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It is now ten years since I proposed adding an interdisciplinary course in theatre to the Wentworth curriculum. As a Performance Studies scholar, I believe that theatre is a dynamic and collaborative discipline that does not exist solely in the words of a script. For theatre to exist, you must have a play, a performance, and an audience. Take away any one element and you eviscerate the experience. Above all, drama is experience, and part of that experience, performance, encompasses all the technical disciplines taught at Wentworth.

The primary goal of my course is to teach students in architecture, design, computer science, electrical and mechanical how to translate word into image, how to visually support the totality of theme, character, setting, and performance, so that the audience enters willingly into the authenticity of the drama, through the art and craft of the designers’ technical expertise. However, I discovered early on that, for students to successfully cross over into the world of theatre, they have to understand theatre and its history. So now, in addition to reading plays, finding key lines on which the designer builds his/her images, and understanding character and theme, students learn the basic techniques of acting, and immerse themselves in the history of theater and scenic design. (Note: performance studies distinguishes between “theatre,” the genre, and “theater,” the building which houses performance.)

Teaching students the concepts of acting and scenic design has benefited from advances in computer technology. Where once we studied ruins of the great Greek theaters, or read descriptions of the early Renaissance theaters of Italy and France, we now examine computer models generated from careful study of historical drawings, contemporary description, and historical archaeology. For example, students can now view recreations of the Hôtel Guénégaud (first home of the Comédie Française) or the Théatre du Marais at Playhouses of 17th Century Paris. For those theaters which survive the centuries, technology enables students to take panoramic tours of gems such as Italy’s Teatro Farnese in Parma or the Paris Opera House, inspiration for Phantom of the Opera.

However, one of the most interesting tools available to students involves computer recreation of the scenic design technology used in these early theaters. One of my favorites is the periaktoi. Periaktoi can be found at the sides of the stage in ancient Greek theaters. They are rotating three-sided columns that have carved or painted images on each side. As the periaktoi rotate, they create the illusion of a change of scene.
The periaktoi were adopted by the Italian Renaissance designers. Multiple periaktoi were combined with divided flats (called wings), which slide in grooves in the stage floor. The grooves allow the designers to shift these rigid, painted back flats. As the periaktoi spin, the flats slide apart to reveal a new scene.
Having difficulty visualizing this? No problem. Just go to http://www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle. There you will find “The Development of Scenic Spectacle: A Site Devoted to the Study of Renaissance & Baroque Theatrical Spectacle. Two animations, one from the perspective of a floor plan (above looking down) and one from the perspective of the audience, bring to life the extraordinary accomplishments of Niccola Sabbattini (1574-1654), scenic designer and author of Manual for Constructing Theatrical Scenes and Machines (1638). Sabbattini’s book is our major source for understanding scene technology in the 17th century. Here students can read about Sabbattini’s design technology, but remember that theatre is experiential. This extraordinary project allows students in the 21st century to experience Sabbattini’s art and craft all over again, in the process, learning about “experience”.

In theatre, we immerse ourselves in the moment. We know what is to come, but we pretend we do not. The action repeats each night as if for the first time. It is real, this experience, even while it is not. This is the magic of theatre, and today, with advances in technology, students can go back and experience magic over and over again. In this way, we build new visual magic on an even more solid understanding of the past – because we experience it.