USITT and the Prague Quadrennial: A shared historyTop

The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is the world's largest organization for design, production, and technology professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry. The mission of USITT is to connect the performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialogue among practitioners, educators, and students. USITT is also committed to sponsoring exhibits of scenery, lighting, costumes, sound, stage technology and architectural designs, as well as to strengthening international alliances and activities relating to the performing arts. USITT has been the proud organizer and sponsor of the American exhibits to the Prague Quadrennial since the beginning of our participation in this dynamic theatre design exposition.

The Origins of the Prague Quadrennial

During the 1950s and 1960s Czech and Slovak theatre and performing art design, known as scenography (scenic, costume, lighting, and sound design for the performing arts) in Europe, was gaining world-wide attention, especially through the exciting work of Josef Svoboda who was involved with projects around the world. The Prague Theatre Institute, through a desire to build a bridge between theatre practitioners in the east and west, offered to host an international exhibition of stage design. Since it's premiere in 1967, with 19 countries participating, the international exhibition has been held in Prague regularly every four years, and has come to be known as the Prague Quadrennial or PQ, with as many as 60 countries involved.

The PQ provided a vital link during the Cold War, bringing together theatre artists from around the world in a spirit of cooperation and exchange. The exposition continues to serve as a meeting point for artists from every continent by bringing together designers, directors, and students, as well as the general public, for seminars and workshops from around the world, creating an unprecedented opportunity for cross-cultural exchange of ideas.

The PQ is now the pre-eminent scenographic exhibition in the world, and one of the theatre design community's most important international scenographic competitions and events. Continuing to the present, the PQ celebrates innovations in theatre design by exhibiting thousands of designs from more than 60 counties from all of the world's continents. With four major categories of exhibits, National, Thematic, Architectural and Student, the PQ has been a major factor in shaping the direction of world theatre, and hence world culture, for the past 30 years. The PQ, including its various specialized accompanying activities, continues to be supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and is organized and realized by the Theatre Institute in Prague.

USITT and the PQ

While the first PQ, in 1967, had no USA participation, we became involved in 1971 and have continued participation in each PQ since. In 1971 a group of designers from the USA went to Prague to see what it was all about. 1975 saw the USA's first participation in the PQ. The national exhibit, organized by Ming Cho Lee, Eldon Elder, Howard Bay, Donald Oenslager and Joel Rubin, featured 250 individual designs from 70 designers. The accompanying catalog , Contemporary Stage Design, U. S. A, was published by ITI/US. Peter Frink prepared an Architectural Exhibit with a catalog published by USITT, Theatre Design 1975. Both exhibits received an Honorable Mention by the PQ.

In 1979, the USA exhibit was a retrospective of American Designers from the Robert L. B. Tobin collection called "An American Collection." Designers represented in the exhibit included Robert Edmond Jones, Norman Bel Geddes, Eugene Berman, Oliver Smith and their contemporaries. As the exhibit was historical, it was not a part of the national competition, yet it the jury recognized the exhibit with a Special Certificate for Mr. Tobin.

Funding was not forthcoming in 1983 and the debt was still being paid off for the 1975 USA exhibit, so there was no scenography exhibit from the USA at this PQ. However, an architectural exhibit of George Izenour's work previously organized by the United States Information Agency, was displayed at the 1983 PQ and received a Special Citation. A large delegation from the USA led by Eric Fielding attended the 1983 PQ and, disappointed that USA scenography was not represented, resolved to have the USA represented at the next PQ. Preparation for the USA exhibit to the PQ 1987 involved a great deal of effort from a wide range of interested parties who raised funds, conceived, designed and built the USA scenography exhibit. The exhibit, designed and curated by John Conklin, with lighting by Jennifer Tipton, focused on the process of design and recreated an exaggerated version of a design studio, a crowded affair littered with sketches, renderings, models, and video monitors, as well as pizza and coffee cups. This expressive USA exhibit received the highest recognition of all the exhibits at the 1987 PQ winning the Golden Triga, Grand Prize. That exhibit also traveled to other sites including Amsterdam, New York, Milwaukee, and other sites in the USA. The USA exhibit in 1991 prepared by Eric Fielding, Sam Scripps, and Joel Rubin, followed the overall PQ theme of showing productions of Mozart operas and received the Gold Medal for best realization of the theme. In this year, the first exhibit of student work appeared at the PQ and the USA participated in this category.

