Reminders

In the Next Room at Kitchen Dog in Dallas is still running.  Catch it if you can - I'm really proud of this one.

The Fantasticks has now opened at Circle Theatre in Fort Worth.  A lovely show.

The sale on Alice Through the Proscenium at Lulu.com ends today - here's the Secret Code.

Don't miss 'em!  Life flies by...

Designer's Life -The Secret

This! is the reason artists accept serious underpayment, that inventors keep tinkering in their basements, or guys who work in commercial laundries go home to their own laundry rooms to type novels...

The  joy! when things fall into place, the plot thickens, the painting coalesces, the inspired metaphor falls from... the air?... the muse?... from who-knows-where? onto blank paper.

Frabjious Days.


Progress on my project.  (I'll tell you what it is later - don't want to jinx it.)  Meanwhile: Callooh!  Callay!

(The guy in the commercial laundry?  Stephen King in the early days.  Read his On Writing.  "Frabjous"?  Read Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.)

A Sale on Alice Through the Proscenium!

(Well on a few other books too)  But here's Alice...

Book Sale

Aptly following my Alice Through the Proscenium reminder of the other day, comes this book sale at my publisher Lulu.com...

SNIPPET #21

Here is the next excerpt from the "Design Elements" chapter of my set design book, Alice Through the Proscenium:

Volume –Some theaters are low and squat, making it difficult to suggest the spaciousness or vistas your play may need. 5.1  (Views through a window or over a wall can help.)  In other spaces, hanger-like emptiness drowns the actor… That, of course, depends on the actor: in one production, one couple had a fight in the bedroom and seemed to flail in a limitless void; next scene, same bedroom, the next couple folded a bedspread and filled the space.  (For the too much volume problem, dropping in a soffit, cornice, or chandelier can help.)  Remember that solid and void and volume create shape and form.

Balance – The classic approach to balance in design is symmetry.  A drawing of a symmetrical design can be folded in half and match: imagine a colonnade with three equal arches centered on the stage.  Symmetrical arrangements are automatically balanced and pleasing, but, because they’re predictable, can be a bit dull.  Classical logic also places the large or heavy object at the bottom and the small or light object on top, as a wise child stacks blocks.  Symmetry can be suited to classical authors or periods. Mozart maybe or Moliere, the Greeks…

The other type of balance is asymmetrical balance.  Now, instead of one side of the stage mirroring the other, imagine center stage as the pivot point of an old-fashioned see-saw.  On one side, balance a single, blocky, visually heavy element, on the other, a couple tall, thin, light elements - maybe a bulky fireplace versus tall windows.  Japanese prints perfected the asymmetrical.

As with arranging flowers, an odd number helps  - a dozen roses look better in a vase if one becomes a boutonnière – so place 3 or 5, not 4 roses or windows.  Balanced asymmetry is harder than symmetry, but may arguably better represent the modern world.  Maybe Harold Pinter sees the world thus lop-sided?

5.1  As Shakespeare once put it, “Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?”

Coolo Links

Take a look at some Squidoo sites with links to favorites of mine or just interesting info:

Parsnip Pie - arts and design links

Three Ways to Improve Your Theater Set - um, what it says?

Alice Through the Proscenium - the site for The Book

SNIPPET # 20

Time for a new series of Snippets from my theater set design book Alice Through the Proscenium - this time from the chapter "Design Elements:

What exactly is design?  What are you designing and what bits and pieces are you designing with?  The elements listed below are some – not all – of the elements of scenic design.  They are often elements of Design in General, whether of plays, pastries, houses, or hats.  These are listed here mostly so you, the designer, can go, “Huh! Forgot about that!”  And then think about it… 

Mass – This is perceived heaviness and solidity.  Sets, being built of light materials, often lack this, instead looking cardboard-y.  But real life has mass and real walls sometimes substantial thickness.  Mass adds importance to an element.  Aida’s Egyptian columns need size - and not to quiver when leaned upon.  At other times you may want delicacy and lightness.

