Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1993 - 37

CAD & THE TD:
A PERSONAL TESTAMENT
J
ickinson College is a small
pri\'dre liberal .IITS chool
locared abour 120 miles
wesr of Philadelphia. The
school has '1 very acrive
inregrared rhearrc and
dance program which
srages lhree major rhearrical producrions,
rwo or rhree major dance producrions,
and rhree srudelH-direclt:d one .let plays
every year. As a one-man lechnical deparrmenr responsible for de ign, rechnical
direction, carpenrry, e1ecrrical, and a lor
more. I found myselfbeing rrerched rhinner and rhinner as rhe deparrmenr moved
ro more elaborare sraging in response ro
heighrened audience expeclarions. \,\/orking wirh manual drafling lechniques.
didn't give me rime ro produce derailed
paper drawings, which mealH rhar rhe srudenr volulHcers who aClllall\, built rhe sers
required cOllSranr guidance from me as ro
how ro inrerprer my rough skerches.
In.lalling a compurer-'lided design
sofrware program made ir possible LO produce derailed working drawings in less
lime rhan ir look ro gcnerale lhe rough
skerches prcviously. This made it possible
for rhe srudenr crews ro work on rheir
own lhus s,wing me a rremcndous dmounr
of time. An addirional benefll from rhis
approach is rhdt lhe sludcnr crews ha\'e
de\'elopcd a gre,ller seme or ownership of
rhei r work bec,luse the\' ,m: able ro work
essenrially independendy \\ ilh the deldiled
working drawings.
Oickimon was rounded in 1- 7 3 by ,I
signer of the Declaralion of [ndependence
and currenrl~' has an enrollmenr of aboul
1.900 studenls. The Dramatic Arts
Dcpanmenr is unusual in lhal ir combines

D A

a v<:rv ,lui\'<: co-curricular produclion progrdm whic'h i, open ro am' ;wdenl along
with a rhree-tr,h:k m,ljor program, including ,!Cring and directing, lircr,uure and
hisron', and movement and dance. The
production program, called [he ]\ lermaid
Players, providcs a major cui rural resource
for lhe local communiry as well as rhe taculty and srudel1ls.
The program began with mod<:st production expectalions bur as rhe deparrmelH d<:veloped and audi<:nce expectarion were raised by cOlJ[empor,lry cinema
and spectacular rage produClions, rhe
deparrmelH has provided incre,lsing levels
of sophiHicarion in scenic design, lighring
design, and execurion.
The original rhearre and onc-person
lechnictl depart men I wen: mainrained,
however, which meanr rhar more pressure
\\as pUI on lhe lechnical suPPOrt ,Ireas as
rhis trend col1linued. The majorirv of rhe
sllldenr \'olunreer staff W:lS less rhan fully

experienced in rhe me of rools and most
didn'r know how to read construction
dr,lwings, so rhere was a necessiry ro reach
rhese skills as rhe producrions are mounred. [ didn'r have rime ro produce derailed
drawings which mcalH I had ro be consranrly on call ro answer rhe producrion
crew's quesrions.
[n 1988, funding was approved tor the
acquisirion of compurer equipmenr for
rhe deparrmenL I decided on lacinrosh
hardware because of its prevalence in the
performing arts field and did a survC)' of
rhe a\'ailable software packages. Many
orher good reasons surfaced (i.e., ease of
use, convenience, advanced fearures,
graphic capabiliry, o/s inrerface). I selecred
rhe AJiJliCflt!+ ., package because ir has a
wide range of oprions and fearures including parricularly exrensive 3D capabiliries
and because it \\"IS rhe easiesr ro u e of rhe
pacbges I looked at.
Ir so happened rhat rhe equipmenr
,Irrived jusr as I was beginning rechnical
drawings for oises Off, 0 [ learned rhe
progr'lm while de igning rhe how. This is
a fairl~' complex producrion involving a
campierI.' change of scenery. The ser,
which has rwo srories and mulliple inreriors, is viewed from rhe fronr in rhe fI rsr
au. from rhe b,lek in rhe econd act and
from lhe fronr ,Ig,lin in rhe rhird acr. [n
order ro make lhe cene change, rhe er
musr break ..lparr '0 the individu,t1 pieces
can be rorared and be pur b:lck rogerher
wirhin 10 minUles. Each piece of [he ser is
a f:lirly complex .10 unir. \X'irh rhe CAD
software, I was able 10 produce derailed
drawings rhar allowed each of rhe unilS to
be builr by rhe studenr crew wirh minimal
aSSlsrance In less time rhan i[ would have
TD&T

1993 FAll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1993