<p>Developments in technology and new aesthetic idioms in the past decades have changed the preconditions for the scenographer’s work in the theatre. Therefore, it has become problematic indeed to describe scenography as the sum of costume and set, although this continues to be the common definition of the concept. This study focuses on the interaction of different features in a theatre performance, such as scenography, actors, light and sound. The aim is to show that scenography, as opposed to set and costume, cannot be separated from the live performance, i.e. the context for which it is created.</p><p>By investigating scenography from the parameters space, time, and movement, the thesis demonstrates that the art is anything but stable. On the contrary, it continuously changes shape, size, and appearance. The actors in particular play an important role in the organization of the space, thus exposing the instability of scenography in action.</p><p>The analytical chapters in the thesis discuss four different movements, or transformations, in scenography, appearing in eight theatre productions staged by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman between 1984 and 1998. The first chapter, "Expansion," discusses how scenography incorporates new spaces, either through the actors’ movements or by quoting architectonic details from other parts of the theatre building. "Revolution" shows different ways of revolving scenography without the aid of technical devises such as the revolve stage. "Perforation," the third chapter, analyses the effects of a perforated set and its consequences for the spectators’ apprehension of scenography. The last chapter, "Metamorphoses," highlights actions that undermine the definition of some central concepts in performance, such as “performers,” “props,” and “spectators,” all of which are intertwined in the analysed productions.</p><p>A concluding part of the dissertation elaborates on the effects of these movements and transformations in scenography, in particular as related to the physical and mental relationship between actor and audience.</p>

Developments in technology and new aesthetic idioms in the past decades have changed the preconditions for the scenographer’s work in the theatre. Therefore, it has become problematic indeed to describe scenography as the sum of costume and set, although this continues to be the common definition of the concept. This study focuses on the interaction of different features in a theatre performance, such as scenography, actors, light and sound. The aim is to show that scenography, as opposed to set and costume, cannot be separated from the live performance, i.e. the context for which it is created. By investigating scenography from the parameters space, time, and movement, the thesis demonstrates that the art is anything but stable. On the contrary, it continuously changes shape, size, and appearance. The actors in particular play an important role in the organization of the space, thus exposing the instability of scenography in action. The analytical chapters in the thesis discuss four different movements, or transformations, in scenography, appearing in eight theatre productions staged by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman between 1984 and 1998. The first chapter, "Expansion," discusses how scenography incorporates new spaces, either through the actors’ movements or by quoting architectonic details from other parts of the theatre building. "Revolution" shows different ways of revolving scenography without the aid of technical devises such as the revolve stage. "Perforation," the third chapter, analyses the effects of a perforated set and its consequences for the spectators’ apprehension of scenography. The last chapter, "Metamorphoses," highlights actions that undermine the definition of some central concepts in performance, such as “performers,” “props,” and “spectators,” all of which are intertwined in the analysed productions. A concluding part of the dissertation elaborates on the effects of these movements and transformations in scenography, in particular as related to the physical and mental relationship between actor and audience.

In this thesis, I will detail and analyze the production design processes for National Lampoon's RoboDoc, written by Douglas Gordon M.D., filmed and produced in Orlando, Universal Studios and Ormond Beach, FL, as experienced through the art department. The direction of the thesis will be based on how a background in architecture and theatre guides the design motivation(s) within a production team for film. My documentation will include a process journal written throughout the production of the film to include design meeting topics, research and design inspiration, sketches, budget and location concerns, coordination of scenic elements, crew team coordination, paperwork, and thoughts on working within the art department team as well as working with other teams of production. Photographic records will include pre-production allocation and storage, load-in scenarios, set construction, and final design in set and set dressing. Final comments will be based on a personal evaluation, evidence of my progression throughout the production, and how an advanced focus in design through education and practice affected the project.

This document is an illustrated journey of my process as scenic designer for August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. produced by the University of Central Florida’s Conservatory Theater Program. The production opened on November 8, 2007 in the Backbox theatre on the university's main campus and closed on November 18, running for a total of eight performances. I begin by examining my role as the scenic designer for The Piano Lesson and follow with an explanation of experiences that were a result of the assignment. Through this process, I present a script analysis of the play, describe the design process through conversations with the artistic team, present visual research and follow it through "the build" process, to its final presentation on the UCF stage. As a whole, this paper is a comment on the potential that theater has to bring different cultures together and how I, a twenty-two year old white male, could connect with August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson1 which is rooted in the African American culture. Race is a major component that I explore throughout my reflection of my experience with The Piano Lesson. This paper also documents personal experiences that I had as a direct result of working on The Piano Lesson at the University of Central Florida. I document winning the National Award for Scenic Design in 2008 from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for my design. I also report about the summer I spent at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, where The Piano Lesson was originally work-shopped in 1986. Finally, I write about my visit to the Hill District in Pittsburgh, PA, where August Wilson grew up and where The Piano Lesson is set Each of these experiences are connected to my initial assignment at the University of Central Florida as scenic designer for August Wilson's, The Piano Lesson.