The 1995 USA exhibit was designed by Eric Fielding and produced by Arnold Aronson, featuring a small number of renowned designers, Gabriel Berry, William Ivy Long, Robert Israel, George Tsypin, Tony Walton, and Anne Hould Ward. Gabriel Berry's work was recognized at this PQ by receiving a Silver Medal for costume design. A student exhibit was also prepared by Aronson and Sarah Nash Gates. In 1999, the special focus was to showcase designers who were members of USITT, as the long time the sponsor of the USA exhibits to the PQ. This version, designed and curated by Bruce Brockman, Dick Durst, and Arden Weaver, included 40 diverse designers from established Broadway and Regional Theatres to young designers just beginning their craft. USA student work was also exhibited. The 2003 USA exhibit displayed over 60 productions from a wide range of performing arts producing groups, and focused on the collaboration of all the various designers involved in each of the productions. Robert N. Schmidt and Ursula Belden designed this exhibit. Sound design was introduced for the first time in a USA exhibit. There were over 300 items from more than 200 designers represented with photographs, models, renderings, and electronic media. American design was defined as any design taking place no American soil or an American designing anyplace in the world. The USA National Exhibit received a Special Honorary Mention for "its exclusivity and internationalism." The USA also presented a Student and Architectural Exhibit.

The 2007 USA National Exhibit, designed by Nic Ularu and Madeleine Sobota, combined innovative exhibit techniques with digital media to express the theme of the designs selected, "New Voices, New Visions." The curators sought productions that examined contemporary themes in American culture and politics, or expanded existing trends in theatre design. The exhibit featured ground-breaking and inventive designs that provided alternative insights to the world of the play, and to life within our borders in today's world. The designs selected range from Broadway to regional and academic theatre productions, from established award winners to students. The work of four designers was highlighted, Madeleine Sobota, Paul Steinberg, George Tsypin, and Paul Steinberg. Mr. Steinberg, along with Ming Cho Lee were designated as Honorable Designers from the USA.

"Performance Spaces for a New Generation" was the theme for the architecture exhibit, showcasing the best of American theatre architecture intended for education and training in the performing arts. The widespread field of education-for-the-arts is one that particularly distinguishes the USA in the international arena. Projects shown included university and college facilities, theatres, schools, and performing arts centers that include specific training programs.

The 2007 USA Student Exhibit was entitled "New Visions, New Voices and Beyond to a New Vocabulary." Students of scenography are the "newest" new voices. While some follow in the style that their mentors have taught them, others elaborate on current practices and a few break the rules, bringing new visions to the art of stage design. In addition to models and renderings, this exhibit featured a stage space for live examples of design as performance, and viewings of DVD of story telling through visual imagery moving beyond text and tradition.

Some information for this history was obtained from, "Prague Quadrennial and the USA: History of US involvement in the PQ" by Joel Rubin, published in Theatre Design and Technology, Fall, 1995, Volume 32, Number 5.

Participating designers comment about the USITT PQ USA 2007 Exhibit:Top

The exhibit shows what a strong community of artists we have in American design. We need to celebrate it every chance we get. It shows a generation of innovative and visionary designers at their best, and as a whole, they move American design forward with their fearlessness.
Joe Tilford
Dean of the School of Design and Production
North Carolina School for the Arts

Hello, this is Federico Restrepo writing back to let you know how wonderful a time we had at the PQ. It really was an honor to have been a part of this amazing Festival. It was mind blowing to have been there and see all the great theatre art designs from all over the world and to have had the opportunity to perform was also thrilling.

I am proud to add the USITT PQ USA 2007 National Exhibit to my resume and look forward to any future participation.
Federico Restrepo
Founder/Artistic Director/Designer
Loco7, Puppet Theatre

I thought the design of the US Pavilion was handsome, beautifully integrated, and very professional. It represented an enormous amount of dilligent and meticulous work. Bravo! I also realize what a difficult job it is to select representative work as our country has so many designers representing so many styles. The cross section from idiosyncratic radical high concept to ravishing to handsome was quite democratic. The digital display increased the exhibit scope enormously and seemed a terrific idea. The committee of planners and executors should feel pleased when they recover from their exhaustion.

Thank you for all wonderful efforts.
Paul Shortt
Professor Emeritus
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

The US exhibit was astonishingly extensive, a powerful presentation of so many strong designs and designers. I am very proud to be included. I saw the database being constantly in use and heard a lot of appreciation for the way the exhibit was curated.
Best wishes,
Anna Kiraly
Visual Artist and Theatre Designer

Thank you so much for your tireless efforts, the entire event was incredibly inspirational and I am proud to have been a part of it. I will forward this to several individuals who might have the resources to bring the exhibit to town, it should definitely be seen.
Sincerely,
Connie Furr-Solomon
Associate Professor
Arizona State University

The US offering at PQ was a terrific accomplishment and made the case for the work happening in our country being among the most dynamic in the world. I was pleased and proud to be part of it and want you to know how much I appreciate the work you, your collaborators and curators did.
Allen Hahn
Assistant Professor of Lighting Design
Carnegie-Mellon University

Contact UsTop

For questions regarding the Exhibit, USITT, the PQ, or this website, please contact usittPQ2011@usitt.org.