| Volume 25 Special Issue 2.8 | October 7, 2024 |
Case Study: Exploring the Site of Performance
Michael Schweikardt
San Francisco State University, United States of America
Citation: Schweikardt, M. (2024). Case study: Exploring the site of performance. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 25(si2.8). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea25si2.8
Abstract
Scenic designers define and articulate a space within a space, yet we often we ask scenic design students to create hypothetical designs in lieu of materializing their designs in sites of performance. These “paper projects” reduce sites of performance to ground plans, sections, and model boxes, all of which are facsimiles of sites of performance, but not the sites themselves. Sites of performance have meaning, and those meanings are often left unexplored in students’ paper projects.
This case study foregrounds the student designer’s understanding of the site of performance when designing a paper project. What will interrogating the site of performance reveal to the student designer about the culture that built and stewards it? What decisions will the student designer make about their responsibility to that site of performance and its culture? How will they manipulate, disrupt, or follow the lead of the site of performance?
