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A Stage Full of Trees and Sky: Analyzing Representations of Nature on the New York Stage, 1905 – 2012 by Leslie S. Gulden, M.F.A. A Dissertation In Fine Arts Major in Theatre, Minor in English Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Dorothy Chansky Chair of Committee Dr. Sarah Johnson Andrea Bilkey Dr. Jorgelina Orfila Dr. Michael Borshuk Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School May, 2021 Copyright 2021, Leslie S. Gulden Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to my Dissertation Committee Chair and mentor, Dr. Dorothy Chansky, whose encouragement, guidance, and support has been invaluable. I would also like to thank all my Dissertation Committee Members: Dr. Sarah Johnson, Andrea Bilkey, Dr. Jorgelina Orfila, and Dr. Michael Borshuk. This dissertation would not have been possible without the cheerleading and assistance of my colleague at York College of PA, Kim Fahle Peck, who served as an early draft reader and advisor. I wish to acknowledge the love and support of my partner, Wesley Hannon, who encouraged me at every step in the process. I would like to dedicate this dissertation in loving memory of my mother, Evelyn Novinger Gulden, whose last Christmas gift to me of a massive dictionary has been a constant reminder that she helped me start this journey and was my angel at every step along the way. Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………..………………...iv LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………..v I. INTRODUCTION..…………………………………………..……………………….1 A Stage Full of Trees and Sky….………………………………………………...5 Representation……………………….…..…………………………….…………6 Nature……………………………………………………………………………16 New York………………………………………………………………………...21 Stage……………………………………………………………………………..23 Chapter Outline and Methodology………………………………………………30 II. NOSTALGIA FOR THE WEST AND PICTORIALISM IN THEATRICAL DESIGN 1905-1915: THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST AND THE GREAT DIVIDE ………………………...………….....………46 Pictorialism in Theatrical Design - The Girl of the Golden West (1905) ………50 Frontier Plays in New York City - The Great Divide (1906) …………………..67 III. NATURE OUTSIDE THE WINDOWN AND THE EMERGING THEATRICAL DESIGNER 1915-1945: THE EMPEROR JONES AND OF MICE AND MEN ………………………………………………………79 New Stagecraft Design and the Forest - The Emperor Jones (1920) ………..…83 Depression, Dust Bowl and New York - Of Mice and Men (1937) ……….……99 Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 IV. MODERNISM IN DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENTALISM 1945-1970: SLEEPY HOLLOW, DEATH OF A SALESMAN AND A CLEARING IN THE WOODS..…………………………………………….…..109 Modernist Metaphor – Sleepy Hollow (1948) ……………………….…………112 The Coveted Backyard - Death of a Salesman (1949) …….………...…………126 Nature and Home - A Clearing in the Woods (1957) ……………………..……136 Rise of Environmentalism – Dead Zone 1957 to 1983 …………...……………144 V. ENVIRONMENTALISM AND POSTMODERN DESIGN 970-2012: K2, INTO THE WOODS, THE KENTUCKY CYCLE, THE LION KING AND PETER AND THE STARATCHER ……………………….....……………148 Visual Ecology versus Textual Ecology – K2 (1983) and The Kentucky Cycle (1993): …………………………………………………………………………157 Abstraction and Post-Modern Design Elements – Into the Woods (1987), The Lion King (1998) and Peter and the Starcatcher (2012): ….……………..…………167 Conclusion – A Question Left to Designers……………………..………..……185 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………….186 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………203 A. BURNS MANTLE SETTINGS CHART ………………………….…………203 B. THEATRE MAGAZINE SETTING CHART……………………..…………302 C. THEATRE ARTS SETTING CHART………………………...……………..320 Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 ABSTRACT By problematizing design aesthetics for sample plays featuring representations of nature on American stages, predominantly open space wilderness, this dissertation questions ways in which theatrical visuals have either promoted the intrinsic value of nature or distanced the audience from the more-than-human world. My analysis examines scenographic depictions of a variety of natural landscapes used in selected Broadway and off-Broadway productions from 1905 to 2012. This examination will utilize scholarship from ecocriticism, deep ecology, and environmental history to contextualize designs as cultural artifacts. While the beginning of the twentieth century was a time when nostalgia for the lost frontier was reflected in design aesthetics, over the course of the next one hundred years I argue that nature-related Broadway design aesthetics leaned progressively towards depictions of nature as obvious metaphors for something else or as hyperreal. Both are problematic when examined via deep ecology, a philosophy based on recognizing the intrinsic value of the non-human. I scrutinize the American cultural and more specifically the New York relationship with the environment in different periods. This research is then compared with specific theatrical designs to argue which modern and postmodern designs offered intrinsic value to the environment depicted, how this was accomplished, which failed to do so and why the design was ecocentric or anthropocentric. Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Aronson’s Comparison of Modernist vs. Postmodern Design………………..…32 4.1 Number of American Backyard-plays Selected by Yearbook of Best Plays…...125 Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Through its alliance with the principles of progress and homogeneity, the figure of America first signified a kind of ultimate placelessness, a guarantee of the absolute unmeaning of place as a component of human experience. But the very success of this figuration—what one might call the hyperbole of American utopianism—proved to be its undoing. - Chaudhuri Staging Place 5 The bay window proscenium beyond my computer screen frames a wilderness of such an abundance of trees that the sky is barely visible. Yet, from my desk at the vacation cabin that has been in my family for over sixty years, I cannot help but be keenly aware of my own dissociation from the natural environment just outside my window. While I own the cabin, the land under it and the trees visible through my window are part of a Pennsylvania state forest. Because I can only lease and never own the ground on which my cabin rests, I must abide by a park service edict which demands that all cabins in the park remain rustic, but the laws regarding what constitutes a lack of modern amenities have fluctuated over time, making this rule inconsistent in its application. All of the cabins in Michaux State Forest have glass windows and most have screens, a very basic accessory for keeping out flying pests. Most cabins have electricity and some, like mine, have running water. I remember having to haul water in five-gallon jugs as a child before my family took advantage of a limited timeframe during which the state allowed cabin owners to add water pumps. Availing ourselves of this temporary change in the laws allowed my family to replace the outhouse that I used as a child with a standard indoor bathroom, but this convenience can no longer be added to other cabins. Behind me I can hear the soft hum of the portable air conditioner unit, placed on the dehumidifier setting in order to assuage my own guilt for buying such an urban machine for my cabin. I still must cut and haul wood for heat on chilly spring and fall evenings, 1 Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 but it could be argued that this is my only direct interaction with my environment. I have resisted installing a telephone, internet, or cable services, but since I bring a cell phone and a laptop with me, the point is almost moot. Quite frankly, the modernity with which I am surrounded inside my cabin creates a disconnect from the flora, fauna, and terrain of this state forest which is nearly complete. I am, in fact, living a lie of rustic amid a lie of wilderness. If wilderness is synonymous with land uncultivated and uninhabited by man, the word does not accurately denote the case in Michaux. What many visitors assume to be an old-growth wilderness is actually part of a vast stretch of land that was completely deforested several times during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to serve the needs of the iron-making industries in the region. Aware of all of this, I stare out the window at the performance of two squirrels playing chase in a setting of majestic maple and oak trees, enjoying the self-deception of being one with nature. The theatre district of New York City seems a universe away from what I see through my cabin window, but some of the same mirage-of-nature issues that apply to the frame in front of me can also be applied to analyzing the visual aspects of scenic design onstage. The goal of examining literary and theatrical narratives is often an attempt to scrutinize cultural attitudes and behaviors. Traditionally, western scholarship privileges the dramatic text over other elements of a theatrical production. However, scenography scholars, such as Christin Essin, argue that scenic designs can be treated as multivalent objects serving as cultural texts, and that visual depictions are just as clear a reflection of the times in which they are made as the language of the scripts, especially in a highly visual age such as our own. Just as visitors to Michaux State Forest construct a narrative about the park simply based on what they see, scenic depictions of open space wilderness 2 Texas Tech University, Leslie S. Gulden, May 2021 in an urban setting like New York City not only reflect the attitudes of those who made them but became part of a cultural narrative which might be copied and perpetuated via similar designs built for productions in other locations. If design serves as cultural text, can design be intentionally used to promote reconnection with the non-human? The goal of this dissertation is a historical and deep ecology examination of depictions of nature on the Broadway stage.