Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018 - 59

Publicity Photo for Medea by Euripides; produced by The
University of Texas at El Paso Department of Theatre &
Dance; directed by Jay Stratton; costume, hair, and make-up
design by Clarissa Sanchez; Lighting Design by Jesus Lopez
V. Pictured: Stephanie Carrillo and Clarissa Sanchez. Photo
by Jesus Lopez V.

has glanced at their watch.
While losing track of time is a more
frequently reported type of time transformation, the hyper-awareness of time that
athletes describe is also experienced by
theatre artists. Just as skiers can tell if
they have had a good run, theatre artists
can gauge the timing of a scene. During
a scene shift or a quick change, technicians can "feel the seconds." In these
cases, an accurate sense of timing is part
of the task at hand rather than a distraction from it. A wardrobe crew member
knows if they have stuck the 30-second
quick change because time awareness
is an integral part of the task. While
doing the same task night after night
might cease to provide a challenge and
therefore produce boredom rather than
flow, the time constraints ensure the
task remains challenging. In Lynn Marie
Boianelli's thesis, Achieving Flow in Theatre Performance, she describes many of
the obstacles to flow that actors face in
the rehearsal and performance process,
particularly in a long repetitive run of a
production (Boianelli 2005). Like actors,
theatre technicians also face difficulty
achieving flow night after night when
performing the same task. However,

when it comes to theatre technicians, the
transformation of time ultimately provides an additional challenge that they
can use to keep their attention focused
on the task, allowing them to reach flow
more easily.
Theatre artists can use the flow concepts discussed here to look at their jobs
and environments from a different perspective, finding ways to maximize the
chances of having an optimum experience during day-to-day work.
At the university level, teachers can
help students balance challenges and
skills. As Urmston & Hewison wrote
when discussing how to use flow theory
to improve learning outcomes, "In the
performing arts, creative risk-taking is
encouraged as a means of exploring the
cutting edge, and in teaching contexts,
this often involves urging students to explore new ideas and starting points" (Urmston & Hewison 2014). Find ways to
create challenges: Choose fabric, tools,
materials, or programs that are new. If a
props artisan has made casts the same
way for 10 years, then try a new mold
making material.
Teachers can work to help students
achieve flow by assessing their skill lev-

els first, and then incrementally increasing the difficulty of assigned tasks. When
looking for ways to help students achieve
specific learning objectives, keep in mind
"the undeniable fact that we learn best
when we enjoy what we are learning"
(Parente 2015). Incorporating concepts
such as flow into teaching strategies
not only helps students enjoy a task,
but helps them learn more effectively. A
teacher must deliberately take the balance of challenges and skills into account
when designing a course. For example,
in design classes, they may ask students
to do a still life as a base-line drawing on
the first day. Use this drawing to identify
the areas in which the students have the
most potential to grow. Then, give them
redrawing assignments that present
challenges in perspective, value contrast,
or negative space, according to their
needs. These traditional practices that
make each assignment slightly more difficult than the last will help them to learn
more effectively and experience flow at
the same time; be sure to explain simple
tricks and hacks that can help them as
they practice.
Artists must continually seek out
training and new skills to maximize
SPRING 2018

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2018