This Wells Fargo wagon from Otterbein College's production of Music Man will be part of the special Stage Transportation Expo at Stage Expo.

by Bill Teague
VP-Special Operations

USITT is going to cram every nook and cranny of the Stage Expo floor this year with special exhibits! There will be more stuff (both in number and diversity) than we had in Long Beach in 2004, and that show set the all-time record! From motion control to trains to auctions - we will have it all for your perusal and participation.

One of our hosts in Louisville is Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL). Paul Owen has been the resident designer at ATL for 34 years and has designed virtually every production seen on stage during his tenure, a remarkable feat by any standard. An exhibit featuring his drawings, sketches, and models will provide an opportunity to share in this extraordinary body of work.

North Carolina School of the Arts will provide a fully functional motion control workshop built in a 40-foot tractor trailer. There will be continuous hands-on demonstrations with guidance from NCSA students and faculty. You will not have any trouble finding this hi tech exhibit on the Expo floor!

After cleaning up from a visit to the motion control trailer, head over to the Mordecai Gorelik and Darwin Reid Payne exhibits. The Gorelik exhibit will feature 30 printed and framed, digitally-preserved renderings and more than 400 additional renderings digitally presented with recordings of Mr. Gorelik describing some of the images. As a companion piece to the Gorelik exhibit, models and renderings of Darwin Reid Payne also will be displayed. Mr. Payne, a master designer and model builder, was a student of Mr. Gorelik at Southern Illinois University

Freddy Wittop was the costume designer of more that 20 Broadway shows. He was nominated for six Tony Awards and, in 1964, won the Tony for Hello Dolly! There will be an exhibit of his work featuring 12 renderings and eight of the actual costumes he created for opera diva Marjorie Lawrence.

Another costume exhibit will feature the work of renowned teacher, designer, author, and recipient of the 2006 USITT Distinguished Award in Costuming Rosemary Ingham. On display will be renderings and related work by the author of From Page to Stage: How Theatre Designers Make Connections Between Scripts and Images, and co-author (with Liz Covey) of The Costume Technician's Handbook, The Costume Designer's Handbook, and The Pattern Development Handbook.

Also featured this year is The Stage Transportation Expo, or as it is also known, "the car show." Cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains, western wagons, and other forms of transportation from productions across the country will be on display. From a Model T to a VW, from a full size train to a self powered Wells Fargo wagon, it will all be there. And, if you are lucky, you might be able to take one or two of these out for a spin on the Expo floor. A few spaces are still available in this exhibit. For details about how to enter any form of "stage" transportation, contact Bill Teague at wteague@theatre.as.ua.edu.

The designs of two international guests will be highlighted in Louisville. Phillippe Amand, a World Stage Design gold medal winner, will be exhibiting scenery and lighting designs. His work is often seen at the Mexican National Theatre Company and in many productions of renowned director Luis de Tavira. Turkish designer Hakan Dundar, who also participated in WSD, will display renderings and photographs of his scenery and costume designs.

A triennial favorite of Conference and Stage Expo is the Kook Endowment Art Auction. The tradition continues this year featuring beautiful set and costume design renderings created by some of the greatest theatre artists. There will also be Flea Market tables where an extraordinary collection of theatre paraphernalia (some true, one-of-a-kind theatre memorabilia) will be found at bargain prices.

Design Expo also returns this year! An exhibition of scenery, costume, and lighting designs in the performing arts, this juried event provides an opportunity for USITT members to share their work with fellow artists. To sign up for Design Expo, see Opportunities at the USITT web site.

KC/ACTF Regional Design award winners, all produced by student members of USITT, will display their work in this exhibit sponsored by Barbizon. The designs will move from Louisville to the Kennedy Center for the national American College Theatre Festival. Don't miss this opportunity to view the work of the next generation of designers.

Also returning to the Expo floor are photographs featuring the winners of USITT's 2006 Architecture Awards. A perennial favorite at USITT, this exhibit will showcase the very finest in theatre architecture from around the globe.

Start planning your schedule now to assure you have the time to enjoy this wide array of fascinating, fun, and intriguing exhibits at Stage Expo this year.

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UNLV's truck has been used in a number of productions and will make another appearance at Stage Expo 2006.

Photo/Joe Aldridge