Publications on Scenography
In this section you'll find some of the most recent publications related to scenography, from academic journals and books, to online magazines and other publications.If you are aware of any resource(s), please let us know at communications[at]ispd.ie and we'll include them in this section. Thanks
We are featuring Costume in honour and in memory of Monica Frawley, one of Ireland’s best-loved and most respected theatre designers.
Monica Frawley Costume
Monica Frawley (1954-2020) was one of Ireland’s best-loved and most respected theatre designers.
For more than three decades her set and costume designs illuminated and defined new directions in Irish theatre, opera and dance. She worked with all the major Irish playwrights, directors and theatre artists, with the leading Irish theatre, dance and opera companies, and with many theatres in England, Scotland, Germany and the U.S.
This book celebrates Monica Frawley the artist and designer, featuring a number of iconic productions she designed including By the Bog of Cats (1998 and 2015) at the Abbey Theatre, Orfeo ed Euridice for Opera Ireland, At the Black Pig’s Dyke for Druid and The Wolf and Peter for CoisCéim Dance Theatre.
More info here.
Books
Beyond Scenography by Rachel Hann
August 2018 - This book explores the porous state of contemporary theatre-making to argue a critical distinction between scenography (as a crafting of place orientation) and scenographics (that which orientate acts of worlding, of staging).
Bringing Set and Costume Designs to Fruition by Jennifer Dasher, Lynne M. Koscielniak and Jonathan Shimon
May 2023- Set and costume designers render environments and characters for a wide array of performative events; skilled artisans and technologists bring these visions to life. This book explores the dynamic between those who decide what the set and costumes should look like and those who make them work, including scene designers, costume designers, scene shops, and costume shops.
Costume Design for Performance by Bettina John
November 2021 - This book offers a detailed insight into the creative process behind designing costumes for the performing arts, including theatre, opera, dance and film. Featuring over 200 original artworks by more than thirty designers, this book gives a rare insight into this highly individual and creative process.
Creative and Successful Set Designs by Todd Muffatti
October 2018 - Using his 40-year career as a professional set designer and university professor, Muffatti shares tips from his creative process and offers practical ideas about how to approach and accomplish imaginative set designs for high school theatre.
Dramatic Spaces: Scenography and Spectatorial Perceptions by Jennifer Low
May 2020 - For literary scholars, plays are texts; for scenographers, plays are performances. Yet clearly a drama is both text and performance. Dramatic Spaces examines period-specific stage spaces, assessing how design shaped the thematic and experiential dimensions of plays.
Ecoscenography: An Introduction to Ecological Design for Performance by Tanja Beer
December 2022 - This ground-breaking book is the first to bring an ecological focus to theatre and performance design, both in scholarship and in practice. Ecoscenography weaves environmental philosophies and practices across genres and fields to provide a captivating vision for the future of sustainable theatre production.
Fifty Key Theatre Designers By Arnold Aronson
November 2023 - Fifty Key Theatre Designers looks at the history of theatrical scenography by examining the work and contributions of fifty ground-breaking set, costume, lighting, and projection designers since the Renaissance.
Innovating the Design Process: A Theatre Design Journey by David E. Smith
May 2022 - Innovating the Design Process: A Theatre Design Journey explores the process of designing for theatre and details how each part of a designer’s own process, no matter what their design specialization, can be innovated and adapted for a more confident journey and for better outcomes.
Sound Design for the Stage by Gareth Fry
April 2019 - Sound Design for the Stage is a practical guide to designing, creating and developing the sound for a live performance. Based on the author's extensive industry experience, it takes the reader through the process of creating a show, from first contact to press night, with numerous examples from high-profile productions.
Stage Lighting Design by Neil Fraser
June 2018- A comprehensive introduction to the creation of lighting for performance, tracing the evolution of lighting design, covering the simple nuts and bolts of equipment, through to the complexity of a full lighting rig. This revised second edition includes new material on historical development, intelligent control systems, and the latest advances in LED fixtures and luminaires.
The Art of Theatrical Design by Kaoiṁe E. Malloy
June 2022- The Art of Theatrical Design: Elements of Visual Composition, Methods, and Practice contains an in-depth discussion of design elements and principles for costume, set, lighting, sound, projection, properties, and makeup designs.
The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography by Joslin McKinney and Philip Butterworth
February 2009 - The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography introduces the reader to the purpose, identity and scope of scenography, its theories and concepts in relation to performing bodies, text, space and the role of the audience.
The Handbook of Costume Accessories by Diane Favell and Giles Favell
March 2023 - An introduction to both traditional and new techniques of making Costume props, working through a cross-section of practical projects. Examples include canes and hats, crowns and lorgnettes, and more. Methods include: Millinery; leather-work; glove making; metal-work; jewellery work; bead-work; crochet; embroidery; 3D printing; CNC routing; chainmaille.
The Heart of Light A Holistic Primer for a Life and Career in Lighting Design and Production by Deanna Fitzgerald
January 2022 - The Heart of Light: A Holistic Primer for a Life and Career in Lighting Design and Production is a fresh look into the ever-evolving fields of lighting design and technology for arts and entertainment.
The Prop Building Guidebook by Erick Hart
November 2023 - Now in its third edition, The Prop Building Guidebook: For Theatre, Film, and TV walks readers through techniques used in historical and contemporary prop making and demonstrates how to apply them to a variety of materials.
The Routledge Companion to Scenography edited by Arnold Aronson
March 2020 - The Routledge Companion to Scenography is the largest and most comprehensive collection of original essays to survey the historical, conceptual, critical and theoretical aspects of this increasingly important aspect of theatre and performance studies.