Bernard Shaw, Theatre &
Pedagogy: A Backward Glance
into the Future.
Dr. Michael M. O’Hara
Spring 2003
Company
at Muncie Civic
plays April
4, 5, 10, 11,12
at 8:00 PM.
Federal Theatre
& Shaw
Poster, Federal
Theatre
American Première
of On The Rocks,
1938.
Hallie
Flanagan
Federal
Theatre
Project
1935
Cradle Will
Rock
© 1999,
Buena Vista
Pictures
Directed by
Tim Robbins
Virgil Geddes, Hallie Flanagan and Harry
Hopkins in lobby of Experimental Theatre
Bernard
Shaw,
1935
National
Archives and
Records
Administration
Washington,
DC
Relief line - Great Depression
Publicity
Poster
Power: A
Living
Newspaper
By Arthur Arent
Mussolini
Hitler
Franco
Hirohito
FDR
Fireside
Chat
Machine Age,
1935
Great poster …
Bad play.
Movie Poster
Pygmalion
© 1938, Loews,
Inc.
Leslie Howard
(Higgins)
Wendy Hiller
(Eliza Doolittle)
Macbeth, adapted
by Orson Wells
Negro Theatre Unit,
NYC 1936
Maurice Ellis
(Macduff)
Wardwell Saunders
(Malcom)
GBS … Hallie, you
want good actors?
Good luck!
Bernard Shaw
Eugene O’Neill
Cherry Jones as
Hallie Flanagan
testifying before the
House Un-American
Activities Committee
in Cradle Will Rock, ©
1999
Great Catherine, Roslyn FTP Unit, 1939
Man of Destiny, Atlanta FTP Unit, 1939
Captain Brassbound’s Conversion
Los Angeles FTP Unit, 1937
Caesar and Cleopatra
Los Angeles FTP Unit, 1938
The Devil’s Disciple
Newark FTP Unit, 1938
Pygmalion, Roslyn FTP Unit (moved to
Broadway), 1937-1938
On The
Rocks
American
Première
New York
FTP Unit
1938
Arms and the Man, Detroit FTP Unit,
1938
Designers Part Two
Lesson 9.2
Theatre 100: Introduction to Theatre
Dr. Michael M. O’Hara
Scenic Design: the art of place
and space.
• Create environment (place action, reinforce
idea/theme, stage story, build mood).
• Create art (color-form, texture, dimension,
line, movement-real and optical).
• Create order (ground plan, white models,
color models, construction, decoration).
Why is it important to
transform space?
• Public spaces.
– North Quadrangle (Shaffer Tower)
• This space.
– Color, composition, conductive to learning?
• Private spaces.
– Your own room … color, composition, sound, lights, effects
for a date?
Costume Design: the art of
look and feel.
• Create clothes for both the character and
the actor.
• Create art (texture, line, color).
• Creates order (sketch artist, patterns,
tailor, drape, repair).
Costume Designs Add Significance
Shaw’s
Androcles in
Seattle WA
Federal
Theatre
Project
November
1937
Androcles & the Lion
• Androcles
in Los
Angeles
• December
1937
Androcles in New York City
December, 1938
Androcles in NYC (cont.)
Androcles in NYC (cont.)
Androcles
in NYC
(cont.)
Androcles in Denver, December
1937
Androcles in Denver (cont.)
Androcles in Atlanta, GA
March 1939
Androcles in Retrospect
• Costumes and sets added significance
(meanings) that extended the meanings
of the play beyond the original text.
• All costume adds significance … even
yours!
Your Costume?
• What are some characteristics of our own
costume designs (what do the choices
about texture, line, color, drape, etc.
suggest about a typical BSU student)?
• Can we change perception by changing
costume?
• The Interview?
Summary:
• All the designers unify and reinforce the
ideas and themes of a production
(concept) through the transformation of
space and time using actors, sets, lights,
costumes, and sound.