Archiving Technical Theater History

Welcome to Episode #41. My guest this week is once again, Ms. Pamela Howard (OBE). This week’s podcast though is not an interview. It is a replay of a lecture I attended at this year’s 2019 Prague Quadrennial in the Czech Republic. The event I was attending was Gallery Talks, a part of the Fragments Exhibition.

This Exhibition offered the opportunity for small audiences to hear from some of the “living-legends” whose work was exhibited within Fragments. Each session featured a few artists giving a short introduction to their life, work, and practice before a moderated question session.

The lecture you about to hear comes The lecture is titled:

A Tri-Coloured World

www.pamelahoward.co.uk - Pamela Howard Website 

I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did. 

Jerôme Maeckelbergh studied Fine Arts (painting and sculpture), and drunk too much with drama students, who later became directors. This resulted in a scenographers career with a first production in 1974. He has designed more than 50 productions, with work selected for the PQ '83 ("Shunt on to a siding" by Geiffrig) and '87 ("The possessed" by Albert Camus, "The bear and the Pasha" by Eugène Scribe, "Richard III" by William Shakespeare), and for Novi Sad in '84 ("Man is man" by Bertold Brecht, "Around the world in 80 days" by Pavel Kohout, "Oedipus" by Hugo Claus). He designed for drama and musicals as free-lancer, combining this with designing and making special props, masks and sculpture for countless other productions. He was awarded in Antwerp for designing "Rashomon" by Kanin in 1980, for "Oedipus" in a dramatization of Hugo Claus in 1981, and for "The possessed" by Albert Camus in 1984. Half of his design work was by order of the famous "Royal Youth Theatre" in Antwerp, where he finally became Head of Design in 1993. Resigned from the Royal Youth Theatre in 2000, he continued to be involved as representative for Belgium in OISTAT, the International Organization of Scenographers,Theatre Architects and Technicians. OISTAT had a project running, Theatre Words, that started in 1975 were theatre professionals from around the world collected, translated and edited the most common theatre terms into a multilingual dictionary. To keep pace with new developments in the field, a new upgrade of the content was needed together with a switch from printed to digital version. With the support of Michael Ramsaur who managed the adaptations of the content, Jerome then developed Digital Theatre Words as an application with a multilingual interface that was first launched during the Prague Quadrennial 2011. A new upgrade is foreseen in July 2017 for World Stage Design in Taipei. In May 2012 Jerome for the first time learned by chance, during an Executive Committee Meeting of OISTAT in Egypt by all means, that the historic theatre machinery of the Bourla theatre in Antwerp would be dismantled in sake of modernization. Being the last large municipal theatre in Europe with its historic architecture combined with the original machinery from 1834 that still is in exceptional condition, this would be a big loss not only for Antwerp but for European theatre culture. Many presentations, peaking in 2014 at the international conference "Wood and Canvas (and rabbit glue) in the Modern World" that Jerome organized with the help of Peter McKinnon under the wings of the York University in Canada, resulted in the nomination by Europa Nostra of this historic theatre machinery as one of the seven most endangered sites of 2014 in Europe. This resulted in a shut down of the renovation plans and a concourse for a new approach keeping the heritage machinery on its historic place. Jerome's quest grew out to a presentation called "Heritage Theatre Machinery: unexpected possibilities in contemporary productions" that has been shown already on many places in the world. Originating from his presentation with a scale model 1/10 during the Wood and Canvas conference, this evolved to a projected presentation with video captures from the many unexpected possibilities demonstrated in the 1/10 scale model, supplemented with animated drawings explaining the techniques used and the rigging of it. Besides a revaluation of this historical technique in contemporary theatrical use, this presentation can also be seen as a plea towards designers for out of the box thinking, for students as well as for professionals.

World Stage Design 2021 - Official Site

April Viczko is a set, costume, lighting and projection designer. Recent selected credits include: costumes for Butcher at Alberta Theatre Projects, In the Heat of the Night at Vertigo Theatre, set and costumes for As You Like It at Citadel Theatre, set design for Home at The Belfry and lighting design for Victor and Victoria’s Terrifying Tale of Terrible Things for Kill Your Television. 

