Eric Broadwater catalog

E RIC B ROADWAT ER Oc c asio n al Desi g ns

2

E RIC B ROADWAT ER Oc c asio n al Desi g ns

300 copies printed Eric Broadwater, Occasional Designs February 27–March 17, 2017

University Art Gallery Department of Art School of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus One University Circle Turlock, CA 95382

This exhibition and catalog have been funded by: Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus

Copyright Š 2017 California State University, Stanislaus All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

Catalog design and production: Brad Peatross, School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus Catalog printing: Claremont Print, Claremont, CA Catalog photography: courtesy of the artist.

Photographs included are used under the permission of the artist.

ISBN: 978-1-940753-26-3

CONTE N T S Director’s Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Artist’s Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Mikado. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Scale Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Wrecks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Curriculum Vitae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

D IRE C TO R ’S FO R E WORD Occasional Designs represents a wonderful chance to view the work of my collogue Eric Broadwater. Eric is our Department of Theatre’s resident Scenic Designer. A highly accomplished designer, artist and educator, Eric brings to us some of the most incredible sets that I have ever seen. Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of seeing many of Eric’s sets here in our Department of Theatre and I am constantly amazed at the magic he seams to perform in the ever-changing sets. This exhibition gives us a view of the work that most theatre patrons never get to see and shows the many talents that Eric has as a scenic designer.

I am very excited to be able to be part of this exhibition and to be able to share Eric’s work for others to enjoy.

I would like to thank the many colleagues that have been helpful in presenting this exhibition. Eric Broadwater for the chance of exhibiting his brilliant work, the School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design and Claremont Print and Copy for the printing of this catalog.

Much appreciation is also extended to the Instructionally Related Activates Program of California State University, Stanislaus, as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue. Their support is greatly appreciated.

Dean De Cocker, Director, University Art Gallery California State University, Stanislaus

4

ART IS T ’S STAT E M E N T “A stage designer is, in a very real sense a jack-of-all-trades. He can design fireplaces and bodices and bridges and wigs. He understands architecture, but is not an architect: can paint a portrait, but is not a painter: creates costumes, but is not a couturier. Although he is able to call upon any or all of these varied gifts at will, he is not concerned with any one of them to the exclusion of the others, nor is he interested in any one of them for its own sake. These talents are only tools of his trade. His real calling is something quite different.

He is an artist of occasions.”

—Robert Edmond Jones

Theatre is the art of storytelling and my art is a small part of a large process which begins with a script and a director’s vision. It is the words and ideas of others that drive the shape of my work. With parameters dictating the needs of a specific story, presented in a specific space, told a specific point in time; the theatrical designer brings their own thoughts, ideas, and aesthetics to a production. These ideas are discussed with the director and adapted, revised, and manipulated. Once the designer and director arrive at a design that meets the needs as set forth, the designer must be able to communicate the particulars to those who will produce the actual set itself; the Technical Directors, builders, painters, and other artisans.

Through these communications the designer’s ideas are further discussed and revised to meet space, budget, and resource requirments. This is the heart of the theatrical process…collaboration.

No theatrical artist lives in bubble. The design process can be long and requires many skill sets; drawing, painting, modeling, drafting, engineering…patience.

This collection represents, with a few exceptions, only part of the theatrical design process. These images and models are the rendered final ideas of the collaboration between the Designer and the Director and not necessarily the final output that appeared on stage. As such they incorporate the needs of the director which, in discussion, can range from very specific to very vague. Therein lies the art; the ability to interpret another’s words, the playwright’s and the director’s, into a visual image that defines the needs of a specific occasion.

5

D E SIG N S

6

1. Buried Child, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: I want something skeletal.

My Take: The internal structures “bones” and other architectural elements of a house,but thrown together and disjointed like a pile of old bones.

2. Romeo & Juliet, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: The fights are the most important thing to me, I just want an interesting place for the actors to fight.

My Take: Inspired by old Errol Flynn movies I incorporated a lot of platforms to create interesting up-and-down fight choreography. Also I tried to keep a little of the style of renaissance Verona.

