Theater Scenery in the 1960's

Theater Scenery in the 1960's

In the 1960’s, culture and society saw great upheavals and changes, changes that would affect every aspect of life in America. Naturally, theatre came to be affected in due time, as could be seen in the new subject matter found in the plots of new plays. One of the aspects that came to be affected was scenery of the time. Theater is a diverse and complex art. It requires collaboration among many artists, craftspeople, and managers in order to create a performance for audiences. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, theatrical events have included such production elements as costumes, scenery, properties, music, and choreography. Lighting and sound are more recent additions. Each element in today's theater has its own designer, composer, or choreographer, who collaborates with the director to focus the audience's attention on the actor in the special environment or seeing place. In addition to the actor and the audience in a space, other elements of theater include a written or improvised text, costumes, scenery, lights, sound, and properties (props). Most theatrical performances require the collaborative efforts of many creative people working toward a common goal: the production. Fundamental to the theater experience is the act of seeing and being seen; in fact, the word theater comes from the Greek word theatron, meaning "seeing place." Throughout the history of world cultures, actors have used a variety of locations for theater, including amphitheaters, churches, marketplaces, garages, street corners, warehouses, and formal buildings. It is not the building that makes theater but rather the use of space for actors to imitate human experience before audiences.

One of the bigger things to affect scenery was the increasing influence of black culture in theatre. Whereas blacks were once a part of the scenery in a play, they could now imbue their aspects of their culture into scenery for their plays. People could now see America as most black playwrights saw it, the barriers that most white Americans could never fully understand.