‘ratio, is a new play that was conceived as a collaborative experiment to investigate the possibility of a playwright and designer co-authoring a script through their preferred mediums; written text and visual art. The final script document consists of both a written text and visual narrative text, asking the reader to create and interpret the story through both mediums. / text

Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, is accredited as being one of his early comedies. It is not as widely popular as Taming of the Shrew or A Midsummer's Night, and is also known "as the comedy with a problem ending", this being the immediate forgiveness of Silvia to Valentine and Julia to Proteus. My initial reaction to this ending was of disgust and wonderment of how a 21st century audience would react to this. The director, Alex Mackenzie, a fellow graduate MA student, approached the script with very strong initial concepts but at the same time her approach was very loose and fluid. She wanted to create a world with a modern feel, yet one that was not divorced from Shakespeare. She saw their world as being off kilter, a world that did not necessarily exist. Costumes in this world would be the main element to bridge the worlds of modern and period. Her definitions of periods for this production were the Renaissance and Romantic. With the set design minimalistic and the lights stylized, my approach was to find costumes that not only fit the character's personalities, but also to bring a connection with the audience to this modern world while maintaining a feel of the shows original roots. Since this play has a sense of a class system of servants and nobles, merging of ideals was necessary to find a safe place to show class in a classless modern society. I planned to mark class distinction in three areas: silhouette, color, and texture, using costume research from Elizabethan England, the ideas of modern high fashion's adaptation of period clothing, and the runway work of high fashion designers, particularly those from Milan, Italy. By combining these elements, I was able to bring a modern look that was not only fashionable, but also intriguing. The sources of inspiration that were under consideration included lace ruffles on shirts, chain mail for the knight, breeches, and Elizabethan collars. Colors were also integral to class distinction through the use of texture and vibrant hues to show upper class.

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Le mouvement de construction de théâtres en plein air sous le Troisième Reich ou Thingbewegung est un aspect relativement méconnu de la politique culturelle national-socialiste. Ce théâtre de propagande devait réunir plusieurs milliers de spectateurs dans des lieux excentrés, des espaces construits spécialement par le régime afin de célébrer la communauté du peuple dégagée de toute différenciation sociale ou, pour reprendre la terminologie nazie, la Volksgemeinschaft. L’aspect central reste la volonté du régime de faire coïncider, à une échelle considérable, une nouvelle forme d’architecture et de spectacle théâtral de masse. L’objectif, exprimé clairement dès le début du mouvement en 1933, était l’élaboration de 400 scènes sur l’ensemble du territoire. Dès 1934, vingt étaient effectivement en construction et en 1939, au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, elles étaient environ au nombre de trente. Ce projet de recherche part de l’hypothèse qu’une meilleure compréhension du phénomène devient possible lorsque ce dernier est restitué dans la tradition historique double du théâtre et de l’architecture. Cette démarche, à la fois synchronique et diachronique, fondée sur une approche pluridisciplinaire, vise à mettre au jour les formes spécifiques de création de ces lieux scéniques tout en soulignant l’appartenance à la politique idéologique totalitaire du national-socialisme. / The open-air theatre construction movement under the Third Reich or Thingbewegung is a relatively unknown aspect of National Socialist cultural policy. This propaganda theatre was to gather several thousand spectators in outlying places, spaces specially built by the regime to celebrate the community of the people free of any social differentiation or, to use Nazi terminology, the Volksgemeinschaft. The central aspect remains the regime’s desire to bring together, on a considerable scale, a new form of architecture and mass theatrical performance. The objective, clearly expressed from the beginning of the movement in 1933, was to develop 400 stages throughout the country. By 1934, twenty were actually under construction and, at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, there were about thirty of them. This research project is based on the hypothesis that a better understanding of the phenomenon becomes possible when it is replaced within the dual historical tradition of theatre and architecture. This approach, both synchronic and diachronic, based on a multidisciplinary approach, aims to uncover the specific forms of creation of these scenic places while emphasizing the association with the totalitarian ideological policy of National Socialism.

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