Stage Design

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

"Stage Lighting Design" covers the complete history, theory and - above all - practice of lighting design. It contains 450 black and white half tones, 60 colour photos and innumerable diagrams, lighting plots etc. "Stage Lighting Design" is arranged in four sections: Design: the basic principles, illustrated with reference to specific productions; History: a brief survey of the historical development of stage lighting; Life: interviews with 14 other lighting designers, plus notes on Pilbrow's own career; and Mechanics: a vast section dealing with all the technical data today's designer will need.

Technical Drawing for Stage Design explains the importance of drawing in the design process, revealing how the initial two-dimensional drawing is a crucial building block in creating the scale model that in turn will develop into the stage set - that will transport the audience into another world. Topics covered include: introducing the tools and equipment used by the designer; developing confidence in freehand sketching; drawing to aid the creative thought process, communicate design ideas and help with the construction process; scenic elements and the related terminology; the architecture of the theatre - and how to draw it. Aimed at drama students and teachers, technical drawing students, amateur dramatics groups and theatre workshop organisers, Technical Drawing for Stage Design offers an attractive and practical manual on the subject. Well illustrated with approximately 120 black and white images.

Scenic effects involving rotating turntables, tracking stage wagons, and the vertical movement of curtains and painted drops have become common in both Broadway and Regional theatre productions. The machines that drive these effects range from small pneumatic cylinders pushing loads of a few pounds an inch or two, to 40 horsepower winches running multi-ton scenery at speeds 6 feet per second or more. Usually this machinery is designed by theatre technicians specifically for a particular show's effect. Compared to general industry, this design process is short, often only a few days long, it is done by one person, design teams are rare, and it is done in the absence of reference material specifically addressing the issues involved. The main goal of this book is to remedy this last situation. Mechanical Design for the Stage will be a reference for you that will: * provide the basic engineering formulas needed to predict the forces, torques, speeds, and power required by a given move * give a technician a design process to follow which will direct their work from general concepts to specific detail as a design evolves, and * show many examples of traditional stage machinery designs. The book's emphasis will be on following standard engineering design and construction practices, and developing machines that are functional, efficient to build, easily maintained, and safe to use.

In Stage Lighting Design Neil Fraser, who teaches the subject at RADA, provides a comprehensive guide to designing effective and appropriate stage lighting. Assuming no previous knowledge, the book guides the reader through the various aspects involved in this craft. The text is accompanied by practical exercises to encourage the reader to explore and try out the concepts discussed. These exercises are designed to allow the reader to discover the reality of what works at a technical level and at an artistic level, and can be used within a limited budget. The emphasis is on the practical, and each exercise is followed by an analysis of expected results, lessons learnt and conclusions drawn.

The follow-up to the 2000 Golden Pen Award-winning Structural Design for the Stage, this second edition provides the theater technician with a foundation in structural design, allowing an intuitive understanding of "why sets stand up." It introduces the basics of statics and the study of the strength of materials as they apply to typical scenery, emphasizing conservative approaches to real world examples. This is an invaluable reference for any serious theatre technician throughout their career, from the initial study of the fundamental concepts, to the day-to-day use of the techniques and reference materials. Now in hardcover, with nearly 200 new pages of content, it has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest recommended practices of the lumber and steel industries, while also including aluminum design for the first time.

A compelling exploration of the career of one of theater's most outstanding theatrical designers. This book is a detailed and lavishly illustrated look at the work and career of the renowned stage and costume designer Susan Benson, whose work has been seen on some of the world's most influential stages but is most identified with the Stratford Festival. Featured throughout the book are gorgeous full-page photographs from both the live stage and the production process. Behind the scenes commentary reveals the challenges and exhilaration of mounting a large stage production while Benson's working design sketches reveal the artistic process and the remarkable range of her talent. The first part of the book focuses on Benson's early, formative work, influenced by her youth in a theatrical family. The second part concerns her theory of set, costume and prop design, and her problem-solving methodology for approaching a show. This is followed by a third section on the "craft" of building shows: how art, design and craft transform the theatrical work on paper to the imagined world that the audience sees -- costume fitting, prop building and collaborating with the amazing artists that bring her designs to life. The book closes with an in-depth look at Benson's most significant productions: Robin Phillips' 1976 Stratford Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Jessica Tandy and Jeremy Brett, remounted in 1977 with Maggie Smith; in 1979, the Trojan War play The Woman starring Martha Henry; and the celebrated Brian Macdonald productions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, The Gondoliers and Iolanthe. In addition to Benson's work at the Stratford Festival, the book looks at designs for many other theaters across Canada and the U.S., including Romeo and Juliet for the National Ballet of Canada; and Madama Butterfly and The Golden Ass for the Canadian Opera Company. Susan Benson's long and illustrious career earned her great respect from her peers, much adulation and numerous awards. Today, she turns her visual artistry to painting, which has also brought her much success. Susan Benson: Art, Design and Craft on Stage is a revealing, informative and thorough examination of a life of creative brilliance. It will appeal to all readers with a love for theater, both front of house and backstage.

A lively, beautifully illustrated history of theatrical stage design from ancient Greek times to the present, coauthored by the world's leading authority, Oscar G. Brockett.