                         

 Solid/ Void – Solidity tends to read as stable and massive – void as light or empty “negative” space.  The interplay between these qualities is sculpture.  Study the model. There has to be a lot of empty space on stage to put actors in, but avoid aggressive voids which suck energy and life from the production.

Film Fest Flickers

Weak entries to the Film Fest lately: last night's was The Informant with Matt Damon.

I like the actor and I'd heard a radio interview with the book's author which was fascinating, but somehow the film version was sorta lame - mildly funny, mostly weird.  In desperation, I think, the music got wackier as the film didn't get wacky enough.  Maybe one of those good ideas that just... doesn't quite work.  I'm constantly amazed in theater at the gap between good script, good director, good designers, good cast and an actual good production.  Easy to see why theater folk get superstitious: all your hard work and good intentions, then the luck or the fairies' blessing is just fickle.

I can't remember the other earlier lame film entries.

I have been drawing though, and making models, and having fun over in Squidoo-land.  My primo property there is an article called "3 Ways to Improve Your Theater Set."  Squidoo is fun, but this creating-an-author-platform jazz is, like, a full time job.  Easier to write the book than to promote it.  An Interesting Adventure, that's what this all is.  (The book being Alice, of course, in case you forgot.)

SNIPPET # 19

The last sample from the "Design Methods" chapter of Alice Through the Proscenium:

Creativity –  When trying to be more creative - act more creative.  Wear that goofy French artist hat, 4.22 recklessly drink caffeinated coffee late at night, read foreign films, eat a new food, walk down a new street, learn Russian or bowling…  Pretend you don’t care what others think.  Free-wheel.  If you feel creative you’re freer to be creative. 

 “-it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me!”

Your friends and loved-ones may wonder that too.  The old saying that genius is next door to insanity?  Well, significant others will wonder now and then if you’ve changed your mailing address. 

Design is a silly, anarchic, crazy playtime.  Serious play.

4.22 Silly advice.  No Frenchified chapeau will improve design; the idea is either naïve or an affectation.  But then, lots of people wouldn’t take up tennis without an official tennis outfit.  We’ll just hope you grow out of the “artiste” stage quickly.4.23

4.33 Don’t get carried away with your genius, eh?  No friends as groupies.  No spouses as handmaids-to-genius, please!  A surprising number are willing, but most loved-ones are wise enough to still love you though you’re nuts - a much saner attitude.  

SNIPPET # 18

The latest sample from the "Design Methods" chapter of Alice Through the Proscenium:

Criticism –  Evaluation is part of the design process.  Just don’t start too early. 

It’s important to work through your ideas in a light-hearted, trusting way.  Only at intervals do you step back to see if the thing actually works.  In fact, recent brain science (brutally simplified here) suggests that it’s the frontal lobe that does the inventing and the temporal lobes that do the editing and that our brain plumbing only allows necessary chemicals to be sent to one area at a time… So you can actually, physically, suck the juice out of your creativity!

Still.  You gotta compare and evaluate. Develop impartial judgment.  You can’t love your work just because it’s your baby: tough love is what it needs.  But none of that it’s-mine-so-it-must-be-awful insecurity either.  Pretend a stranger came up with this stuff.  Only in real doubt, do you ask for outside opinions. 

You may want one before show-N-tell with the director. 

Whose opinion should you listen to?  Find someone you respect who can be somewhat impartial (Mom?  Maybe.).  Someone competent to give an opinion on visual matters.  This does not mean an MFA in scenography, just good eyes and good sense.  But many intelligent people cannot read drawings or understand 3D relationships.  (Half of them seem to be directors.)  Find someone who’ll tell you the blunt truth… then don’t hate them.  If, however, what you really want is loving reassurance, say so.  It’s simpler.  And that’s a legitimate need too.

