Theatre Today
Design for the American theatre today is still influenced by Robert Edmond Jones' and the New Satgecraft movement he pioneered in the United States. Even with new technology and new material, his ideals can still be seen. Included in this page are contemporary examples of scenic designs that include aspects of Jones' work in some way. The picture opening this page was from Robert Lepage's design for the Ring Trilogy at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from this past year. It used a base of rotating levels that changed each scene deepening on what dramatic light treatment it was given, a simplicity that Jones would have found appealing and fitting for a massive opera that takes place in many different scenarios.
Lion King
With set design credit to Richard Hudson, I chose to highlight this piece because of it's lighting effects on the back wall of cyclorama. Jones was very intrigued by the idea of using only light as a background instead of a large painted drop or a back wall, and he would be impressed by how well this portrays a sunrise.
A Dream Play
The Krannert Centers production of A Dream Play last year had many scenes in which only fabric and light were used to invoke place and setting for the characters. This simplicity and the symbolic nature of the pattern on the fabric is reminiscent to the New Stagecraft idea of stripping a place down to its necessities to create a stronger background for the characters.
With all of our new technology, including projections and better computer programs, it will be interesting to see how theatre design changes and evolves in the future, and what aspects of New Stagecraft and Jones' ideas we continue using.