7

3. Child’s Play, production photo, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Even though it is modern it needs to feel like a gothic horror piece My Take: Classic gothic architectural elements mixed with contemporary set dressing of a northeastern prep school.

4. Cloud Tectonics, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: I need to see Los Angeles burn…Also the bed needs to magically float in the air.

My Take: A classic Echo Park bungalow with looming projection screens with a variety of images that set up the destruction that was happening outside of this “safe environment” 8

5. A Flea in Her Ear – Act I, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: This is classic French farce, placed in the 1960’s. I need a lot of places for people to run on and off stage.

My Take: An apartment with classic 1960’s modern styling and seven different entrances inspired by the original Pink Panther movie.

6. A Flea in Her Ear – Act II, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus My Take: A brothel with classic 1960’s modern styling and seven different entrances inspired by The Madonna Inn.

9

7. Twelfth Night 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Clark Gable, Majorca, 1930’s My Take: Classic Mediterranean architecture, inspired by the terraced cities built up the sides of the hilly Mediterranean coastline

8. Madame Butterfly, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Classical Japanese…make it pretty My Take: Inspired by ukiyo-e, Japanese block printing I created portal that highlight the rising sun. I also create a series of shoji screens that could panel open and fly in and out to suggest changes in time and place.

10

9. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – In the City, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Starts in Athens, but I don’t want Greek columns, has to be grand but then turn into a forest, but I don’t want a forest, but I want places for fairies to hide and look down on humans.

My Take: Inspired by the architecture of Frank Gehry I wanted a magical place the would be nonspecific but still let us know when we went from a city to a forest.

10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – In the Woods, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Starts in Athens, but I don’t want Greek columns, has to be grand but then turn into a forest, but I don’t want a forest, but I want places for fairies to hide and look down on humans.

My Take: Inspired by the architecture of Frank Gehry I wanted a magical place the would be non-specific but still let us know when we went from a city to a forest.

11

11. Julius Caesar, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus My Take: Post-modern industrial tyranny

12. A Comedy of Errors, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: The scenery has to reflect 9 different locations. Oh, and how about in the 1960’s My Take: A nonspecific “cityscape” inpired by Martin and Rowan’s Laugh-In with panels and doors that would slide and move to suggest a change in setting.

12

13.The Glass Menagerie, production photo, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: I don’t know, do what you think works…seriously that’s what he told me.

My take: This play is presented as a memory of one of the characters, so using period appropriate architecture and style I wanted to fragment the set to suggest memory is not always how we remember it and details fade over time.

14. The Voice of The Prairie, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Me. My Take: Jumping around 8 different locals and 2 different timelines, I took inspiration by Norman Rockwell to try and capture the overly romantic memories of the American Midwest.

13

15. Macbeth, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Just ugly …like Macbeth My Take: The etchings of prisons and ruins by Giovanni Battista Piranesi inspired the shape of the set and I used a lot of rust, rot and ruin to symbolize the decay in Macbeth’s soul.

16. Julius Caesar, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Contemporary demagogy…the idea of politicians as celebrity.

My Take: Inspired by the fascist architecture of EUR in Rome I wanted to create a place where people could hide around the perimeter of the action to plot and scheme. Mix that with a lot of rock concert lighting.

14

17. King Lear, 11”x17” digital print, produced at CSU Stanislaus Director: Stonehenge…but you know…not Stonehenge My Take: Although the standing stones were as inspiration for the shape of the monoliths this is a play about the descent into madness. I was inspired by the surreal photomontages of Scott Mueller to paint an impending storm that merges with interior castle walls.