Want to take criticism better?  Grow a thicker skin.  Evaluate the evaluation to find the kernel of truth.  Remember that opinions from mother, director, or critic are just opinions: right, wrong, half right.  If one person says, “too blue,” don’t be surprised if the next says, “not blue enough.”  This stuff is subjective.  But there is some truth in that old joke: if three people tell you you’re drunk – go lie down.

Want to be a better critic?  The vital parts of good criticism are: intelligence, perception, and an ability to evaluate a design against its own goals, not your prejudices.  Equally important are emotional skills to make a critique palatable: helpfulness, respect, tact.  One writer (who?) advised starting a story critique by saying, “That part with the dog…”  If the advice-seeker answered, “I love the bit with the dog!  I wrote the whole thing for the bit with the dog.”  Then (who was it?) knew what was actually wanted was reassurance.  And supplied that.  But if the answer was, “Yeah, not too sure about that dog…”  Then she (or he) gave actual criticism.  Say what evil needs saying, but add the good stuff too - what is working - and sound hopeful about the outcome!

In theater design you are contractually required to please the director and producers.  You’d sure like to please the audience and the critics.  Pleasing yourself is hardest.  The test?  Ask yourself, “Does this design serve the play?”

Make today’s design the best you have in you today.  As Scarlett O’Hara said, “tomorrow is another day.”  Every new design is a new chance to get it right. 4.21

4.21 The converse is, alas, also true: every new design is a new chance to fall on your face. Still, you can get a useful view from the floor.

SNIPPET # 17

Another excerpt from the "Design Methods" chapter of Alice Through the Proscenium: a short one today because the next section is a bit long to add on...

Experiment –  Toss the rules.  The habits.  The ego.  Make a fool of yourself! 

If you’re stuck on large massing, try a big sheet of brown paper and a fat pastel, charcoal, or cattle marker (designed to mark cows, I swear).  If working on detail, try a tight drawing with a fine pen.  Reverse that.  Draw the big idea very tiny on a cocktail napkin to distill it.  You’ll find methods you like, but vary them often.

                          

Get out of a mental rut by learning something new.  Take a hike on a path less traveled.  Pick a random book at the library or bookstore on a topic you know little about: Ancient art, Bangladesh, Collecting cars…  Go through the alphabet.  Flip pictures, skim - you may get hooked.  This also makes a great surreptitious game at parties: exploring other people’s bookcases. 4.20

4.20  Makes you want to hide a few of your books before your next soiree.  No books?  For shame!

SNIPPET # 16

Another big gap between Snippets!  (I've been preoccupied with other stuff, sorry.)  Here's another tidbit from the "Design Methods" chapter of Alice Through the Proscenium:

Designer’s Block -  It IS possible to feel your brain freeze solid.  Try the tips listed here or a vacation, but if the problem is a particular show, maybe your heart just isn’t in it. 4.18   Then a professional can fall back on technique and do an adequate – if not an inspired – job.  You can get yourself excited by bread-and-butter work, but be careful which shows you agree to design. 

Fear -  Your mental block may be intimidation…  Macbeth?!  When menaced by a Great Classic, ask, “What’s the worst?  I make a fool of myself – nothing new – but can I dim Shakespeare’s reputation?”  The comforting answer: “Naaaaaaah.”

The Bad Version – TV writers do this: you know it’s no good, but spit out the idea anyway.  Trying to improve it may lead to something with real potential.

Prejudices – Like stone tablets, some teachers hand out “rules” of scenic design, things like, “always have an entrance upstage center” or “never paint a set white.”  Bah!  Those aren’t rules, those are… more like guidelines.

Rules – Back in the eighteenth century there were real rules of design to fall back on, things like “classical unities” which guided playwrights.  Imagine the comfort of rules!  Nowadays creative types are left flapping - no rules need apply.  (Writers say one rule does still hold: “be interesting.”)  Freedom is scary - so give yourself rules.  If the theater, play, or budget don’t restrict you enough, give yourself the cozy blankie of rules: design only in black and white, or only with rolling elements, or…  Deciding what rules ought to apply starts you designing.

