Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1983 - 30

Gorelik 's New Theatres jar Old, and RooseEvan's Experimental Theatrejrom Stanislavski to Today, providing another point of view
and additional insight into many of the same
movement. It would be a valuable addition
to any library.
0
W. Joseph Stell
University of Georgia

Color Science for Lighting the Stage
by William B. Warfel and Walter R. Klappert. New Haven: Yale University Press,
.'981. ISBN 0-300-02554-8, xiv+ 158 pp.,
Ill., 2 wall chans, 525.00 paper.
"This book allempts to bring order to the
confusing subject of stage lighting color
media." The authors' intention is not to suggest solutions to the artistic problem of
choosing lighting colors which are appropriate to a specific production. Rather, once the
lighting designer has made basic decisions as
to the time, place, and mood of the play
through a combination of script analysis,
production conferences, and research; then
this text will aid in determining the exact performance of these color media choices with
respect to set and costume colors. This system of organizing color media is based on
colorimetry, the science of the measurement
and analysis of color.
The first three chapters are a brief summary of color theory and an introduction to
the principles of colorimetry. Color media
are defined in terms of their transmission
properties and spectral composition. This
data is commonly available to lighting designers. However, the authors state that it is
inadequate as it supplies the designer with
only a graphic impression of the color, and
does not supply data about the performance
of a color in terms of either the light source
or the perceptual abilities of the audience.
The key to their system is the application
of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Chromaticity Plot to stage
lighting. This plot graphs a color through its
tristimulus values; these are the relative
quantities of "primary colors" which comprise a given hue. The "primary colors,"
which are nominally labelled red, blue and
green, were determined by the CIE through
empirical testing of the color perception of a
large group of test subjects. This standard
observer data is plotted on a graph with X
and Y coordinates to render the visible spectrum as a sector of an ellip e. The line which
connects the ends of this arc represents the
non-spectral hues which result from the mixture of red and blue. Also, the Chromaticity Plot includes a second arc which represents
the color temperature of light sources assigned their tristimulus values. Thus, the
CIE Chromaticity Plot can define a hue in
terms of the emire visual perception process;

from light source, through color modification, to reception by the observer.
The next chapters consist of lists and
charts which apply colorimetry to 530 lighting ~edia colors. Each sample has a speciflcauon for brightness, purity, dominant
wavelength, and tristimulus values. The accompanying charts then locate each hue on
a CIE Plot by individual manufacturer. The
lists are organized by both manufacturer as
well as by color group. Included with the
book are two large wall charts which correlate all of the data in a single location. In addition substitutions are identified for each
hue based on their close proximity on the
chromaticity plol.
The problems of color mixing by additive
coloration and color change when dimming
a lighting instrument are addressed in chapter
four. The ability to predict the color range
produced by the additive mixture of two or
more lighting hues is significantly simpler
through an application of the CIE Plol.
After locating each hue on the plot, a line can
then be drawn between each color point, this
line (or triangle in the case of a three color
mixture) will encompass all of the colors produced by the mixture. If the set and costume
colors are also located close to that line, then
they will reflect most of the light which
strikes them. If the set and costume colors
are far away from the line, then the lighting
designer will know that the set and costumes
will recede and appear dull. Also, the point
at which the line intersects the arc representing the color temperature range of light
sources will quantify the "white light" produced by the mixture in question. In either
case, it is the task of the lighting designer to
decide the appropriate mood for the production. However, the information provided by
this volume will help to eliminate some of the
unpleasant surprises that happen at technical
rehearsals.
There are two problem areas in the book.
First, there is no color plate of the CIE Chromaticity Plol. Just as the authors find difficulty with the definition of color in terms
of percent of transmission and spectral composition, the act of locating a color as a point
on a graph does not provide a designer with
a visual image of that hue. This omission is
magnified by the second problem, the lack of
a bibliography. For example, there are numerous sources which contain color plates of
the CI E Plot; it would be most helpful if they
were identified in this text. Also, since this
text is an introduction to the theories of colorimetry, a list of source for further study
would be very valuable, particularly if it was
annotated to ampli fy the scope of the book.
Overall, Color Science jar Lighting rhe
Srage is extremely successful at introducin o
another tool for lighting design.
"
Phillip S. Grayson
James Madison University

Fabric Painting & Dyeing For The
Theatre by Deborah M. Dryden. ew
York: Drama Book Specialists (Publishers),
1981. ISB 0-89676-056-1, 176 pp., ill.,
522.50 cloth.
As I read Fabric Painting and Dyeing For
The Thearre, I found myself recalling dozens
of instances in my work life when this book
would have saved me hours of random experimentation, dollars spent and re-spent in
ignorance, and enough frustration to restore
the pigmentation to several dozen of my gray
hairs. This is a singularly valuable book, well
worth all the years Deborah Dryden spent
researching and writing il. As one who had
anxiously waited for it to appear, it is a joy
to say that the book more than fulfilled my
expectations.

Fabric Painring and Dyeing For The
Thearre presents a number of closely related
craft processes 10 a selected audience; theatre
costume designers and technicians. The
book succeeds, in large part, because Dryden
knows what she is talking about and to
whom she is speaking. Furthermore, she addresses the reader in good clean prose with a
pleasant injection of her own personality.
Although wood and lino blocks allow the
greatest flexibility in terms of a cut image,
many other objects can be used 10 create
stamping 1001s. The vegetable print, although sometimes scoffed at for being 100
closely allied with our elementary school
backgrounds, is an inexpensive method of
printing fabric requiring no special 100is
or equipment.

From its Introduction onward, this book
is designed to teach-simple facts are presented clearly, terms are carefully defined,
and information is organized in logical segments leading 10 concise conclusions. Each
section describes a single dyeing or painting
process, and [ discovered [ was able to visualize each step and could easily summarize
what I had read-I understood the process as
presented, and could carry it OUI.
[ do not have room to enumerate the new
information [discovered in Dryden's book.
Indeed, until I read it I never realized how little [ knew about coloring fabrics. I learned,
for instance, two methods by which to halt
a bleaching action on fabric, how to make a
discharge dye paste, which adhesive best adheres a stencil to a piece of fabric, and how
to flock a block for printing. Even when
reading about processes with which I am familiar and u e often, Dryden's directions invariably included a step or a suggestion that
will make my work easier and more predictable in the future.
Pages 24 through 40 in Fabric Paillfing
and Dyeing For The Thearre are, alone,
worth the price of the book. [n thi section
"Types of Dyes," chemical dyestuffs and
their assistants are once and for all demystified for costume shop per onnel. You will

USlTT /Summer 1983/Theatre Design & Technology

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