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Hey, everyone.

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Welcome back.

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Today, we will be exploring space.

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The stage is the space in which we,
as theater artists, tell our story.

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Directors, designers and actors

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use space in different ways to create
meaning during the production of a play.

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Today, we'll look at the spacing of actors
and scenery and how scene changes

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support storytelling.

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Let's head over to the studio
to experiment with blocking actors

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in space.

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Remember the parts of the stage?

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Directors use the parts of the stage
to block the actors in specific,

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meaningful ways.

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Here I am standing upstage,
and now I'm crossing

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downstage.

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Sounds simple,

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but what if more actors are on stage?

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If everyone is scattered about like this,
the audience doesn't know where to look.

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There's no focus.

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This blocking might work for an ensemble
in a crowded marketplace,

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but if everyone stands upstage right?,

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what's the focus on now?

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You.

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That's right.

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What does that say about my character?

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Am I an outsider or part of the group?

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Who has the most power
in this stage picture?

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Let's look at other stage pictures
and think about relationships

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in terms of how the scene is blocked.

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Benita will stand upstage center

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and the rest of the cast
will stand downstage right.

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Let's say we want to show that
Benita is a respected person of authority.

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The ensemble might use a low level,
perhaps bowing, to show respect.

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And Benita could use a high level
commanding the power in the room.

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But if Benita strikes a creepy low
level pose

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and the ensemble takes a mid-level
and turns their backs on her,

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all of a sudden
something very different is going on.

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Now let's look
at how set design uses space.

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For most plays, actors do not perform
on an empty stage.

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The set is often the primary element
that fills the space and creates

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the visual parameters
or organization for the story.

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Let's hear from Richard Hudson,
who grew up in Africa,

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about his set design process
for The Lion King

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and how he discovered
how the sun would rise.

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We had various versions of the sunrise.

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The early ones were sort
of almost entirely electronic

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and sort of to do with lighting.

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And then I remember one eureka day where

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Julie said, no, I think the sun should be
like one of the puppets.

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And that really clicked, you know?

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So then it became clear that it was going
to be something suspended.

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And, I wanted it

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to sort of quiver as it raised.

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It's quite a delicate thing,
you know, it's just made of plastic,

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umm, perspex rolls,

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with little strips of silk with a
frayed edge on them.

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And so the minute it's

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lifted off the floor,
it does begin to shake.

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I wanted to recreate the what I remember

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very well from Africa
is the sunrise and sunset.

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As the sun gets close to the horizon,
it appears to

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to shimmer and shake.

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This set design process
is similar to the process for costume,

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mask, and puppet design
explored in the image session.

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Set designers
employ sketches in the imagination phase,

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but they also use ground plans,
which are scale drawings

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from a certain perspective and set models
to make sure that all set pieces can fit

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into the stage and move around
to support the director's vision

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for the play.

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For most plays, there are different sets
for the various locations,

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and the set must
change from one scene to the next.

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It's an exciting challenge
for a set designer, not only to imagine

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the different scenes
fit into a coherent set design,

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but also be economical
and perhaps using one piece

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in different ways for different scenes,
thus saving space on stage and backstage.

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During rehearsals, the director,
set designer, lighting designer, composer,

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sound designer,

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actors and stage manager work together
to block and design each scene change

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so it can help tell the story
as much as the content of each scene does.

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Here's Production Supervisor
Doc Zorthian,

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who has overseen the mounting of
over 20 productions

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of The Lion King around the world,

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to talk about the orchestration of
scene changes that

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involve actors, dressers, the conductor,

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musicians, scene crew,

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stage managers, and lighting
and sound operators.

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One of the busiest transitions
is the transition

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from the end of the circle of life
through grasslands.

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It involves
almost everyone in the production.

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There are 31 actors on stage,
but they're almost,

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there are more people backstage
doing the production.

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It's about 80 people,

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once all is told.
You have four prop people.

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You have three stage managers, 16
dressers, changing costumes,

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two makeup people.

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You have a sound person,
you have a sound person mixing it.

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You have two lighting board operators
doing the lights.

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You have two automation operators
doing automation.

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You have lighting people.

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It's a big, it's a big change.

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Today we looked at the various ways

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that space is
used to tell a story on stage.

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Now you'll develop blocking, set design,

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and scene changes of your own.