THE ART OF THE THEATRE-THEATRE 100

The Roles of Designers in Theatre

Robert Cucuzza, the author of the book, Introduction to Theatre, notes that theatre is basically about visual art. A more considerable percentage of the information from the theatre play to the audience is delivered through visual arts. These graphic works are developed and executed by theatre designers. They help performers tell their stories at every stage of the play. Designers give the audience insight about the space where play occurs and the kind of world they are focusing on. “The design gives us our bearings, telling us where and when a play takes place and the kind of world that we are witnessing” (Cucuzza, 2018). The main focus of a designer is props, costumes, scenic, lighting, and sound. These are crucial as they make up the aural and visual nature of the play. There is more than one designer in play. Scenic designers design the environment in a theatre. There is also the aspect of video projection for better visual delivery in theatre. On the other hand, costume designers come up with production styles in collaboration with the directors and other play designers. They illustrate the location and time through the clothes they design for the performers. Lighting designers create good lighting to allow the audience to see the performers. They provide a focused viewing by the audience. Sound designers are tasked to create sound effects in a play in various forms. They can develop environmental sounds to match what is happening on stage (Cucuzza, 2018).

The video shows that the four designers collaborated to make the song climactic for the audience. The costume designer, Clint Ramos, chooses costumes that illuminate the light in the music. The costume designers make apparel that is easier for character transformation. In a quick change, the performer is seen allowing the purple attire to be carried by wind (30:35). Ramos ensures that the dress on top is also easy to open as the song climaxes. Lighting designer David Weiner lights up the stage immediately after the song commences so that the audience can focus on the performer. Weiner cues the light to enable the performer to do a quick change (32:08). Projection designer Aaron Rhyne ensures that the stage is transformed according to the performance going on. Rhyne provides the background on which the version is happening synchronizes with the performance of the song. That makes the performance more exciting to the audience. He transforms the theater performance platform to entice the audience. Scenic designer Robert Brill creates a visual world in the song’s performance. He sets the stage and, in collaboration with the lighting designer Weiner determines what light is going to be used to create a scenic and colorful view to the audience. The wagon on a stage platform is the work of scenic designer Brill. He ensures that the wagon moves on stage as the song comes to a climax

According to chapter 8, “The design of a show gives us our bearing, telling us where and when a play takes place and the kind of world that we are experiencing.”. Costume designers, lighting designers, projection designer and scenic designer work together alongside actors, producers and directors to give life to a play (Cucuzza, 2018). In the case of Frozen musical, director Liesl Tommy worked with the best designers that gave Frozen a high rating.  Focusing on the 32minute mark, where the climax was experienced during the show, we can see that all the designers had to incorporate each other works to obtain such an experience. To start with the projection designer, Aaron Rhyne who mapped the projection of pictures of a castle wall and beautiful designs of flakes that appeared and disappeared behind the actor as she continued to sing on the wagon making the performance exciting and tricking the audience into believing that the play is real. With scenic designer Robert Brill, he used a wagon that could move the actor to the places she was to be at the specific time, working with the projection design, he was able to create and show the time, period and location in which the play takes place.

David Weiner the lighting designer, made sure that the focus of the audience was on the actor singing through cues, where at one-point high-intensity light was focused on the actor while it was dark around her, and other times lighting blue around her while still letting her be the center of focus. His lighting gave visibility to the actor while creating the time and place that scene took place. Clint Ramos the costume designer did his part by designing costumes that were well-fitting to the actor, the costumes also communicated to the audience that the actor was a princess; the crown, and the design of the gown. Ramos also made sure that the costumes were quick to change to allow easy character transformation as required by the play. This collective effect of design often works on the audience on a subconscious level. It is used to trigger their imaginations.

Works Cited

Cucuzza, Robert (2018). Introduction to Theatre 2nd edition. Great River Learning

“Grlcontent”. Grlcontent.Com, 2021, https://www.grlcontent.com/.

FULL HD Best View! Frozen Musical Live at The Hyperion – Disney California Adventure

One man’s lens, 2016, Frozen Musical Live at The Hyperion – Disney California Adventure  https://youtu.be/FGThpdz2nzA