Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2010 - 66

book

reviews
of the project, judging less on its success as a
department production and more on an objective assessment of the collaborative process.

course on collaboration
Part III outlines the development of a course
on collaboration. This section of the book is
intended for graduate-level students who have
had practical experience in directing and design. Students are encouraged to exchange
roles on different class projects to develop an
appreciation for the need for clear communication, both verbal and visual. Having significant
practical experience as directors and designers
prior to the course will make the role exchange
more valuable.
Part I, on collaboration theory, would be
very useful in undergraduate courses in directing, design, script analysis, and dramaturgy. The
emphasis on pragmatic goals and clear commu-

nication benefits students as they first tackle the
roles of designer and director. The co-authors
stress healthy, respectful interactions between
colleagues, always a good basis for establishing
professional relationships. As a graduate text,
it provides a good basic structure for a course,
but that course would need to be augmented by
more theoretically and aesthetically sophisticated challenges to push directors and designers
into new discoveries.
The book raises but does not directly address additional issues. In college and university
settings, the power dynamic among faculty, staff,
and student directors and designers can be
very challenging. Some time spent addressing
concerns around power and experience level
would be useful, especially in a book aimed at
a college/university audience. As the director,
Roznowski seemed to be ìleadingî more than listening to his designers. Instead of beginning the

Rediscovering Mordecai Gorelik
by Anne Fletcher; Carbondale, Southern Illinois
University Press, 2009; 304 pp. Paper, $37.50.
Reviewed by Arnold Aronson

theatre

design

technology

but his most lasting and influential contribution may be his book, New Theatres for Old,
published in 1940. The result of his travels investigating the theatres of Europe in the interwar
years, it introduced the American public to the
leading figures of European theatre. It served as
a history of scenography, it looked at the cultural significance of theatre, it examined theatre
as a moral and political institution, and it introduced brechtian ideas to the U.S. long before
other theatre artists discovered them.
And yet for all this, I would venture that
his name would draw many blank stares from
the current generation of theatre students and
perhaps even the younger cadre of designers.
For that reason alone this biography of Gorelik

S P R I N G

Michael Mehler designs and Beth Watkins
directs as members of the theatre faculty
at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania,
where they have collaborated on many
productions. Mehler has designed scenery
and lighting in Chicago, Austin, Atlanta,
Pittsburgh, and Hampton Roads, Virginia,
and is currently Vice President of
Programming for USITT. Watkins's articles
have appeared in Theatre Topics, Theatre
Journal, the Journal of Medical Humanities,
and the anthology Performing Adaptations.

by Anne Fletcher is an important contribution to
the understanding of the evolution of American
theatre through the first half of the last century.
Fletcher began corresponding and speaking by
phone with Gorelik for a few years before his
death, though they never met. Subsequently his
wife continued to provide Fletcher access to
his writings, diaries, and records of his work.
Fletcher thus had unprecedented access to a
treasure trove of Gorelik materials.

Scene Design and the American Theatre

Mordecai Gorelik was one of the significant
figures of twentieth-century American stage design; in fact he was one of the significant figures of twentieth-century American theatre. His
design of burlesque-inspired, brightly colored
Americana for John Howard lawson's Processional in 1925 is one of the iconic images of
the New Stagecraft era. His eleven productions for the Group Theatre in the 1930s had a
transforming effect on their work and thus the
work of the generations that followed in their
wake. He met bertolt brecht while designing
the Theatre Union's 1935 production of The
Mother and became perhaps the first proponent of brecht's theories in the United States.
despite the tempestuous encounter between
brecht and the Theatre Union, he and Gorelik
became friends-brecht would later write an
essay, "A little Private Tuition for My Friend Max
Gorelik." Gorelik designed Arthur Miller's first
broadway hit, All My Sons.

process with his visual research and his ideas,
perhaps there might be a process of encouraging more genuine discussion and brainstorming
over possible approaches. It would be useful to
develop a model where the director encourages
designers to help wrestle forth the initial vision
of a production.

2010

An American career
Gorelik was born in Russia in 1899, but his family came to New York in 1905. So unlike some
of his Russian contemporaries, notably boris
Aronson, his education and career were entirely
in the U.S. He began his professional career in
1920, primarily with the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Provincetown Playhouse. during
the early '20s he assisted or studied with Cleon
Throckmorton, lee Simonson, Norman bel
Geddes (on The Miracle and The Divine Comedy project), and Serge Soudeikine. but most
significant was his work with Robert Edmond
Jones, who became a mentor and supporter.
based on his diaries and letters, Fletcher paints
a picture of a talented but difficult, angry, and

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2010