Scenic design (also known as stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical
scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with
M.F.A. degrees in theatre arts.
The 'stage picture' is the 'look' or physical appearance of the stage for a play, whether in rehearsal or
performance. It reflects the way that the
stage is
composed artistically in regard to
props,
actors, shapes and
colours. The stage picture should express good principles of
design and use of space. It should be visually appealing for the
audience or should express the show's concept. The stage picture is also crucial for the creation of atmosphere for the audience.
The scenic designer is responsible for collaborating with the
theatre director and other members of the production design team to create an environment for the production and then communicating the details of this environment to the
technical director,(production manager)
charge scenic artist and
propmaster. Scenic designers are responsible for creating
scale models of the scenery,
renderings, paint elevations and scale construction drawings as part of their communication with other production staff.
In Europe and Australia scenic designers take a more holistic approach to theatrical design and will often be responsible not only for scenic design but costume, lighting and sound and are referred to as theatre designers or scenographers or production designers.
Like their American cousins, European theatre designers and scenographers are generally trained with
Bachelor of Arts degrees in theatre design,
scenography or performance design.
Notable scenic designers, past and present, include:
Adolphe Appia,
Boris Aronson,
Howard Bay,
Edward Gordon Craig,
Luciano Damiani,
Ezio Frigerio,
Barry Kay, Seán Kenny, Ralph Koltai,
Ming Cho Lee,
Santo Loquasto,
Jo Mielziner,
Oliver Smith, Franco Colavecchia, Jean-Pierre Ponelle,
Josef Svoboda,
George Tsypin, Robert Wilson,
Franco Zeffirelli,
Natalia Goncharova,
Vadim Meller,
Aleksandra Ekster,
Nathan Altman, David Borovsky, Daniil Lider,
Inigo Jones,
Alexandre Benois and
Léon Bakst.
See also
External links
Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine
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For other uses, see MFA.
In the United States, a
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a terminal graduate degree in an area of visual, plastic, literary or performing arts typically requiring two to three years of study beyond the bachelor level.
..... Click the link for more information. performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people (the performer or performers) behave in a particular way for another group of people (the audience).
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stage (sometimes referred to as the deck in stagecraft) is a designated space for the performance of theatrical productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience.
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Composition can refer to:
- Composition (logical fallacy), a fallacy of ambiguation in which one assumes that a whole has a property solely because its various parts have that property
..... Click the link for more information. theatrical property is any object held or used on stage by an actor for use in furthering the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger "props" may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table.
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actor, actress, or player (see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity.
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Colours. Colours is conducted at 0800 (eight bells in the morning watch) from 15 February to 31 October inclusive, and at 0900 (two bells in the forenoon watch) during the winter.
When sunset is at or before 2100, flags are lowered at sunset at the ceremony of Sunset.
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Design, usually considered in the context of the applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other such creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or
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An audience is a group of people who participate in an experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and others
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A theatre director is a principal in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a play by unifying various endeavors and aspects of production. The director's function is to ensure the quality and completeness of a theatrical product.
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The Technical Director (TD) or Technical Producer (TP) is usually the most senior technical person within a theatrical company or television studio. This person usually possesses the highest level of competence in a specific technical field and may be
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A charge artist (or charge scenic artist) leads and oversees the painting of stage scenery. The charge artist interprets the scenic designer's paint elevations, and with a crew of scenic artists, brings them to life on the actual scenery.
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The property master (also known as prop god) is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring and/or manufacturing any props needed for a production.
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scale model is a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object being represented. Very often the scale model is smaller than the original and used as a guide to making the object in full size.
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artistic rendering visual information is interpreted by the artist and displayed accordingly using the chosen medium. The non-photorealistic rendering area of computer graphics develops tools and techniques to enable interpretive rendering in digital media.
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Bachelor of Arts (B.A., BA or A.B., from the Latin language, and four years in Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, the rest of Canada and the United States.
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Scenography is the practice of making theatre including sets, costumes and texts from a theoretical and practical point of view. Scenographers work from the premise of a space that is constructed, updated, transformed and filled.
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- Appia redirects here. For the genus of grass skipper butterflies, see Appia (butterfly).
Adolphe Appia (* September 1 1862 in Geneva; † February 29 1928 in Nyon), son of Red Cross co-founder Louis Appia, was a Swiss architect and
..... Click the link for more information. Boris Aronson (1898 – November 16, 1980) was an influential American scenic designer for Broadway and Yiddish theatre. The son of a Rabbi, Aronson was born in Kiev, in the Russian Empire, and enrolled in art school during his youth.
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Howard Bay () is a bay, 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, between Byrd Head and Ufs Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in February 1931 by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Douglas Mawson, and named
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Edward Henry Gordon Craig (16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), usually known as Gordon Craig, was a British actor, producer, director and scenic designer, and theatre theorist.
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Luciano Damiani (1923-2007) was an Italian stage and costume designer, who worked both for theatre and opera productions.
Theatre and opera productions
Damiani studied painting and only by chance started working for the stage.
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After finishing architecture studies, he approached theatre art by realising the costumes for "Casa di Bambola" and "L'opera da 3 soldi", two plays directed by Giorgio Strehler at Piccolo
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Barry Kay (born Melbourne 1932 Рdied London 1985), trained at the Acad̩mie Julian in Paris, was a stage and costume designer. In the course of his career, lasting almost four decades, he designed for the ballet, drama and opera alike, working with established directors and
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Ming Cho Lee (born 1930, Shanghai, China) is a prolific American theatrical set designer and a longtime professor at the Yale School of Drama.
Lee, born to parents who were both Yale University graduates, moved to the United States in 1949 and attended Occidental College.
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Santo Loquasto (b. 26 July 1944, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is an American production designer, scenic designer and costume designer for theatre, musical theatre, film and, more rarely, television, as for Don Quixote, Don't Drink the Water, Fosse
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Jo Mielziner (1901-1976) was an American theatrical scenic, costume, and lighting designer born in Paris, France. He is considered one of the most influential theatre designers of the 20th century, designing the scenery and often the lighting for over 200 productions, many of which
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Oliver Smith (February 13, 1918 - January 23, 1994) was one of the most distinguished and prolific Tony Award-winning scenic designers in American theatre history.
Born in Waupun, Wisconsin, Smith attended Penn State, after which he moved to New York City and began to form
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Josef Svoboda (May 10, 1920- April 8, 2002) was a native of Czechoslovakia, began his training as an architect at the Central School of Housing in Prague. At the end of World War II he became interested in theatre and design.
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