Stagecraft - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and recording and mixing of sound. Stagecraft is distinct from the wider umbrella term of scenography

Scenography

-Usage:Whilst also aligned with the professional practice of the scenographer, it is important to distinguish the individual elements that comprise the 'design' of a performance event from the term 'scenography' which is as an artistic perspective concerning the visual, experiential and spatial...

. Considered a technical rather than an artistic field, it relates primarily to the practical implementation of a designer

Designer

A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

's artistic vision.

In its most basic form, stagecraft is managed by a single person (often the stage manager of a smaller production) who arranges all scenery, costumes, lighting, and sound, and organizes the cast. At a more professional level, for example modern Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

houses, stagecraft is managed by hundreds of skilled carpenters, painters, electricians, stagehands, stitchers, wigmakers, and the like. This modern form of stagecraft is highly technical and specialized: it comprises many sub-disciplines and a vast trove of history and tradition.

The majority of stagecraft lies between these two extremes. Regional theatre

Regional theatre in the United States

Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...

s and larger community theatre

Community theatre

Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...

s will generally have a technical director and a complement of designers, each of whom has a direct hand in their respective designs.

History

Greeks were the earliest recorded practitioners of stagecraft. "Skene" is Greek, translating roughly into "scene" or "scenery", and refers to a large scenic house, about one story tall, with three doors. On the audience-side of the Skene, what are now known as "flats" could be hung. Flats developed to two-sided painted flats which would be mounted, centered, on a rotating pin, with rope running around each consecutive pin, so the flats could be turned for a scene-change. The double-sided-flat eventually evolved into the periaktoi (pl. periaktos).

As well as flats, the Greeks also used such machines as the ekkyklema, essentially a platform on wheels, and the deus ex machina, a hand-cranked lift to be used to lift a character/scenery over the skene. Over 20 such scenic inventions can be traced back to the Greeks. No light but that of the sun was used; plays started at sun-rise and continued until sun-down.

Plays of Medieval times were held in different places such as the streets of towns and cities, performed by traveling, secular troupes. Some were also held in monasteries, performed by church-controlled groups, often portraying religious scenes. The playing place could represent many different things such as indoors or outdoors. They were played in certain places so the props could be used for the play. Songs and spectacles were often used in plays to enhance participation.

More modern stagecraft was in developed in England where they performed drama from 1576-1642. There were three different types of theaters in London - public, private and court. The size and shape varied but many were suggested to be round theaters. Public playhouses such as the Globe Theatre used rigging housed in a room on the roof to lower and raise in scenery or actors, and utilized the raised stage by developing the practice of using trap-doors in theatrical productions. Most of the theatres had circular-design, with an open area above the pit to allow sunlight to enter and light the stage. It was a penny admission to stand in the pit. Prices increase for seating. Court plays were used for holidays and special occasions.

Proscenium stages, or picture-box stages, were constructed in France around the time of the Restoration, and maintain the place of the most popular form of stage in use to-date, and originally combined elements of the skene in design, essentially building a skene on-stage. Lighting of the period would have consisted of candles, used as foot-lights, and hanging from chandeliers above the stage.

Lighting continued to develop, first with the help of the English, in an effort to accurately map the coast of England, would triangulate cliff locations by using flame, and two ships at sea. Due to extreme fog, limestone had to be burned in order to see the light out on the ocean. English sailors, propagators of many modern stagecraft practices, brought the use of limestone as a light source into the theatre for the purposes of spotlighting, hence the phrase "limelight". To control the focus of the light, a Fresnel lens was used.

Originally intended to replace large, convex lenses in lighthouses, Dr. Fresnel sectioned out the convex lens in a series of circles, like tree-rings, and keeping the angle of the specific section, moved the section much closer to the flat side of the convex lens.

After candles, came gas lighting, utilizing pipes with small openings which were lit before every performance, and could be dimmed by controlling the flow of gas, so long as the flame never went out. With the turn of the 20th century, many theatre companies making the transition from gas to electricity would install the new system right next to the old one, resulting in many explosions and fires to the electricity igniting the gas lines.

Modern lighting is electrically-based. Many bulbs and lighting instruments are in use today, and the field is rapidly becoming one of the most diverse and complex in the industry.

