Synopses & Reviews
Christin Essin documents theatre's backstage history through the cultural roles played by designers during the modern development of their profession. Featuring work by Robert Edmond Jones, Lee Simonson, Aline Bernstein, Norman Bel Geddes, Mordecai Gorelik, Jo Mielziner, Howard Bay, and Boris Aronson, this book blends theatre history and visual culture. By casting designers as authors, cultural critics, activists, entrepreneurs, and global cartographers, Essin tells a story about scenic images on the page, stage, and beyond that helped American audiences see the everyday landscapes and exotic destinations from a modern perspective.
Review
"The originality of this lucid study by Essin is how she places that aesthetic movement in a broader cultural context . . . Essin's research is thorough, her writing is engaging, and her insights are rewarding. Summing Up: Recommended. For all academic, general, and professional/practitioner audiences." - CHOICE
"Stage Designers in Early Twentieth Century America offers a bounty of new insights into the lives and artistry of the scenic designers who conceptualized, practiced, and promulgated the New Stagecraft. Christin Essin approaches their innovative work in the best possible way: within broader developments of material culture across the first half of the twentieth century. Discoursing with histories of the labor movement, mass production, consumerism, and imperialism, Essin elucidates the social complexities of this vital development in American theatre history." - James Peck, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Theatre, Muhlenberg College, USA, and editor, Theatre Topics
"Christin Essin offers a new and valuable perspective on evolution of the designer's role in the modern American theatre. Adventurously conceived and meticulously researched, Essin's study draws on a wide range of archival sources to provide a much-needed historicization of the New Stagecraft movement. By emphasizing the dual status of designers as both artists and working professionals, the book prompts fresh consideration of legendary figures such as Robert Edmond Jones and Jo Mielziner while recognizing the contributions of lesser-known artists such as Aline Bernstein and Howard Bay. It should be required reading in any survey of American theatre history." - Henry Bial, Associate Professor of Theatre Studies and American Studies, University of Kansas, USA
Synopsis
Christin Essin documents theatre's backstage history through the cultural roles played by designers during the modern development of their profession. By casting designers as authors, cultural critics, activists, entrepreneurs, and global cartographers, Essin tells a story about scenic images on the page, stage, and beyond that helped American audiences see the everyday landscapes and exotic destinations from a modern perspective.
Synopsis
By casting designers as authors, cultural critics, activists, entrepreneurs, and global cartographers, Essin tells a story about scenic images on the page, stage, and beyond that helped American audiences see the everyday landscapes and exotic destinations from a modern perspective.
About the Author
Christin Essin is Assistant Professor of Theatre History at Vanderbilt University, USA. She holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and a MA from Northwestern University. In addition to her research and teaching, Essin has worked as a storyteller, lighting designer, and theatre technician. She has served on the governing council of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education for the past five years.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Design as Cultural History
1. The Designer as Author
2. The Designer as Cultural Critic
3. The Designer as Activist
4. The Designer as Entrepreneur
5. The Designer as Global Cartographer