Theater instructors from Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University have united to present a new exhibit at the Arkadelphia Arts Center.
The Art and Craft of Designing for the Stage will be on display through Saturday at the center, 625 Main St. Farrell Ford, president of the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council, said the exhibit educates the public on “the huge amount of work that goes into mounting a stage production.”
About 50 costumes, scale set models, drawings and blueprints from plays performed at Henderson and Ouachita are displayed.
“There are all these preliminary things that happen before feet ever hit the stage for a production,” Ford said. “Hours and hours of planning, designing, constructing miniature sets and creating costumes go into it. We have a gallery full of this information. People can come and see all of the work of building the sets, doing the drawings and making the costumes.”
Nick Langley, executive director of the council, said the exhibit is educational in that it shows the process of stage design.
“None of this is the actual final product,” he said. “In the usual art show, you have the final product, but this shows you the process and is worth seeing in and of itself.”
Set models from such productions as Hamlet, Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew; stage designs and blueprints from Twelfth Night, Suddenly Last Summer and Time Stands Still; character designs from A Streetcar Named Desire; and costumes from Hedda Gabler and other plays are all part of the exhibit. Each exhibit was crafted by theater instructors and/or students at Henderson or Ouachita.
“We’ve had people come and look and say they had no idea that so much hard work had to be done before a play,” Ford said.
She compared such preparations to her own work as
a visual artist.
“It’s not just sitting down in front of a canvas and throwing paint on it,” Ford said. “You must have the right equipment. I think about a painting a long time before I get to the process of doing it. Everything you do has a process that requires a skill, and the more you do it, the better your skills get. There’s a reason it’s called ‘art work’ — it’s work.”
Ford said she had long had a desire to represent the performing arts at the gallery.
“This gets people in touch with the performing arts more than just going to the plays.”
Each display offers its own educational value.
“It’s hard for me to pick out a favorite, but I’m a seamstress, and I think the costumes are just fantastic,” Ford said. “The sets are tremendous. Everything is informational.”
“This is unique,” Langley said. “You would have to go back into the production rooms to see these items. I think a lot of people might not know how much work these directors do. They are multitalented individuals, and this is a good way to display all their talents.”
Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call (870) 246-8216.