Sub-disciplines

Stagecraft comprises many disciplines, typically divided into a number of main disciplines:

Lighting: Lighting design, which involves the process of determining the angle, size, intensity, shape, and color of light for a given scene. Hanging, focusing, procurement and maintenance of lighting and special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....

s equipment, aspects of show control
Show control
Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from entertainment control , which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging...
Make-up/Wig
Wig
A wig is a head of hair made from horsehair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair, or synthetic materials which is worn on the head for fashion or various other aesthetic and stylistic reasons, including cultural and religious observance. The word wig is short for periwig and first...

s: The application of makeup and wigs to accentuate an actor's features.
Mechanics: Design, engineering and operation of Flown
Fly system
A fly system, flying system or theatrical rigging system, is a system of lines , blocks , counterweights and related devices within a theatre that enable a stage crew to quickly, quietly and safely fly components such as curtains, lights, scenery, stage effects and, sometimes, people...

scenery or flying of performers and mechanised scenic elements and special effects.
Production, comprising stage management
Stage management
Stage management is the practice of organizing and coordinating a theatrical production. It encompasses a variety of activities, including organizing the production and coordinating communications between various personnel...

, production management, show control
Show control
Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from entertainment control , which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging...

, house management
House management
In theatre, house management concerns the selling of tickets, the ushering of patrons in front of house areas, and the maintenance and management of the theatre building itself. House management staff usually work for the theatre, under the supervision of the house manager, and not for the...

and company management
Scenery
Theatrical scenery
Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine item, appropriated...

, which includes set construction
Set construction
Set construction is the process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of a production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production...

, scenic painting
Scenic painting
Theatrical scenic painting includes wide-ranging disciplines, encompassing virtually the entire scope of painting and craft techniques. An experienced scenic painter will have skills in landscape painting, figurative painting, trompe l'oeil, and faux finishing, be versatile in different media such...

, theater drapes and stage curtains
Theater drapes and stage curtains
Theater drapes and stage curtains are large pieces of cloth that are designed to mask backstage areas from spectators. They come in various types, each designed for a different purpose, though most are made from black or other dark colored, light-absorbing material such as heavyweight...

, and special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....

s.
Sound design, which can include musical underscoring
Underscoring
In film production, underscoring is the playing of music quietly under dialogue or a visual scene. It is usually done to establish a mood or theme. In a play, sometimes incidental music is used for this purpose....

, vocal and instrument mixing
Audio mixing (film and television)
Audio mixing for film and television is a process during the post-production stage of a moving image program by which a multitude of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels...

as well as theatrical sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...

s.
Theatrical property
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...

, or props, which includes furnishings, set dressings, and all items large and small which cannot be classified as scenery, electrics or wardrobe. Some crossover may apply. Props handled by actors are known as hand props, and props which are kept in an actor's costume are known as personal props.
Wardrobe
Wardrobe (clothing)
A wardrobe usually refers to a complete set of clothing consisting of multiple items. Generally referring to the male's clothing needs. A wardrobe will usually consist of suits, slacks, shirts and shoes both casual and formal...

: costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...

, construction, procurement and maintenance.
Video
Video design
Video design is a creative field of stagecraft. It is concerned with the creation and integration of film and motion graphics into the fields of theatre, opera, dance, fashion shows, concerts and other live events. Video design has only recently gained recognition as a separate creative field...

(or Projection
Video design
Video design is a creative field of stagecraft. It is concerned with the creation and integration of film and motion graphics into the fields of theatre, opera, dance, fashion shows, concerts and other live events. Video design has only recently gained recognition as a separate creative field...

) is a relatively recent field of stagecraft which is gaining recognition. As well as being a discipline in itself, its role may also be taken on by the Lighting
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...

or Scenery disciplines.

External links

"Controlbooth.com" USA based forum geared towards educational and professional technical theatre
"The Blue Room" UK based forum for the discussion of technical theatre by its practitioners
"Ukslc.org" Uk Based Sound and Lighting Community, News, Review, Chat and more...
"Stagecraft" USA based mailing list for the discussion of technical theatre by its practitioners.
Handbook on technical theatre
"Stagelink" Production resources for technical theatre
Richard Southern Collection at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
"Roadie" Website for those touring with concerts
"Rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft" Usenet group for stagecraft

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Sub-disciplines

See also

External links