JustArts emailed with Assistant Prof. of Theater Arts Cameron Anderson, one of five new faculty members in the University's Arts departments. Anderson provided highlights from her career and the plans for her class, "THA 40A The Art of the Visual Narrative and Production Design." For more information on the new Arts faculty, check out our inside guide on the opposite page .

JustArts: How did you get into the design side of theater? What is your history with theater and/or art?
Cameron Anderson: I was an English major at Wesleyan University and wrote a thesis about Renaissance drama. I also studied drawing and architecture. While writing my thesis, I realized that set design brings together fine arts, literature and architecture. I walked into the theater department to try to assist someone on a design and I was given a show to design. I have been designing ever since. I moved to [New York City] and assisted a designer and then applied to graduate school. After finishing I moved back to NYC and have been working in theater and opera for the past ten years.
JA: Is it very different to design for opera rather than for plays?
CA: Opera sets tend to be larger and more abstract. ... So opera tends to enable a designer to think on a grander more sweeping scale-but designing classical theater or Shakespeare allows for the same epic qualities.
JA: I saw that you have designed for the same show at multiple venues (West Side Story). How much does the physical space play a part in your process? Do you usually try to adapt your previous design to the new space or come up with something completely different or a mixture of the two?
CA: It depends. On the production of West Side Story you mentioned, the theaters specifically wanted a similar production. They had seen the earlier production and wanted to remount it. However, the set always has to be adapted to the specific theater it is going into. If the situation were being hired to do a new production of a show I have already designed, I would always make a new and different design.
JA: In what ways do you work with the director of a show and in what ways do you follow your own creative choices?
CA: The director's vision usually plays a large part in the process - but it depends on the director. I find that the most rewarding experiences are usually lead by directors who choose to collaborate with designers they trust - and so they want their designers to come up with ideas. I have been fortunate to work with many directors like this.
JA: What has been your favorite show you have designed for and why?
CA: One of my favorite designs is a production of The Tempest I designed in graduate school. I was able to create a large set made up of huge curved sculptural elements that transformed from the ship to the sea, to the cave.
JA: How will you be teaching your class on production design? Is it more theory or hands-on instruction?
CA: In my class called the Art of Visual Narrative and Production Design students will learn to story-tell though space. It will mostly be hands- on with some theory. Students will make sculptures, collage, build models, and as a final project create a larger scale visual installation project. It is not a class in how to be a set designer, but in making striking, evocative spaces.
JA: What do you hope your students will get out of this class?
CA: Using the building blocks of color, composition, line, texture and shape, students will learn to create work that effectively conveys themes, ideas, politics and meaning. Students will learn to identify why something is moving visually ... and then to elicit emotion and meaning from their own work. Students will learn how to create meaning through visual metaphor - so that their work is expressive rather than descriptive.
JA: What should someone who wishes to become a production designer study/do in order to be successful?
CA: I encourage students who want to become designers to get a well-rounded undergraduate education. Take courses in theater design, but also learn about art history, history, literature - the world. You can't be an effective story-teller without having a story to tell.
JA: Why did you choose to teach at Brandeis?
CA: I chose to teach at Brandeis because I wanted to teach ... in a University dedicated to diversity and social justice. ... What we learn in theater and in design can be applied to whatever career you choose.
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