Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982 - 11

the function of design, and is clear
about his own tasks, he has an overriding vision of theatre that shapes his
work. He wants-perhaps needs-the
input of others for inspiration. It is, in
fact, the process of design that he seems
to like more than the final product. "I
enjoy being a designer," he says, "I just
don't enjoy looking at my scenery. It
could always be better."
When Beatty talks with a director or
playwright before he starts designing he
wants ideas, not specifics. "The conversations," he explains, "are fairly casual
and not necessarily about the play. Just
appreciating somebody's persona or
point of view towards the world is the
most helpful thing. Then I go home,
take the ground plan of the stage and
start messing around." He clearly has
an excellent rapport with Circle Repertory director Marshall Mason and he
was particularly enthusiastic about
working with Harold Pinter on The

Innocents.
There are some designs that emerge
whole, like Talley's Folly, and others
that go through many revisions. He
works with sketches but does not like to
do models. "I envision things in three
dimensions but when I see a model I just
get confused." He turns to picture
books for mood or an occasional detail
-for the recent Angel's Fall, for example, which is set in a northern New Mexico mission, he studied pictures of small
missions while drawing on his memory
of the area. Beatty claims, however,
that the most important elements are
composition and scale. Using his experience with musicals he explains:
You don't design the same type of
background for a musical as you do
for a drama because people move so
much. Oftentimes, I've put a sort of
grid background-either very strong
horizontals or verticals-with a musical so that the performer's movements
are more obvious to the audience. In
Ain't Misbehavin', for example, 1
used some very strong horizontal lines.
With a musical you try to focus on the
whole body.
In a conversation play like Talley's
Folly 1 try TO focus the composition on
the actor'sface and upper torso. For
that play 1 designed a bu/l's eye-a circular design that kept circling. 1 drew
a figure of an actor and drew concentric circles around him, so that you
kept looking at him, and then filled in
the scenery to match-arches, curving
vines, curving portals.

PRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
DATE TITLE / CAPACITY / THEATRE
Summer, 1969 Trial by Jury / Sets / College Light Opera, Falmouth, Mass.
Pirates of Penzance / Sets
Brigadoon / Sets
Iolanthe / Sets
The Beggar's Opera / Sets
The Mikado / Sets
Die Fledermaus / Sets
H.M.S. Pinafore / Sets
The Fantasticks / Sets
Summer, 1970 There's a Girl in My Soup / Sets / Weston Playhouse, Weston,
Anything Goes / Sets /
Vermont
The Price / Sets
The Lion in Winter / Sets
Finian's Rainbow / Sets
A Flea in Her Ear / Sets
Jimmy Shine / Sets
The Star-Spangled Girl/Sets
Summer, 1972 The Last of the Red Hot Lovers / Sets / Wayside Theatre,
Spoon River Anthology / Sets /
Middletown, Virginia
Tartuffe / Sets
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum / Sets
Write Me a Murder / Sets
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown / Sets
Summer, 1973 Butterflies Are Free / Sets / Wayside Theatre, Middletown, Virginia
Mister Roberts / Sets
The Imaginary Invalid / Sets
Irma La Douce / Sets
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg / Sets
Something Funny / S & C
Man of La Mancha / Costume Cutter / Williamstown
Oh, Kay! / Costume Cutter / Yale Summer Theatre
December 7, 1973 Marouf / S & C / Manhattan Theatre Club
May 25, 1974 The Amorous Flea / S & C / Queens Playhouse
June 7, 1974 Some People, Some Other People, and What They Finally Do /
July 23, 1974 Room Service / Sets / Queens Playhouse
Sets / Stage 73
August 20, 1974 Come Back, Little Sheba / Sets / Queens Playhouse
October 8, 1974 An Evening with Cole Porter / S & C / Manhattan Theatre Club
October 21, 1974 The Wager / Sets / Manhattan Theatre Club
October, 1974 Diary of a Scoundrel/Sets / Gene Frankel Workshop
October 28, 1974 Two Offenbach Operettas / Sets / Theatre at Noon
November 3,1974 Battle of Angels / Sets / Circle Repertory
February 2, 1975 The Mound Builders / Sets / Circle Repertory
March 23, 1975 Down by the River Where Waterlilies Are Disfigured Every Day /
Sets / Circle Repertory
April, 1975 Philadelphia, Here I Come! / Sets / Queensboro Comm. College
April, 1975 The Caucasian Chalk Circle / Sets / Queensboro Comm. College
May 11, 1975 Harry Outside / Sets / Circle Repertory
June 25, 1975 Not to Worry / Sets / Circle Repertory
August 11, 1975 Arms and the Man / Sets / The Acting Company, Saratoga Springs
August, 1975 The Mound Builders (TV) / Art Direction I. Theatre in America (PBS)
October 24, 1975 Golden Boy / Sets / Manhattan Theatre Club
October 28, 1975 The Elephant in the House / Sets / Circle Repertory
November 19,1975 Jumpers / Sets / Seattle Repertory
December 11, 1975 Long Day's Journey into Night / Sets / Indiana Repertory
January 18, 1976 Knock Knock / Sets / Circle Repertory
January 21, 1976 The Tot Family / Sets / Arena Stage
February 24, 1976 Knock Knock / Sets / Biltmore Theatre
March, 1976 La Perichole / S & C / San Francisco Opera, Spring Opera Theatre
March 23, 1976 The Contrast / Sets / Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
May 5, 1976 Serenading Louie / Sets / Circle Repertory
June 3,1976 Rebel Women / Sets / New York Shakespeare Festival
June 30, 1976 Mrs. Murray's Farm / Sets / Circle Repertory
August 9, 1976 Duck Variations and Rosemary / Sets / The Acting Company,
October 10, 1976 The Farm / Sets / Circle Repertory
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
USITT IWimer 119821Theatre Design & Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1982