Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2008 - 14

Distant Fires * Scenic Design * Atlantic Theatre, 1992

where inspiration
or opportunity
will come from but

you must
be open
to receiving it
in whatever form
it presents itself.

the meaning." Too much is easy to understand, it is what we are often
subjected to nightly in the theatre, wall to wall stuff that the actors never
touch or interact with.
Too little is that all-purpose scenic unit that is expected to be everything but in the end fails to be anything for it's lack of specific choices.
Turn it this way it is a door, flip it this way it is a sofa, spin it around and
it will do your shopping and laundry it is truly amazing. It can do all these
things, but not none of them well. In Mamet's view, the "acting, the design,
the direction, should all consist only of the bare minimum necessary to
put forward the action. Anything else is embellishment."
As a company of writer, director, actors, and designers, we would go
on to do another four shows together on Broadway, many Off-Broadway,
and regionally. While some faces would change, the core would remain;
as well as the support and devotion to principles and ethics. It is amazing how easy it is to be creative in an open atmosphere where everyone
respects each other, where you trust each other, and are free to contribute
your thoughts ideas and concerns. It was as much a family as a company.
My relationship with Mamet would lead me to work on several shows with
another company of actors and directors-the Atlantic Theatre.
This is a company that had its start as students of David Mamet and
Bill Macy. Much like Steppenwolf, this was a group of young artists with
vision and the tenacity to succeed artistically. My connections to the company crossed over between Mosher, Mamet, and Macy, to Steppenwolf
company members who were also a part of the Atlantic.
Scott Zigler-who had been the board operator for me on Mamet's
translation of The Cherry Orchard, for the New Theatre Company, and
who had to execute a five minute cross-fade on a two-scene preset which
I am sure is the definition of the word torture-went from intern at the
Goodman to artistic director of the Atlantic Theatre. Scott was responsible
for hiring me for my first Atlantic Theatre production-Kevin Heelan's
play, Distant Fires-in spite of the previous torture. This challenging play

KEYNOTE

You never know

is set on the top floor of a building under construction while a race riot
rages in the distance.
Turns out Scott got his revenge for that cross fade as we were faced
with the challenge of how to simulate working with concrete on stage. In
the action of the play while an unseen neighborhood burns, these guys lay
down rebar, pour concrete, and plane the newly poured floor nightly-
twice on matinee days. On top of it all, the actors had to look like they
knew what they were doing. Pantomime was out of the question. The play
needed the teamwork involved and the physical exertion of construction
work. But how? Unfortunately, the text offered no solutions.
Late one night while pondering this challenge I had to make a midnight run to the grocery store for dog food and while there my eye fell
on bags of cat litter. Cat litter is clay. Wet clay is a thick mud-just like
concrete. Clay is light gray, just like concrete. Clay is lighter than concrete.
When clay hardens, all you have to do is add water. Ah-ha! Cat litter is
theatrical concrete.
Next we arranged for a field trip to a construction site to learn first
hand the ins and outs of pouring concrete on the forty something floor of
some midtown luxury hotel.
Finally armed with our new expertise in construction, a healthy respect for heights, and our theatrical concrete we dove into rehearsals. The
result was that every night the cast would assemble the rebar, pour the
concrete, plane the concrete and each night the crew would retrieve the
rebar, now buried beneath six inches of soggy cat litter and recycle four
cubic yards of said soggy cat litter.
You never know where inspiration or opportunity will come from
but you must be open to receiving it in whatever form it presents itself.
The young men and women who were responsible for the clean up and
resetting of the construction site belonged to a fledgling theatre company.
They took on this dirty, messy and back breaking task in exchange for the
opportunity to use the Atlantic Theatre for a production of their work later

S P R I N G

2008

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