#### Contents
- [[#Introduction: The Ancient Arts Today|Introduction: The Ancient Arts Today]]
- [[#How Did We Get Here?|How Did We Get Here?]]
- [[#It's The Same Everywhere|It's The Same Everywhere]]
- [[#References|References]]
---
## Introduction: The Ancient Arts Today
The modern **Theatre Industry** emerges from millennia of storytelling on stage. Attracting great artists and craftspeople, we have always relied on **formalised disciplines and processes** to enable cooperation of a diverse crew- all the while creating ambitious, boundary-pushing storytelling.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
Standardised practices, while not particularly exciting, are essential for live production of any sort. They enable trained professionals to get right to work after first meeting one another, often for the first time.
*A modern theatre team in tech.*
*Storyboards for Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Still from BTS on YouTube, courtesy Netflix)*
Without these practices, creative efforts can become chaotic and unproductive. Limitations, clear direction, and certainty, are crucial in delivering a bold, clear vision to an impressive and high standard. [^5]
The theatrical tradition is beyond words on a page. Its success over time, arguably owes its resilience to the respective disciplines that contribute to it- linked by a collective, collaborative culture, likely passed down from long before the time of Shakespeare. [^6]
These disciplines, old and new, work together.
For example, a Theatre Director's skill, arguably in part, is the art of **guiding collective attention** to each beat of a cohesive story, at the right time. Whether using a 'stick in mud', as it were, or an arena performance, these principles remain the same.
Moving on through the creative team, we get closer to the 'nuts and bolts' of technical execution. The tools and methods for these roles tend to evolve more rapidly. Levers of operation that are not communication-based, jump between competing technical platforms, hardware and software.[^7]
Just walk by a lunchtime chat between Lighting Designers, and you will likely hear an encyclopaedia of 'which control desks' and 'which software' might be used- this year, last year, next year. Who pays for what software packages and why? Who will go the extra mile to ensure a last-minute request is taken care of?
Rapid evolution of technology is so central to our time, that this dynamic - updating, upgrading, compatibility and consensus - will undoubtedly remain the same in our industry. Age-old Arts will sit alongside huge changes. [^8]
The consensus of 'Industry Standard' acts as a barrier against the 'hype' that may come with the arrival of new tech.[^9]
But suspicion for the new, can be mistaken for stability- and solvable process issues can be mistaken for the everyday struggle of art. By taking a birds-eye view, we can spot the difference.
**To keep our industry and profession strong, and to avoid needless toil, we must optimize and adapt at every level.** [^10][^11]
---
## How Did We Get Here?
**Here is the modern theatre production team as it exists today.**
| Production | Marketing, Media and PR | Creative |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Executive Producer, investors | Marketing Leads/Execs | Author (Writer, Playwright) |
| Producer | Public Relations | Director |
| Associate Producer | Media / Content Creators | Dramaturg |
| Production Management | Social Media Mgrs. | Choreographer |
| Vocational Roles (HR, DEI) | Camera Operators | Musical Director |
| Stage Management (CSM, ASM, TSM) | Production Photographers | Designers (Scenic, Costume) |
| Technical Department | | Lighting Designer |
| Staging Department | | Sound Designer |
| | | Other movement-related roles (Movement Dir, Combat, Intimacy) |
| | | Maker Depts. (Set, Scenic, Prop,Costume) |
| | | Musicians (Band, Orchestra) |
| | | Actors (Performers, Singers, Dancers) |
Lets zoom in to the role of Lighting Designer in particular. Not long ago, there was no such thing, with Shakespeare or Marlowe exhibited in the open air or under candlelight.
*Lighting candles for stage. Courtesy University of Bristol[^32]*
When was Lighting Design formalised? When, and only when, the technological milieu allowed the innovators of the time to explore that new territory and make it so- in this instance, between around 1899 and 1930. [^12]
This lead to the responsibility for Lighting Design taking the form of a dedicated person- or clearly being outlined, one way or the other, with adaptations taking place for smaller productions.
One moment, Lighting Design was not a thing, and then, it was.
Similar fundamentals exist today, in that theatre practitioners and innovators harness and adapt the tools of the day, to get them to work well **specifically for the medium of theatre**. [^13]
---
## It's The Same All Over
We could say that this virtuous cycle of technology and art, of theory and practice, drives the development of technology forward in turn, in all creative industries.
