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April 2009: Sara Ward and Ha Jin

Sara Ward Creates New Worlds for Theater Emory

Theater Emory concludes its 2008-2009 season focused on Searching for Oneself and that Other with a new production of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt directed by Theater Emory’s Artistic Director Tim McDonough, who has adapted Ibsen’s original dramatic poem into an approximately two-hour, often comedic and fanciful performance. Performances are 7:00 p.m. on April 16-18 and 22-25, and at 2:00 p.m. on April 19 and 26 in the Mary Gray Munroe Theater, Dobbs University Center. Tickets ($18; discount category members $14) are available at 404-727-5050 or www.arts.emory.edu.

The set for this new production was designed by Sara Ward, a lecturer in the Theater Studies department and the resident scenic artist and properties coordinator for Theater Emory. Ward is a graduate of the University of Virginia (MFA) and Louisiana Tech University (BA). Her credits include scenic designs, prop designs, and scenic painting for Theater Emory, Heritage Theatre Festival, The Atlanta Opera, the Alliance Theatre, Dogwood Studios, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Q: You wear many hats in this production as set designer, props coordinator, and scenic artist. What do all of those jobs entail?
A: As a scenic designer I must understand the action of the script and the motivation of the characters in order to create the world in which these characters live. I research the context of the work in order to understand why the playwright wrote what he did, and what was happening economically, socially, and politically at the time. I also study paintings, cartoons, sculptures, and architecture to find inspiration in the color, texture, and emotion of all these elements. I then present the results of my exploration to the director; what follows is an extensive conversation about their vision for the performance. After I come up with a design I work closely with the technical director to make sure that it can actually be built; a production’s budget plays a large role in determining how much of my design will be realized. As a designer I must be knowledgeable about the different kinds of materials that are available on the market so that if the price of lumber, for example, has gone up, I can find an alternative. As a props designer I have to make sure that all of the furniture, hand props, weapons, etc. are true to the time and the region in which one would find them. As a charge artist I work directly with designers to achieve the paint treatment, texture, and overall look of their design, which boils down to color matching and finding the cheapest way to create the look. For example, if the technical director decides that they want to build a large cornice molding or a barn out of foam, then I need to be able to paint the foam to look like wood. Luckily I have students here at Emory who are interested in learning about props and paint; I would not be able to get everything done without them.

Q: How did the idea of setting the production on a playground come about?
A: The action takes place in several different locations so we had to figure out how to portray all of the locales and take the audience on an adventure while staying within budgetary means. The artistic conceptualization and the coordination of all the visual elements were vital in early conversations and design meetings. I ran with the idea of playground imagery and the word “play.” Tim McDonough and I took photos of many local playgrounds and discussed how each part of the playground could be used as a performance space. My first instinct was to embrace the elements of the older playgrounds that are made of wood, metal, and rope and steer away from the plastic, colorful designs of today’s playgrounds. We wanted to hold to the fundamental imagery of a worn, dangerous playground that many of us remember from childhood. In order to seamlessly transition between the different locales we created elements within the set that serve many purposes. For example, the jungle gym serves as the asylum and the sand box for excavation in the desert scenes. Joe Monaghan, Theater Emory’s resident lighting and sound designer, will also play a large role in shaping the space. I also found several images of trolls in children’s books, which inspired me to project images onto the back wall to help move the story along. For instance, when the characters are in the desert and are playing the sandbox, an image of the sphinx and the pyramids appears in a watercolor rendering behind them.

Q: What are some challenges and highlights of putting on this production of Peer Gynt?
A:The challenges of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, began with the script. Tim had to adapt Ibsen’s five-hour-long epic poem, which travels through several locations, into a two-hour production that would be feasible to recreate on a stage. The second challenge was the performance space. Although the Mary Gray Monroe Theater is a flexible black box space, it has limited height, which can be very restrictive. Proportion was also a challenge with this design concept. If a 6-foot person goes down a slide built for a child, their feet will hit the ground immediately; as a result, we had to build a playground for adults. I am always up for a good challenge. One of the great things about working at Theater Emory is that, not only do I have the opportunity to share my knowledge with students and work with professional theater artists, but also I am given the opportunity to collaborate and experiment. Working with Tim’s scripts (there were several drafts) of this epic story was a very organic process and a new way to advance as an artist.

Q: What other projects are you currently working on or are on the horizon?
A: I am currently finishing designs for Oliver and Little Shop of Horrors for the Heritage Theatre Festival, a summer repertory theater company in Charlottesville, Virginia. After I send in these designs I will concentrate on finishing my own personal artwork. My goal for this summer is to have my own art show; I will focus most of my energy on my own paintings while also traveling to Virginia to see my designs for the theater festival. I will also be designing two shows for Theater Emory’s 09-10 season, which is very exciting.

Q: Just for Fun: What play that you have not yet done would you love to design?
A: My two great loves in scenic design are for opera and Shakespeare. I have always wanted to design Porgy and Bess and The Tempest.

Creative Writing's Paula Vitaris Talks with Ha Jin

Fiction writer and poet Ha Jin, who taught at Emory from 1993 to 2000, is this year’s guest reader at Awards Night. Jin, a native of China, was a newly-minted Ph.D. from Brandeis when he sent in his application in response to the Creative Writing Program’s advertisement for a new junior poetry professor. Although English was Jin’s second language, his poetry in his adopted tongue was so eloquent that the Creative Writing Program hired him out of a pool of approximately 200 applicants. Jin taught poetry while at Emory, but he soon began publishing short stories and novels. In 1999, he won the National Book Award for his novel Waiting. A year later, he returned to Boston to teach at Boston University, and has continued publishing both fiction and poetry. His latest novel, A Free Life, follows a Chinese immigrant family and is his first story set in the United States.

For Emory’s Creative Writing Program and English Department, Awards Night is the high point of each academic year as it celebrates the year’s best student writing. An author of international prominence is invited to give the reading at Awards Night and announce the winners of the Creative Writing Program’s contests in fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, and nonfiction, as well as the English Department’s undergraduate and graduate essay contests. Student scholarship and grant award winners, as well as the faculty winner of the Emory Goes Novel competition, will also be announced.

When asked about the influence of immigrant authors on American literature, Jin noted that there is an immigrant literature in American letters. “In the main, they have enriched the English language by bringing in alien energies, and they have also added nuances to American literary culture,” says Jin. These and other topics may be explored during Jin’s upcoming Q&A session at Emory.

Awards Night is Monday, April 20 at 8 p.m. in Cannon Chapel, with a booksigning and reception to follow in Brooks Commons. Ha Jin will also hold a question and answer session on Tuesday, April 21, from 2:30-3:30 p.m., in N301 Callaway Center. Both events are free and open to the public. Jin’s visit is co-sponsored by the Hightower Fund.

Edited by Jessica Moore
Communications Coordinator
Arts at Emory

Photos:
First: Sara Ward
Second: Ward at work on a set
Third: Art for Peer Gynt by Sara Ward
Fourth: Ha Jin
All photos courtesy of artists.

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