18. The Tempest, 11”x17” digital print, produced at the Sacramento Theatre Company

15

T H E MIK A D O

16

The Mikado, Overture 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera

If You Want to Know Who We Are 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera 17

A Wand’ring Minstrel 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera

If You Want to Know Who We Are 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera 18

I Am So Proud 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera

On a Tree by a River 11”x17” digital print produced at Townsend Opera 19

SC AL E M O D E LS

20

Buried Child, 3/8� scale model produced at CSU Stanislaus

Machinal, 3/8� scale model, produced at CSU Stanislaus

21

Sincerity Forever, 1/4” scale model produced at CSU Stanislaus

The Crucible, 1/4” Scale Model Concept Art

22

To Kill a Mockingbird, 1/4� scale model produced at Sacramento Theatre Company

Twelfth Night, 1/2� scale model produced at Sacramento Theatre Company

23

W R E CKS Wrecks, written by Neil LaButte and directed by Jason Gerace, is a one-act show with no scene changes.

These images reflect my design process. Starting with the first image as a preliminary concept dictated by the script, the scenery goes through many incarnations until the director and I come to a design that we feel best tells the story.

24

Wrecks, design process concept art 8 ½” x 11” digital print produced at Profiles Theatre, Chicago 25

Wrecks, design process concept art 8 ½” x 11” digital print produced at Profiles Theatre, Chicago 26

27

Bottom: Wrecks, final design 8 ½” x 11” digital print produced at Profiles Theatre, Chicago 28

CURRICU LU M VI TA E Eric Broadwater http://www.BroadwaterScenic.com EDUCATION 2006 MFA – Scene Design Pennsylvania State University 2001 BFA – Scene Design Southern Oregon University 2001 Internship – Scene Design Studio Oregon Shakespeare Festival ORGIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS Member – USITT, US Institute for Theatre Technology Member – KC/ACTF, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS 2016 USITT Scene Design Commission, Juried Poster Session Presentation

“Developing Scene Design Renderings form 3D Digital Models”

2015 USITT Scene Design Commission, Juried Poster Session Presentation

“Open-Source Software for Digital Theatre Designers”

Article published in Theatre Design & Technology.

“A Fully Integrated Digital Design Process for Scene Design”

2014 USITT Scene Design Commission Juried Poster Session Presentation

“A Fully Integrated Digital Design Process for Scene Design”

2013 Presenting at USITT Conference.

“Integrating Hand Drawn Scenic Elements into Computer Generated 3D Environments”

2006 “Introduction to Photoshop for Theatre Design” Workshop Presentation, KC/ACTF Region 4 AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS 2011 Set Design for “Debris” – KC/ACTF National Festival Selection 2011 Set Design for “Debris” – KC/ACTF Regional Festival Selection 2007 Excellence in Design – North Carolina Theatre Conference 2006 Achievement in Excellence (Design) – Pennsylvania State University

College of Arts & Architecture

2001 Angus Bower Award for Design – Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2001 Schneider Merit Award – Schneider Museum of Art (Southern Oregon University)

SCENE DESIGNS 2016 The Lion, Witch ,and the Wardrobe

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre,

Phineas McBoof

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

The Super Cilantro Girl

LightBox Theatre Co.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Sacramento Theatre Co.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

CSU Stanislaus 29

James and the Giant Peach

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

The Reluctant Dragon

LightBox Theatre Co.

The Fantasticks

CSU Stanislaus

Elephant & Piggie

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

Twelfth Night

Sacramento Theatre Co.

2015 Constellations CSU Stanislaus

Of Kites & Kings

Sacramento Theatre Co.

BFG Palo Alto Children’s Theatre,

Vinegar Tom

CSU Stanislaus

Bunnicula LightBox Theatre Co.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Redtwist Theatre Co.

Brementown Players

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

Sleeping Beauty

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

Alice in Wonderland

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

King Lear

CSU Stanislaus

Julius Caesar

Sacramento Theatre Co.

Junie B. Jones

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

2014 A Year with Frog and Toad

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

A Flea in Her Ear

CSU Stanislaus

I and You

CSU Stanislaus

Twelfth Night

CSU Stanislaus

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse

Palo Alto Children’s Theatre

Dead Accounts

StepUp Productions

2013 Wrecks

Profiles Theatre

Art of Murder

Fox Valley Repertory

Cloud Tectonics CSU Stanislaus

Scapin CSU Stanislaus

MacBeth CSU Stanislaus 2012 Angels CSU Stanislaus The Shape of Things

CSU Stanislaus

Opus (Remounted) Redtwist Theatre

Carmen Townsend Opera Comedy of Errors

CSU Stanislaus

Sukie and Sue

The Blank Theatre Co.

