The Sloyak Republic. I\:uedra Scenografie in Bratislaya lIas a mess! relY exciting to Iyander into this room of a designer's shop or studio splattered lI'ith paint and Il'ith junk shoyed into the corners. Within this junk-filled space. on ladders and in piles. Iyere Iyonderful sketches. models and ll'Orks-in-progress sholYing the act of creating..\ center piece of this space Iyas a cast paper puppet of a knight in armor. unpainted and translucent. Fabuious l Hungary used a clothesline to display sketches and phOIOS of models Iyithin a space of blue/gral' textured lI'alls. The 1I'0rk sholl'ed great graphic skill in presenting theatrical. emotional designs. Strong II'ork. fun exhibit. The \etherlands presented an exhibit soleh' based on the opera. The Tales ofHoffmal/I/. Iyithin a two story construct of 1I'00d and canYas. Fiye schools from Holland participated and it Iyas Iyonderful to see the I'ariet\' and different solutions for one text (and score) that ran the gamut from eXCiting solutions to "did this designer hear the same opera I heard'" Seyeral chose a rather constructivist approach IYhile others deYeloped designs from found objects. We Iyere confused at first that all the II'QI'k Iyas for one opera. Titles. names of designers and an explanation lI'ere difficult 10 find. Some of the Iyork by one student Iyas found in different locations Iyith the preliminar\' sketches upstairs and the finished model dOlmstairs. A fine catalogue (in English) accompanied the exhibit Iyith descriptions of the [iye schools as lI'elJ as phOIOS of the 1I'0rk exhibited. The larger section of the exhibit from Finland. from L"niyersit\' of ,-\rt and Design Helsinki. LlAt!. featured a room Iyith pale orange foam coyered lralls and a 0001' of Kitty Litter-like clay particles. :\ Yideo shOlYing computer-aided design in process made clear that the Il"alls and 0001' I\'ere from a realized production. Production photos eyidenced handsome. Il"ell-crafted productions as part of the training. (Productions Il'ere not shOlm as part of the training in many exhibits. so this is II"0rth noting.) Also ShOll'll I\'ere the traditional skills of drafting. drall"ing. painting. etc. The European Scenographl" Center (ESC) made its debut at PQ '95 after its inaugural year. This is an intensive -is Il"eek course in Il"hich the students travel 10 and studv at the four different centers: London. ltrecht. Barcelona. and Prague. Aproposal for a course of studY or project is submitted with the application to the program. Each student del'elops an indiyidual research project. along Il'ith many other projects. Il'hich are presented at the end of their stlldies. This is the first year of this school and each student had a space in Il"hich to shOll' their final project or thesis. Although considered a ~Ias- tel's program. this seems 10 be more of a post graduate school that is dependent on self-motiYated stlldents. and the abilit\' to pal" for the course (Europeans are eligible for financial aid). Seyeral of the projects focused on creating a performance. rather than "just" designing a production. Il"hile others explored an existing text. The Iyork Iyas not I"ery interesting and the space 100 small Iyith too little 1I'0rk from each Stlldent to determine the ll'Orth of the program. Intriguing. though. Ilwe the yolumes of research. both literary and graphic. compiled into notebooks. Great Britain featllred seyen design schools. Each had their section Il"ithin the exhibit that clearlY sholl"ed the great yariety of training programs and teaching approaches at the different British schools. The space Il"as II"0nderfullY crammed Il"ith models, puppets. sketches and costumes. This made it difficult to focus on a particular piece. but it Il'as still an exciting space to explore. ,\s one might expect. all of these schools shOlyed a strong grounding in research. Period texts. architec- NORTH AMERICA'S MOST COMPREHENSIVE THEATRICAL LINE! ( lit to V. A t to \. 0 G I U , INCLUDES OVER 200 EXCITING NEW PRODUCTS 1!Illl. 8 EN Ny E 5935 Bowcroft St., Los Angeles, CA 90016 .,~ Phone 310 839-1984 . Fax 310 839-2640 LoOKING FOR SOMETHING? YOU'LL FIND IT HERE!