Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011 - 6

from the

e ditor

It happens every four years. The convention centers,
museums, streets, and theatres in Prague erupt with
a cacophony of sights and sounds, languages and
costumes, performances and exhibitions. The first
issue of TD&T Deborah and I created was for the 1995
Prague Quadrennial. Richard Durst was the guest editor.
This is our fifth time trying to capture the PQ magic for
TD&T readers, but really, the only way to understand
the Prague Quadrennial is to experience it.
Nevertheless, the contributors in this issue have
some insights to share. The editors interviewed the curators of the three USITT-USA exhibits-
national, student, and architecture-who generously share their thoughts on the process of creating the exhibits and the ideas that underlie the works presented. Mike Monsos, Exhibits Project
Coordinator, writes about the multi-year process of organizing, staffing, building, shipping, erecting, and striking the USITT-USA exhibits. The award-winning editor, writer, and artist Randy Gener
was the curatorial advisor this year. He shares his insights on why this PQ exhibit was intentionally
a departure from previous U.S. exhibits, and offers his suggestions on directions future curators
might take. Associate editors Linda Essig, Robert Lewis Smith, and Dave Tosti-Lane, along with
myself, interviewed curators Susan Tsu, Allen Hahn, Chris Barreca, Linda Cho, and Don Tindall to
get their first-hand accounts of how they conceived the story they wanted to tell about American
design, assembled the works for the exhibit, and designed the story-telling environment. I interviewed Tom Burch, the faculty mentor for the student exhibit, who explains how he and three
dedicated student curators were able to involve more student designers than ever before, not only
by exhibiting their projects, but by providing a studio space in the exhibit for American students to
creatively participate while in Prague. Finally, associate editor Raymond Kent and architecture curator Scott F. Georgeson discuss his goal this year to highlight the diversity of performances spaces
built in the U.S. since 2006. Special thanks goes to photographers R. Eric Stone, Susan Tsu, Mike
Monsos, and William Bloodgood for sharing their images of the Prague Quadrennial.
Three other articles give balance and depth to this issue. Kimberly Poppiti spent time
backstage with the puppet engineers working on the current Broadway production of War Horse
dissecting how the magnificent creatures are made and manipulated. Tracy Terstriep-Herber
writes about the terrific design charrette program at University of Missouri, Kansas City, and the
most recent charrette led by costume designer Willa Kim. Laurie Kincman returns with another
piece about her undergraduate stage manager training program. This time she describes how to
make a training video to help beginning stage managers learn how to call shows. -dr
U S I T T M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T

t h e a t re
design

technology
T he peer-review jour nal
for design, production and
technolog y professionals
in the perfor ming arts and
entertainment industr y.

editorial office
david rodger
editor

deborah hazleTT
art director

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associate editors
raYmond KenT
architecture

peggY roSefeldT

Costume design & Technology

paTriCK m. finelli

Computers & Software

William KenYon
education

jerrY gorrell
engineering

david C. gloWaCKi
health & Safety

linda eSSig

lighting design & Technology

riChard peTerSon
management

roberT l. SmiTh & heidi hoffer
Scenic design & Technology

dave ToSTi-lane

Sound design & Technology

bill broWning

Technical production

arnold WengroW
book reviews

William j. bYrneS
inside USiTT

contributing editors
arnold aronson * eric fielding *
sarah nash gates * joel e. rubin *
beeb salzer * delbert unruh *
tom watson * arnold wengrow

United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT) connects performing arts design and technology communities
to ensure a vibrant dialogue among practitioners, educators, and students.

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theatre design

& technology

2011

jim lUCaS

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e-mail: jim@office.usitt.org

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011