Date of Award

8-1-1971

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Theatre Arts

Abstract

This thesis documents the designing and mounting of the children's play, The Tingalary Bird. Designing included the set, properties and furniture, costume, make-up, lighting, and sound. A stylized concept was followed throughout the entire production. A bird cage set, furniture, and properties were built with function, mobility, color, and shape as the primary design elements. Costumes, built from day-glow colored fabric and make-up characterizing doll-like features were coordinated for an overall stylized effect. Lighting, including ultraviolet light, and tape-recorded sound, ranging from pipe organ to acid rock which periodically added a definite mood and emphasis to the plot, accentuated the make-believe and magic of children's theatre.

The play ran for seven performances. The children's audience reacted to the fifty-minute productions by sending the cast and crew letters and drawings. The stylized design concept enabled the children's audience to combine their imagination with the plot of the play. The use of ultraviolet light proved to be a spectacular technical element in the overall stylized design concept. As indicated by their drawings, the footlight shields on the forestage were distracting visual barriers to the children. The designer felt a need for the addition of more stylized trees to the forest setting which would have given the feeling of greater dimension. Designing for mobility and action, light and sound with aesthetic sensitivity as the foundation for the stylized design concept challenged the writer as designer and technical director for The Tingalary Bird.

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