neat ;Uld
orderly fashion. The other was more like an art exhibition, in which
the focus was on the theatrical quality of the materials and the way
they were exhibited. Her preference was for the lalter because it
came closer to creating a theatrical experience, eren though these
exhibits were often confUSing in their intent.
Her personal dislike for renderings as pieces of art \rhich
represent a production led her to wonder what can be exhibited. if
not renderings and photos. Berry feels that renderings are "stupid,"
in part because they give no sense of the costumes as they will be
worn on stage and because costume plates force one to look at figures in isolation. Feeling costume renderings are dead, she described the worst costume designers as people who make a beaulihll

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