In the well-funded film industry in particular, Ed Catmull tells the story of how "every major technological breakthrough" in the early days of Pixar, was the result of a creative vision first. [^14]
We discover therefore, that tech is not an 'inevitable thing that we have to deal with'-- but rather, it is shaped by our choices, its inventors **inspired by what we do** as creatives. [^15] What could we putting to use from other fields?.[^16]
>*“Without great storytelling, technology is a hollow pursuit."*
>- Edwin Catmull
---
#### References
[^1]: Please see appendix [History of Disciplines in Theatre](History%20of%20Disciplines%20in%20Theatre.md)
[^2]: Confluence of many disciplines has been noted and explored by theatre makers thoughout history, and could be explored as a **genealogy of interdisciplinary art** more broadly. Notable further reading:
'Gesamtkunstwerk’, or 'Totalising Work Of Art' https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-a-gesamtkunstwerk-examples/
Study on Tennessee Williams 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and his coining of 'plastic theater', the use of many differing onstage elements to express meaning https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/295898
"Tennessee Williams envisioned a plastic theater where dramatists construct plays using all the arts of the stage together, relying not just on words as the foundation of the performance text with sound, lighting, and design as enhancements to the text, but a collaboration among the arts which the playwright, as a kind of multimedia conductor, uses to make his or her images. Today, that kind of plasticity has extended beyond the traditional stage arts to which Williams referred to incorporate all the arts and even the technology contemporary artists are also using to push the boundaries of their fields." - [Rick on Theater](https://rickontheater.blogspot.com/2011/07/relation-of-theater-to-other.html)
Key words for further historical context:
- *Synesthesia*, *mousikē* (Greek)
- *Rasa* Theory (India)
- *Bauhaus Theatre*
[^3]: This article is an example of a common understanding of these practices and conventions. Each discipline requires years of specialised study. https://promotionalpropsandcostumes.co.uk/the-eight-steps-to-a-successful-theatre-production/
[^4]: Further Reading: Essay by Robert Ruffin https://howlround.com/we-need-theatre-exist-and-maybe-research-can-prove-its-necessity
'The Necessity of Theater' by Paul Woodruff https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-necessity-of-theater-9780195394801?cc=us&lang=en&
**Aristotle’s _Poetics_** ties theatre’s endurance to humanity’s mimetic instinct https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13270.Poetics
[^5]: Please see appendix [Standardisation in Theatre](Standardisation%20in%20Theatre.md)
[^6]: Please see appendix [History of Collaboration in Theatre](History%20of%20Collaboration%20in%20Theatre.md)
[^7]: Please see appendix [Rapidly Changing Tools in Theatre](Rapidly%20Changing%20Tools%20in%20Theatre.md)
[^8]: Please see appendix [How Tech Evolution Is Affecting Us Now](How%20Tech%20Evolution%20Is%20Affecting%20Us%20Now.md)
[^9]: Please see appendix [On Industry Standards Tools and Software](On%20Industry%20Standards%20Tools%20and%20Software.md)
[^10]: Please see appendix [When Industry Tools Fail](When%20Industry%20Tools%20Fail.md)
[^11]: Please see appendix [The Power of the Informed Practitioner](The%20Power%20of%20the%20Informed%20Practitioner.md)
[^12]: [A Brief History of Stage Lighting - Larry Wild](https://www.terryewell.com/m114/Readings/BriefHistoryStageLighting.pdf)
[^13]: In Die Musik und die Inszenierung (Music and Staging) (1899) Appia distinguished three kinds of stage light.
1. Helligkeit, the "diffused light" which illuminated the general acting space,
2. Gestaltendes Licht, the "creative light" which creates the highlights and shadows, revealing the three dimensional world, and
3. Painted Light, the highlight and shadows painted on the scenery by the scenic artist. This static, painted light, was not a part of Appia's vision.
- [A Brief History of Stage Lighting](https://www.terryewell.com/m114/Readings/BriefHistoryStageLighting.pdf)
[^14]: Please see appendix [Findings from Creativity Inc](Findings%20from%20Creativity%20Inc.md)
[^15]: [Art and Technology](Art%20and%20Technology.md)
[^16]: Blue the Droid, made in collaboration with Disney's storytelling and character design, Google DeepMind's machine learning, and Nvidia's processors. Observe the love, care and attention that has been poured into the movement direction alone of this creation. [Jensen Huang reveals 'Blue' at GTC 2025](https://youtu.be/XZ3MZZoZ23M)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XZ3MZZoZ23M?si=uBeiZGWQZ4bbsMmU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
[^32]: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/drama/jacobean/research3.html