R. T. Williams
Twice in the last season, R. T. Williams designed sets for Stageworks that were among the most attractive that company has offered its audience in years. First was the set for Euripides´ Medea: the facade of a gray palace, supported by classical columns, in front of which were abstract elements resembling rock formations. This set consciously mimicked the playing area of ancient Greek theaters, where a scene building or skene provided a backdrop for the action, and was written into tragedies by Aeschylus and later dramatists. For his next construction, Williams gave us something completely different: the utterly modern set of Kim Hanna´s Hypoxia Zone. This was a beach house on Florida´s Anna Maria Island with an area for three beach chairs and even a section of boardwalk in the forestage. Walking into the beach house, lolling about on the chairs or musing on life from the boardwalk, Zone´s three characters were at every moment rendered more real by the persuasiveness of Williams´ wonderful set. The Shimberg Playhouse of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, where both these plays took place, is a black box that has defeated many a designer. But Williams put great sets there as if nothing were easier. And so he demonstrated what professionalism means.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.