April has also worked for companies such as Tarragon, Factory Theatre, Workshop West and Windrow Performance. She was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding Costume Design for the critically acclaimed Last Days of Judas Iscariot produced by Birdland Theatre.

April is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative and Performing Arts - Drama at the University of Calgary. She teaches courses in all areas of theatre design and scenography. April holds an MFA Theatre Design from the University of Alberta. In 2012, she was honoured with a Distinguished Researcher Award from the Faculty of Arts.

She is President of the Board of Directors for the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC). ADC is a national, professional non-profit arts service organization dedicated to promoting, pursuing and protecting the interests of set, costume, lighting, projection and sound designers working within the performing arts in Canada.

In 2006, she shared the Siminovitch Protege Prize. In 2000 she recieved a Tyrone Guthrie Award at the Stratford Festival of Canada where she spent four seasons as an assistant designer. She was also Associate Designer on two productions at the Canadian Opera Company, Rodelinda and Macbeth. April apprenticed in Rome, Italy with Scenotecnica Piu’, a company known for its fine craftmanship and majestic scenography.

Psyche Chui has worked as a professional lighting designer and theatre educator for over 29 years. She has been invited as Guest Lecturer and/or Visiting Professor by the Theatre Academy of Finland, Central Academy of Drama, China and Singapore Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and is regularly invited to speak at international lighting symposiums and professional or academic conferences,  including OISTAT, Hangzhou Symposium, Light-spot at PQ2015.

She has worked with professional theatre and dance companies in Hong Kong and for many other performing companies internationally in Singapore, Korea, the Netherlands, Canada, Macau, USA, Russia and China.

She was awarded Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies’ Best Lighting Design in 2005 for the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Production “Rotate 270”, and in 2007 for the work in Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Production “Blindness”. Recognizing Psyche Chui’s achievement she was honoured with a Youth Career Achievement Award (Theatre Lighting Design) by Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies in 2001. Her biography was included in “Who’s Who in the World 2011” as one of the most internationally renowned lighting designers based in Hong Kong.

Psyche Chui earned an Advanced Diploma from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and a Masters of Arts Degree from Middlesex University. She was also a special research fellow mentored by Jennifer Tipton, and taught by Professor Tipton and William Bill Warfel at Yale School of Drama.

She is developing a project called “Illumination of Wellbeing”, in which art disciplines (such as lighting, drama, movement and puppetry) are introduced. It is a collaboration between two cities, Singapore and Hong Kong. Research for the project is underpinned by the Goal Attainment Scale and led by Lee Wai Ying, a drama therapist in Singapore

Hello everyone and welcome to this latest episode of the podcast. 

Coming up on this episode is my second collection of interviews. This time with some of the student presenters at PQ2019. I wish I could have spoken to more students, but time and schedule were working against me. I do appreciate those that did though, their work was fantastic. 

I really encourage you to please help continue to mentor, foster and support students as they pursue their artistic endeavors

PQ Quebec - 1:35 - 20:51

PQ Hong Kong - 20:52 - 31:20

PQ Chile - 31:21 - 41:46

Quebec: Delphine Gagné, Laurie Foster, Noémie Richard  

CITT/ICTS

Hong Kong: Karen and Ken 

https://www.hkatts.com.hk/

Chile: Javiera Verdugo

Hello everyone and welcome to this latest episode of the podcast. 

I am finally home from both The Prague Quadrennial and Stage Set Scenery Event in Berlin, Germany. 

I would like to give a big shout out to everyone who organized, participated and put their time and effort into making it happen. A lot of praise should go to the many members of the PQ Team, Interns, Ambassadors, Curators and volunteers. 

On this episode of the podcast, I tried to capture some of the essence of what PQ was as I experienced it. I took the opportunity during the event to talk to some of the national and regional presenters from or near the floor of the show. 