Habits -  Set up a regular place and hours for design.  (Mornings have the advantage that directors aren’t awake, so can’t interrupt.) In The Creative Habit, choreographer Twyla Tharp stresses habit, ritual, and organization in creativity.

  

4.18 Did you need the money? 4.19 Now earn it.

4.19  Needing the cash is a perfectly legit artistic impetus, as are deadlines and fear of criticism.  As Dr. Johnson put it, “"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."


BTW Alice is now fully functional (samples, pic, and the all-important BUY! button) at all three sources: Lulu.com, Amazon, and as an e-book for Nook, iPhone, and iPad etc. from Barnes & Noble.

Amazing Amazon

There is all sorts of weird and wonderful functionality over at my Alice Through the Proscenium Amazon page: annotated pictures and a (quite random) skim through the pages.  But you still get a better look at Lulu.com and a slightly different view at Barnes & Noble.

This self-publishing process is kind of fascinating... I'm beginning to think publishers may (just may) earn some of their money.  Certainly there are a lot of small but important jobs in getting a book out into the world.  I'm glad this is a book with a clearcut - though tiny! - audience, so it's easy to see who needs to hear about it.  And non-fiction so it has a real use, somewhere some real problem to solve.

Just imagine trying to launch a novel!

Amazon!

Alice on Amazon

Alice Through the Proscenium is now available on Amazon.

(Preview pages etc. to come there... once I figure out how to do that.)  Check out this cool-o-tude!  

Then go buy direct from Lulu.com where the author gets a bigger cut, huh?  

Still, it's exciting to know that any casual book-buyer in the world could just accidentally, while skipping through - what is it? a gadjillion books? Let's figure this out: 150,000 books sold per day x 365 = 54 million books sold a year...  But that means multiple copies of, say, Stephen King's latest and 0 of Aunt Fanny's memoir, so... a gadjillion on their virtual shelves.  An easy gadjillion.)  But  the point is, a casual reader could wander through these LOTS O' BOOKS anyway and fall in love with mine.

Cool.

SNIPPET # 15

Been a while between "Snippets" so here's a new one from the "Design Methods" chapter of my Alice Through the Proscenium set design book:

Real Estate -  Get that room of your own!   At least get a good chair.  Plan your work area so it’s convenient, well lit, comfortable.  Control distractions like email or tiny tots.  Remove mirrors, muttering, “Get thee behind me…”  Some writers need dull rooms so writing becomes the escape from boredom; artists usually don’t.  Calder’s sculpture studio had mobiles flying overhead like birds.  Create the environment you need to work in, not to hyper-ventilate nor fall asleep.

Fermentation – The wide-awake version of “sleep on it.”  Simmer.  This is not waiting around for some ditzy Muse.  Mull over the problem, but make few sketches.  Resist drawing until you can’t stand for one more minute not to.  When you do finally put ideas to paper, the stupid, time-wasting ones have often dropped out.  But you must feel when the solution is ready (ripe banana!) and at that crucial moment you have to document, or ideas dry up.

Take a Break –  When feeling stale, stretch.  Walk.  Get blood pumping to your brain.  Or keep your hands busy with knitting or gardening.  Or wash your face.  That headache may be dehydration, so drink water.  Caffeine helps, but 12 cups are 10 too many (as are some energy drinks).  Give yourself a treat: eat chocolate, listen to a favorite song, wear the cozy red sweater.

Blog? Or Exercise?

Well that's a no-brainer!  Someone needs to invent a treadmill powered computer - then we'd all be in shape.

Miscellany today: I finally finished The Elephant to Hollywood, Michael Caine's memoir - some pretty funny stuff about the Oscars.  Worth reading if you're fascinated by Hollywood.  A Film Fest entry so lame I've already forgotten its name, but it had Will Ferrell in it.  'Nuf said.  And on the further adventures of my book, Alice Through the Proscenium: the extra copies arrived (a crisply impressive little stack), so now I can distribute them to my faithful test readers and my Mom etc.  A few extras for sale!

