Week 5: Theatre Spaces and Set Design Activity 1 Last Spring, The New Y

Week 5: Theatre Spaces and Set Design Activity 1
Last Spring, The New York Times* featured Ghost Light, a powerful poem by Tazewell Thompson with photographs of empty theaters by Devin Oktar Yalkin. At this point, Broadway had been shut down for a year.
A ghost light is an electric light that is left energized on the stage of a theatre when the theatre is unoccupied and would otherwise be completely dark. It is a light that is on when all other lights are off. It is placed on stage every night after a performance in every theatre across the world.
Follow the link below on a computer or tablet to read the poem, Ghost Light and view the haunting images. (If you try and access it on your phone, it will lose it’s impact.)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/09/opinion/covid-nyc-theaters-closed.htm
This week, Broadway re-opened after being silent for over a year and a half. The joy that the audiences experienced was made even sweeter because they were not taking the performances for granted. Read this poem which was written a year into the Broadway shut down and 6 months before it’s re-opening. Where do you think the “howl” of this piece is coming from? Choose one stanza from this poem and describe it’s impact.
Choose one image from this article. What is the picture? How does it make you feel? Where does it’s power lie? Describe the image in detail and the impact it had on you in conjunction with the poem.
Activity 2
2. How would the genre of the play effect the choices you might make as a scenic designer?
2. As a scenic designer, describe in detail how you would establish locale for a kitchen in an apartment in the Bronx? What details would you add to indicate the time period in your design?