The Dramatic Imagination is by Robert Edmund Jones, considered to be America’s first professional scenic designer, is thought of as the definitive work on stage design (for at least the first half of the 20th century.) First published in 1941, it’s a collection of essays that seek to inspire and guide future generations of stage designers. Jones’ own work strived to integrate the scenery and costumes into the storytelling of the play, instead of having them separated or unintegrated into the world of the play, creating a sense of place. Intended as a book for theatre practitioners, it also holds insights for those of us who design spaces for performance, and certainly sheds light on what we should expect to see on our stages.
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