Miscellaneous set designer duties today too: re-read one script; read two new ones; meet one director and email another; and return the last thing not-used in my last set (boy! was that concrete bench heavy!)

P.S. The film was The Other Guys.

SNIPPET # 14

The latest excerpt from the "Design Methods" chapter of my set design book Alice Through the Proscineum.  (Why strain your eyes with this glow-y screen?  Buy a paperback at Lulu.com - it's more profitable, um,  restful!):

Start from Scratch -  Sometimes the problem you’re trying to solve isn’t the real problem.  It often isn’t the right problem.  (More of a concern in other types of design perhaps… I mean, there is going to be a show really, isn’t there?)  Naiveté helps: assume nothing, see clearly.  What is really going on?  As when Hewlett-Packard realized they weren’t really in the business of selling printers; the profits were in selling ink cartridges. 

Step Back -  Stop.  Look at the wall you are beating your head against.  Can you go round it instead?  Over it?  Under it?  Maybe blow it up?

Sleep on it -  Night can bring counsel.  Now and then, a problem that you fell asleep pondering will be solved by morning.  So take a quiet minute before starting the day to check for new-born ideas.  Dreams sometimes lead to something – though you sound like a dork if you admit it out loud.

Can’t Sleep? -  Fretting over stalled design can keep you awake, so practice putting work aside at bedtime.  A hot bath.  Chamomile tea.  Resist the idea that a true artist must live a bohemian life of too much booze and too little sleep.  Fun, yes, but counter-productive.  Monet advised artists to live like the bourgeoisie, with regular hours and excellent French food.  He 4.17 did okay work, by the way.


4.17 Oops.  It was Flaubert: “Be regular in your daily life like a bourgeois, so that you can be violent and original in your work.”  Virginia Woolf also advised dining well, but mainly stressed having a good income and a room of one’s own.

SNIPPET #13

The latest sample from the "Design Methods" chapter of my NOW IN PRINT set design book, Alice Through the Proscenium:

Minimalism -  “Less is More.”  That famous design dictum by architect Mies van der Rohe is good advice.  Distill your design.  Minimalism is powerful.  Most of us ought to design using more eraser than pencil, but remember that there is another opinion, put forward by Mies’s protégé, Philip Johnson:  “Less is a Bore.”

Reduction -  Sometimes the problem just seems too big, too complicated.  You’re overwhelmed with choices…  Simplify.  Solve only the one biggest issue.  Reduce the problem to its basic ingredients: instead of boiling a whole gumbo, simmer a nice plain clear fish broth.  You can always throw in crawdads later.

Can’t beat it?  Join it – Sometimes a problem fights so hard it wins.  Maybe there’s an area that, do what you will, insists on being all circulation, all crossing paths to other places.  So let it.  But don’t give in grudgingly, embrace it, give in BIG!  You may end up with the wonderful hall of Grand Central Station.  Celebrate your problem.

Contrarywise -  Or rebel against the evil oppressor!  Reject everything.  If something is normally round, make it square.  Usually tall?  Make it short.  Test every bourgeois assumption The Man makes with your heroic (idiotic) knee-jerk rebellion.  Power to the revolutionary!

(Design methodology can boil down to the intellectual equivalent of: if the door doesn’t open when you push it, then you pull.  Just get the #%$ door open!)

You too can own a copy of Alice... just visit Lulu.com and use this 15% off sale code: IDES305

Too Many !!!!s

It's that kind of week: a show opens, my Alice book launches (and has an intro-sale).  Exclamitory times.  But a favorite author, Terry Pratchett, writes that 4 exclamation points is a sure sign of madness - in which case...um...

Surprise Sale!

At least it surprised me...

Lulu.com - the publisher of the paperback version of my set design book Alice Through the Proscenium
is offering an introductory sale of

15% off

Please use promotion code IDES305  -  Offer good until 3/15/11