Charles Steckler

Intro >
Stage Design >

My mind is crowded with memories, ideas, emotions and associations. When I read a play script, when I slowly steer my heart through its pages, I recall sights that I have seen, thoughts that I have had, feelings felt. I respond personally. I enter into the life of the play, stand in it; I walk around and open my eyes to its world, smell it, taste it, submitting myself to its evocations. What I am looking for is an image. My work is to transform these responses along with the materials of period and style research, text analysis and formal experiments into a locale and a mood, into a sense of place and a sense of the occasion. I endeavor to rescue motifs inherent in the script, literary themes, symbols, references. I examine the possibilities of the visual ingredients of line, shape, color and contrast, balance and proportion, space and time. I notice connections. Design begins.

I imagine the play in continuous movement, not frozen like a painting or a photograph. Human stories unfold in the container of a theatrical space. I inhabit each of the characters, one at a time. Time passes. I make lists. My mind’s eye guides my hand as I draw lines against masses, tuning and balancing ground plan against elevation. I remind myself that a good design will have clarity. I think about the play as it grows inside of me; new ideas arrive daily, in the morning shower, on the drive to the studio and even - subliminally - when my attention is elsewhere. Elements merge; questions get answered. There are many changes. What began as ephemeral becomes palpable. Slowly, forms appear and evolve, and design manifests itself in a long cycle of growth.

When I read a play I am reminded of sights that I have seen, thoughts that I have had, feelings felt. I respond personally. I enter into the life of the play; I walk around and open my eyes, smelling and tasting it, submitting myself to all its evocations. My work is to transform these responses along with the materials of period and style research, text analysis and formal experiments into a locale and a mood, into a sense of place and a sense of occasion. What I am looking for is an image and an idea. I sift for motifs inherent in the language, literary themes, symbols, references, allusions. I examine the possibilities of the visual ingredients of line, shape, color and contrast, balance and proportion, space and time. Elements merge. Forms appear. Time passes. I notice connections. Design begins.