Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019 - 20

the imagination of new worlds. Second,
it is this ability to transform and imagine
that allows art to cross and break down
many of the borders-both real
and imagined-we find ourselves faced with today. Finally,
art can challenge preconceptions, authoritarianism, prejudice, and ignorance. Art can
help spread tolerance, knowledge, and understanding. And,
art can celebrate life, diversity,
and inclusion. These ideas became the foundation of the design process for Concordance,
the U.S. exhibit.

Inclusive Design and Team

Inspirational
images and
redesign based
on those images.

Not long after the USITT conference in 2016, Paige A. Willson (costume, lighting, scenic) and Ellen Doyle
Mizener (scenic and costume) spent an
evening riffing off two influential ideas:
Willson's thoughts after experiencing the
PQ in 2015 and some sculptural inspiration from an artist she had met shortly
afterwards. During this 2016 conversation, the pair recognized that their ideas
might have real potential to be the basis

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THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

FALL 2019

for a design for the U.S. exhibit.
During their discussions, which
circumvented the PQ theme of "porous
borders," Willson and Mizener continually returned to a number of key ideas.
First, the words that were the theme of
PQ 2019-imagination, transformation,
and memory-are ingrained in the DNA
of designers and theatre artists. They are
contained within centuries of memories
about the transformation of ideas and

The exhibition design began as the abstracted shapes of each of the four major regions of the United States (North,
South, East, and West) in perimeter
elements around the exhibition space.
It included an equally abstract central
sculpture. Originally, these perimeter elements were designed to display the work
of theatre artists selected by the curatorial committee to represent the U.S. at the
PQ. Their work would be presented in the
form of theatrical artifacts (models, props,
costumes, etc.), as well as projections and
etchings of images of the shows that featured the artifacts and the lighting, sound,
and projection artists' work. A central
sculpture was intended to provide housing for sound and projection equipment.
As Willson and Mizener developed
and refined the design, they assembled a
team with the specific intent of including
designers from all areas of theatre. They
wanted designers who had worked in
all levels of theatre, from commercial to
professional (and non-) and educational,
who had diverse backgrounds and, with
any luck, hailed from many parts of the
country.
They looked to people who would
enjoy a challenge and who had an understanding of creating art installations-people who possessed a cultural
understanding beyond their own histories
and who embraced diversity. They asked
people whom they trusted, with whom
they would enjoy collaborating, and who
could interpret design ideas when they
defied the laws of physics-or metaphysics. Clint Allen (Light/Projection) and Erich Keil (Sound) enthusiastically agreed
to join Willson and Mizener. They also

Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2019

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