Notes for Matt

Matt:
This is a follow up on our talk!

I hope you are breaking through the difficulties of finding Diderot's theater mechanisms and the draewings of the existing building you chose.

In the meantime I, from memory, will try here to name some of the stage set mechanisms as I remamber them. Keep in mind that these are narratives from the renaissance so they are old but still applicabale with new technology. As I said to you, you should get some books from Pratt library about theater stage set design and architecture. Please do that. You can not invent it all by your self....I also advised you to attack the problem from many fronts at once to avoid tunnel vission and get stuck!!!

Here is what I remember:

Each mechanism was dedicated to a specific kind of theatrical illusion desired at that time.

1. A sudden appearance/disappearance ...trap door from bellow or swinging ropes from above/ many
entrance points
2. The movement of the cosmic bodies-the celestial stars- rotary motion like a clock
3. Optical illusions (also check Ames demonstrations)
4. Durrer's (the painter) grid....a framing system a frame within a frame with a grid for compositional use
5. Gravity...a plum line/whights as you have them in your model....
6. A wavy motion symbolizing the sea or drunken sailors etc...they had a mechanism for that
7. Lighting spotlight for zooming in an on character in the play...

All of these are, to my mind part of your "PROGRAM" for the front/back "stage" of your theater.

Some of these I have used in a first year project a long time ago. It is on Youtube. Take a look at it
None of this research would prevent you to reinvent the theater as an experience, as you said you want to do.

This is a short film I did with first year students in the early nineties ( I coordinated First Year from 1987-1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZiwtB6yZM