Mikado Townsend Opera, 2011 Opus Redtwist Theatre, Buried Child

CSU Stanislaus

Romeo & Juliet

CSU Stanislaus

Madame Butterfly

Townsend Opera

Voice of the Prairie

CSU Stanislaus

Romeo & Juliet

Townsend Opera,

2010 Debris CSU Stanislaus

The Frogs CSU Stanislaus

Tape Duel Theatre Inherit the Whole

Mortar Theatre Co.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

CSU Stanislaus

30

2009 It’s a Wonderful Life

CSU Stanislaus

Machinal CSU Stanislaus Child’s Play

CSU Stanislaus

2008 A Christmas Carol

CSU Stanislaus

Crimes of the Heart

CSU Stanislaus

2007 Glass Menagerie

CSU Stanislaus

Trojan Women 2.0 CSU

Lend Me a Tenor

CSU Stanislaus

2006 one Star

Northwest School of the Arts

Rounding Third

Pennsylvania Center Stage

The Rivals

Pennsylvania State University

Translations

Pennsylvania State University

2005 Dracula

AK Theatre for Young People

Twelfth Night

AK Theatre for Young People

The Phantom Tollbooth

AK Theatre for Young People

Beauty and the Beast

AK Theatre for Young People

Zoo Story/Sandbox

University of Oklahoma Theatre

La Traviata

University of Oklahoma Opera

Apassionada

University of Oklahoma Ballet

Paquita

University of Oklahoma Ballet

2004 Pavilion

University of Oklahoma Theatre

A Winter’s Tale

Gameliel Theatre Company

Harvey

University of Oklahoma Theatre

Androcles & The Lion

University of Oklahoma Theatre

Ghosts

University of Oklahoma Theatre

Mercy Seat

University of Oklahoma Theatre

On the Verge

University of Oklahoma Theatre

2003 All My Sons

University of Oklahoma Theatre

2002 Brigadoon

Pennsylvania State University

2001 Macbeth

Pennsylvania State University

Southern Oregon University

The Crucible

2000 The Mikado

Rogue Valley Opera December

Top Girls

Southern Oregon University

On the Verge

Southern Oregon University

1999 Medea

Southern Oregon University

STAGE DIRECTION 2012 The Shape of Things

CSU Stanislaus

CSU Stanislaus

Voice of the Prairie

COSTUME DESIGN 2016 The Super Cilantro Girl

LightBox Theatre Co.

LightBox Theatre Co.

The Reluctant Dragon

2012 The Shape of Things

CSU Stanislaus

31

AC K NOW LE D GM E N TS California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Ellen Junn, President

Dr. Kimberly Greer, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Depar tment of Ar t

Dr. Roxanne Robbin, Chair, Professor

Dean De Cocker, Professor

Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, Professor

David Olivant, Professor

Gordon Senior, Professor

Richard Savini, Professor

Mar tin Azevedo, Assistant Professor

Daniel Edwards, Assistant Professor

Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Assistant Professor

Meg Broderick, Administrative Suppor t Assistant II

Andrew Cain, Instructional Technician I

Jon Kithcar t, Equipment Technician II

University Ar t Gallery

Dean De Cocker, Director

Nikki Boudreau, Gallery Assistant

Special Thanks To my wife Junko, Sage and Mina for putting up with the long, weird hours of a theatre ar tist.

To Jason Gerace for always giving me an oppor tunity to get out of my bubble.

To Michael Laun and Sacramento Theatre Co. for given me a shot after four or five cold calls.

To Clay Everett and Bo Henry for facilitating some odd requests.

To Dan Carlgren for being there all the way from the beginning.

To the CSUS Ar t Depar tment faculty for considering what we do here in the Theatre Depar tment wor th putting in a gallery.

To the CSUS Ar t Depar tment and CAHSS staff for helping to actually catalog, promote and put the work in a gallery.

32

33

34