Lee Simonson

Simonson Comments

Lee Simonson was born in June of 1888 in New York, New York. Since childhood, Simonson was determined to be an artist. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1909 after which he traveled to Paris in an effort to become a mural painter. While ther he was bale to attended some of the most experimental theatre productions while in Europe. Upon returning to New York in 1912, he became determined to launch his career as a set designer. As luck would have in 1915 he became the set designer for the Washington Square Players for two years; however, this job was terminated due to the collapse of the theatre as a result of World War One and its drafting needs. After World War One, Simonson became a member of the board of directors of a new theatre in New York called, the Theatre Guild. For the next 20 years Simonson served as principle set designer for the Theatre Guild as well as dabbling in costume design, poster design, and directing. As the principle set designer for the Guild he became known for designing fabulous sets with little to no budget (as the Theatre Guild was lacking in funds when starting up). While designing these inexpensive sets he strongly relied on projected scenery, permanent units, screens and neutral curtains. Simonson had a great dedication to this theatre that he loved so much and while many of his coworkers would offer their design services to other theatre companies Simonson dedicated most of his work to the Theatre Guild.

Simonson was known for four major set design techniques: skeletal, stylized, constructive and simultaneous. The skeletal technique consisted of a permanent frame designed to give a unifying effect to a particular production. This style allowed for scene changes to take place upstage without stopping the action downstage, as well as, allowing for the creation of interesting stage pictures without changing the basic framework. The stylized technique was characterized by the correlation between the style of the show and the style of the set design. When Simonson was involved, this could lead to extremely decorative exaggerations in the set because he had a special feel for this design. The constructive style depended highly on rough, uncovered frames, scaffolding, ramps and steps, all completely non-decorative in design. His simultaneous designs allowed for two or more settings to be created while remaining totally within the view of the audience and being united within an overall design picture.

Simonson believed that, “Stage design is part and parcel of the total effort of interpreting script, an integral factor in overcoming the resistance of an audience to dramatic ideas that transcend its stereotyped expectations.” (The Stage is Set p.96) Simonson was responsible for designing some of the Theatre Guilds most famous productions such as; “He who gets slapped”,

“Marco Millions”, and “Amphitryon 38" Through his years of working with the Theatre Guild Simonson became known as a designer greatly influential in freeing American stage design from the constraints imposed by traditional realism.

*For a list of Simonsons works from the 1920s-1930s and beyond see IBDB source below.

Sources:

http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brush/simon.htm

http://ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=25050

The Stage is Set p. 96

Twentieth Century American Drama p.76,122,138

Theatre in America p.32,68,201,206,208

Stage craft and Scene Design p.30,174,175,181