I was not able to talk to everyone unfortunately. For some it was a language barrier while for others it was that they didn't feel confident talking about the work and referred me to another person. Scheduling was also difficult. This was a learning experience for me and I need to work on being better prepared for some of the logistical hoops I needed to get through. I am extremely grateful to the representatives from the national countries I was able to speak with and I hope that this and the following podcast helps show how really connected we are through art, expression, thoughts and ideas. Each interview is its own segment, so if wish to listen to them all or one at a time.  

They were

(in alphabetical order):

Australia - 2:00 - 14:49

Iran - 14:50 - 32:09

Ireland - 32:10 - 50:18

Taiwan - 50:19 - 59:06

New Zealand - 59:07 - 1:12:43

Hello everyone and welcome to this latest episode of the podcast. 

The Prague Quadrennial is wrapping up and it has been another wonderful experience seeing all the national and student exhibits, listening to the discussions, immersing myself in many of the experiences, getting to make new friends and of course seeing old ones.  It has also provided me the opportunity to get some great interviews to share with you.  Thank you to everyone for their time and energy.   

If you’ve never experienced the PQ, then I recommend coming when its next presented in 2023 here in the Czech Republic.  After this event, I will be heading to Berlin, Germany for the Stage, Set and Scenery Conference and Expo. 

Stage|Set|Scenery is an international trade fair and conference for theatre, film and entertainment technology focusing on: stage machinery, drive and control systems, architecture and planning, lighting, acoustics, audio, video and media engineering, studio technology, events, museum technology, decoration and furnishings, make-up and costume design and safety engineering.

The trade show is organized by Messe Berlin GmbH and Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG), its non-commercial sponsor. DTHG is also responsible for the 'International Stage Technology Conference' .  Stage|Set|Scenery takes place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds bi-annually in June

Today’s guest is Architect and Lecturer Dr. Stefan Gräbener

I had the opportunity to speak with him at length about architecture, the documenting of the process of creating historical theater technology, if a museum dedicated to theater technology is even possible someday and ways to move the discussion. Dr. Gräbener has an amazing amount of knowledge on the subject and you can check out his work for the Initiative Theater Museum at http://initiative.theatermuseumberlin.de.  You can also read his various writings on the subject of architecture and technology in the publication Die Vierte Wand, also known as The Fourth Wall.  This was another great conversation and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to learn more about these subjects from an expert in the field.  

Without further ado,

Dr. Stefan Gräbener

Initiative Theater Museum - Website

Initiative Theater Museum - Facebook

itheamberlin - Instagram

Roma Patel is a Scenographer and digital artist that designs interactive and site-specific performance, theatre and digital installations in the UK and Europe. Her work focuses on the points of intersection between scenography and interactive technologies. Her current work merges electronic and wearable technology in scenography for theatre early years and is influenced by her work with the Irish site-specific theatre company Coracadorca, large-scale immersive and site-specific theatre performance in old buildings, streets and ponds and the growing accessibility of tangible and wearable technologies.  She was also one of the main Artists and researchers that developed Riots1831, Nottingham Castle Augmented Reality (AR) experience (Digital R&D grant). The project made a case for storytelling as a vital ingredient for sustained museum visitor engagement in AR experiences.

Digital Set Design - Website

Hello Everyone and welcome to Episode #32 of the podcast. Even though the PQ is coming up in a few days and I’ve been crazy busy preparing a PQ FlashTalk, I couldn’t let a week go bye without bringing you another interview. It just took a little bit longer than I had planned 

This week my guest is Mr. Ed De Shae

Mr. Ed De Shae is an exceptional person who I’m grateful to have known since our paths first crossed here in Trinidad in 2009 during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He was the Production Stage Manager and I was assisting with the lighting design. It was quite the experience and we briefly touch on it during the interview.  

Later, he became a mentor to me as I began teaching here at the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Academy for the Performing Arts, guiding me through some of the doubts that I encountered being a first time university professor.  Even today, he offers advice, insight and counsel forged from the many roles and life experience he has had both in and out of the theater as a Production Stage Manager, Director, Educator, Grandad and as a member of the United States Air Force Pararescue. 

I look forward to sitting with him again and listening to his stories. 

Everyone working in theater should know  Ed De Shae.

Without further a do, Mr. Ed De Shae