Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011 - 33

In Prague, scenography, performance
design, and architecture have to be
deployed as visual experiences that both
project and perform. Design elements
extend the performing body.

ements extend the performing body. If displayed with theatrical intention,
design elements can also perform without and in spite of the human body. I
would go so far to say that, after post-structuralism, communication is now
the dominant force in design innovations. The PQ provides designers with
an international art-based platform where they can wrest back the centrality
of time-based performance modes, which visual artists have ruthlessly coopted for their own ends. Indeed, more and more visual artists are turning
to live performance and site-specific exploration, as can be witnessed in the
Venice Biennale and in the modular Intersection maze of the 2011 PQ, to
execute their trans-disciplinary ideas. Perhaps the PQ's "performance design" mission might work to break out of that visual-art-vs.-theatre-design
silo through a process of providing legitimacy to theatre design as a practice
(a doing), a production (a thing done, a thing that performs), as a performance (a thing that acts), and as an art project worthy of putting on a
pedestal of contemplation in the world's museums.
Time will tell if Prague's "performance design" rubric will have a visible effect in the training and professional practices of U.S. designers. As
theatre art becomes increasingly hyper-local and immersive, the designers
of the future will first need to be widely touted as primary creators of the
spatial or performance event. What is clearer is this: Vibrating within a
new discipline that is up for grabs, From the Edge proposes one approach
toward an American version of performance design. Future curatorial
teams will really have to find the courage to contend with the challenge of
displaying the U.S. anew-of re-envisioning U.S. design creativity within a
competitive international design environment. I believe the future of U.S.
participation in the Prague Quadrennial rests on the continuing advocacy
of acts that delve into "designing performance" and "performing design."
We need to lay bare the wider potential of scenography and performance
design to reinvent the way human minds create in virtual spaces, in theatrical spaces, and in everyday life. v

A crush of visitors on opening day.

"The view of scenography is changing every day," Tsu says. "Traditional boundaries and descriptors of scenography are being challenged
by the intersections and blurred lines of other disciplines. U.S. designers
are often frustrated by not being able to manifest the full force of their
ideas. Trained as collaborators, we are mostly responsive to each other,
but many designers want to do more. Strong designers are able to lead
their teams and directors, but not unilaterally. Many designers become
directors and both design and direct, like Nancy Keystone (of Apollo and
The America Play) or Basil Twist (of Arias with a Twist). Paul Chan's
conception of taking Waiting for Godot to the streets is a brilliant manifestation of an old idea. Ping Chong has long been both the designer and
director. David Kaplan both directed and designed Tennessee Williams'
play The Day on Which a Man Dies. Rob Roth (Screen Test) and ChiWang Yang (The Closest Farthest Away) both did the video design for
their pieces." Tsu adds that she would personally like to see directors and
designers more enmeshed in each other's work. She would like American
training programs to have "a broader base of studies that includes media, sculpture, and movement in addition to the more traditional courses.
There is much work to be done on this front."

Randy Gener, the Nathan Award-winning editor, writer, and artist
in New York City, served as curatorial advisor to From the Edge. He
was also editor-in-chief of PQ Today, the official newspaper of the
Prague Quadrennial. For his editorial work and critical essays as
the former senior editor of American Theatre, Gener has received
the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the Deadline
Club Award for Best Arts Reporting from the New York chapter of
the Society of Professional Journalists, five awards for excellence in
travel writing from the North American Travel Journalists Association
Awards competitions, and the NLGJA Journalist of the Year 2010. His
website is theatreofOneWorld.org.

An international Art-based platform
In Prague, scenography, performance design, and architecture have to be
deployed as visual experiences that both project and perform. Design elf

2011

theatre design

& technology

http://www.theatreofOneWorld.org

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