2008 Woodie Awards
Scene, costume designs display stage art history
Catherine Klene
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: A&E
Two jagged, asymmetrical walls, splashed with dark purple and black hues, climbed skyward, forming a cavernous space on stage. A flimsy wooden bridge, with sharp, rickety railings precariously connected two walls together, snaking down to the gaping space below. The mad woman of Chaillot once stood in this room, created on the Dunham Hall stage in 1982.
Now, all that remains of that room is the small, three-dimensional model on display in the Dunham Hall lobby, where freshman business administration student Vickie Haynes stopped to peer at the intricate detail.
"I wonder what mood the artist was in when he made it," Haynes said, noting the piece's ominous design and color scheme.
Theatre & Dance Professor Otis Sweezey is the mastermind behind these tiny and imaginative creations. For the past 33 years, Sweezey has designed scenery, costumes, lighting and makeup countless shows at SIUE. Nearly one-third of his creations are on display in the Dunham Hall lobby.
The models were originally set up this past summer for the Department of Theater & Dance's first alumni reunion, and they have remained in the lobby for the SIUE community to see.
Sweezey, who is retiring in May 2008, called the display "a flashback of all the things I've done."
Many of his designs are three-dimensional models, painstakingly pieced together over several weeks. Although they make take longer than a two-dimensional rendering, Sweezey said the models are generally more beneficial.
"I prefer the models because they give a better representation of what the set will look like," he said.
While some sets appear to have dropped the cast directly into another part of the world with stunning realism, many have an artistic, fantasy element about them.
"My sets are sometimes not realistic," Sweezey said.
Department of Theatre & Dance chair Peter Cocuzza has worked with Sweezey on several productions, and called Sweezey's design style whimsical, almost cartoonish at times.
Now, all that remains of that room is the small, three-dimensional model on display in the Dunham Hall lobby, where freshman business administration student Vickie Haynes stopped to peer at the intricate detail.
"I wonder what mood the artist was in when he made it," Haynes said, noting the piece's ominous design and color scheme.
Theatre & Dance Professor Otis Sweezey is the mastermind behind these tiny and imaginative creations. For the past 33 years, Sweezey has designed scenery, costumes, lighting and makeup countless shows at SIUE. Nearly one-third of his creations are on display in the Dunham Hall lobby.
The models were originally set up this past summer for the Department of Theater & Dance's first alumni reunion, and they have remained in the lobby for the SIUE community to see.
Sweezey, who is retiring in May 2008, called the display "a flashback of all the things I've done."
Many of his designs are three-dimensional models, painstakingly pieced together over several weeks. Although they make take longer than a two-dimensional rendering, Sweezey said the models are generally more beneficial.
"I prefer the models because they give a better representation of what the set will look like," he said.
While some sets appear to have dropped the cast directly into another part of the world with stunning realism, many have an artistic, fantasy element about them.
"My sets are sometimes not realistic," Sweezey said.
Department of Theatre & Dance chair Peter Cocuzza has worked with Sweezey on several productions, and called Sweezey's design style whimsical, almost cartoonish at times.
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