Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2025 - 50

IN THE WINGS News and updates from USITT
colleagues. The Joel E. Rubin Founder's
Award recognizes
the
likes of Robert
Scales and Richard Pilbrow, and I never
dreamed it would be sitting on my desk in
2020. I believe I could have only achieved
this through the personal and professional
support I received from Dr. Joel himself. I
am also grateful for his generosity with his
wisdom, reflections, insights, and quips.
-Alexandra Bonds
Joel Rubin changed my life. His
influence on my career actually began
before we met. USITT was looking for a new
editor for TD&T to replace Tom Watson
and had decided to expand the search
beyond the ranks of USITT members.
I believe it was Joel who contacted
Richard Schechner at NYU to ask for any
recommendations. Richard recommended
me and Kate Davy-we were both finishing
our dissertations at NYU and had worked
on The Drama Review. Somewhat to our
surprise, and even more to Schechner's
surprise, we were selected. (We served as
co-editors for 8 years, and I continued as
editor for two more.) It was during this time
that I began to write about design, which
has been my focus ever since, so at least
indirectly I owe my life's work to Joel as well.
From the beginnings of USITT, Joel
was a force in international affairs, helping
to create OISTAT, and spearheading
USITT's involvement in the international
organization. Throughout the first few
decades, while many
individual USITT
members were interested in and actively
involved in international activities, USITT
as an organization was not particularly
involved. This meant that the head of
the International Liaison Commission
had pretty much free reign. In the early
years, Ned Bowman, the founding editor
of TD&T, vied with Joel for that position.
In my capacity as editor, Joel (and on one
occasion, Ned) sent me not only to OISTAT
Publication Commission meetings, but
also to meetings of the History and Theory
Commission, Scenography Commission,
and even to a Congress in Reggio-Emilia,
Italy, in 1985. I was at the latter as the
50 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | ISSUE 4, 2024
voting delegate from the U.S. with a
specific instruction from Joel-to vote " yes "
to change the International Organization of
Scenographers and Theatre Technicians
(OISTT) to the International Organization
of Scenographers and Theatre Architects
and Technicians (OISTAT). Also, at these
meetings it was the custom to exchange
gifts-usually books. My book, American
Set Design, had just been published and Joel
purchased about 20 copies for me to take
to Italy and give to each of the delegates.
Joel also was responsible for getting me
involved in the Prague Quadrennial (PQ).
Joel was a major force in the evolution
of the PQ and constantly pushed to get
USITT involved. In 1979 Joel became the
first American to serve on the PQ Jury. U.S.
design was represented for the first time at
PQ 75-the third edition of the event (and
the only time in competition until 1987)-
with an exhibit organized by the U.S. office
of the International Theatre Institute and
Joel was on the organizing committee.
Determined that the United States should
be able to exhibit and compete at the
world's most distinguished scenographic
exhibition, Joel made a Herculean effort to
organize a U.S. exhibit for PQ87. Working
with Pat McKay, the editor of Theatre
Crafts, he pulled together a superstar array
of designers, headed by Jennifer Tipton and
John Conklin, and including Carrie Robbins,
Douglas Schmidt, and John Lee Beatty, to
conceptualize and design the exhibit. It
was a multiroom structure recreating a set
designer's studio, costume shop, lighting
designer's workspace, and Hollywood
production designer studio in which 100
designers were represented, either by hard
materials (models, mannequins, renderings,
plans, lighting plots, video monitors, etc.),
or slide shows. It was designed as what
today might be called an " immersive "
set, complete with a slop sink, a chaotic
arrangement of fabric swatches, gels,
paint cans, and even prop food such as a
half-eaten pizza, sandwiches, and partiallydrunk
coffee cups. It won the Golden
Triga-the top prize at the PQ-and served
as a model for exhibits by many countries
over the next several editions of the PQ.
Of course, anyone who knows Joel
knows that his true passion was books
( " books " was even part of his email
address!) and theatre ephemera. He had
what was undoubtedly the largest private
collection in the United States, and perhaps
the world, of books on theatre architecture,
design, and technology. He had complete
runs of several international journals-more
complete than many libraries, especially
those from Eastern Europe where some
had been lost or destroyed in wars. He had
the most complete collection of Century
Lighting catalogs and brochures dating
back to 1930. Joel worked for many years for
Kliegl and his collection of Kliegl catalogs
and brochures-many rescued from
dumpsters when Kliegl threw them out-
was probably the most comprehensive in
the world. He also had similar archives from
Frink, Crouse Hinds, Altman, Capitol Stage
Lighting, Theatre Production Service (Jean
Rosenthal's company), Berkey Colortran,
Ariel Davis, and many others. His collection
also encompassed equipment including
glass lantern slides from the early 20th
century, " pose slides, " a magic lantern for
home entertainment from the 1860s, slides
from Stanley McCandless' lectures at Yale,
and even some lighting-related novelty
shoes from vaudeville acts. Much of this
material has been donated to the Lawrence
and Lee Theatre Research Institute at the
Ohio State University.
Joel's book collection included
antiquarian books dating back to the
19th century, first editions, many signed
by important designers and other figures
in the field, and rare books from Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union. As he began
downsizing, he hoped to sell this collection
either
through a rare books dealer or
through Swann Auction Gallery. But, alas,
there were few collectors of such books
anymore, and because so much material
had become available through digitized
online sources, there was no longer a
market for this invaluable collection. So
Joel, wanting to be sure this collection
would not go to waste, generously donated
Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2025

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