Gratch showcases talent in L.A.

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Author: Daphne Auza

In the world of theater, scene design is key in setting the mood and atmosphere of a play. Susan Gratch, Professor of Design and Chair of the Theater Department, specializes in designing stages to accommodate the physical needs of props and actors and what she interprets to be the artistic goals of the play itself. For years, audiences at playhouses throughout southern California have praised Professor Gratch’s talent of bringing a world originally established on paper to a physically limiting space.

Theaters both large and small have featured Professor Gratch’s work, including Geffen’s Playhouse in Westwood and The Theater at Boston Court. She most recently worked on “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” a play written by George Bernard Shaw that showed at A Noise Within Theatre in Pasadena from October 13 to November 24.

Before she designed scenery for professional theater companies, Professor Gratch’s exposure to the art began in high school, within a circle of friends consisting mostly of “theater people.” Her formal studies in scenic design did not actually begin until her senior year at University of Michigan. At the time, she was studying Music History, but theater professors encouraged her to pursue graduate study in scenic design.

Professor Gratch has been teaching at Occidental since 1985. Her duties as both Department Chair and freelance scenic designer often require her to carefully plan out her projects.

“I design scenery here as well. But also as Chair of the Department, I have to make sure every other part of the production is going well and that the classes are going well and that the students are happy. I have to worry about a lot of other things,” Professor Gratch said. “When I design off-campus, I only have to worry about doing my job.”

Due to her schedule, she leaves room for her freelance projects during breaks and sabbaticals. Her work off-campus and on-campus often intersect though. For “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” she used Occidental’s scene shop to paint the Monet-inspired backdrop. She has also encouraged Occidental students like alumni Michael Field ’11 to help out on her freelance projects. Field served as her assistant scenic designer and lead painter for “The Doctor’s Dilemma.” Courtney Dusenberry ’09, currently a graduate student at University of Southern California, also painted for the show.

Although already acquainted with director Damaso Rodriguez, Professor Gratch never had the opportunity to work with him until “The Doctor’s Dilemma.” Originally staged in 1906, the play focuses on Sir Colenso Ridgeon, an egotistical physician knighted for his discovery of a new tuberculosis inoculation. Conflict arises when he must decide between using the cure on a kindly colleague who serves the poor and an extremely talented but immoral young artist whose beautiful wife clouds the doctor’s judgment.

Artistic director Julia Rodriguez-Elliot invited Professor Gratch via email to design for the production. Having never before collaborated with Director Rodriguez, she read the script before their first meeting to familiarize herself with the needs of the play.

Every production differs in their physical needs and artistic style, so Professor Gratch emphasizes how she approaches each one with a flexible, open-minded attitude.

“If I’m working with a director for the first time, as was the case for ‘The Doctor’s Dilemma,’ I try not to get too many preconceptions before I meet with them,” Professor Gratch said. 

As scenic designer, her role entails working closely with nearly every other person involved in production, but she has not found this high amount of collaboration limiting to her art.

“That’s the exciting part about the design. It’s not limiting, it actually kind of helps to inspire you to think about things in different ways because you have all this input,” she said.

“The Doctor’s Dilemma” proved to be a unique challenge for Professor Gratch. She had to take into account A Noise Within’s thrust stage, which juts out into the audience and lacks curtains. Nothing obstructs the audience’s view of each scenic transition, and the play takes place among four different locations. 

The drafting process itself deviated from Professor Gratch’s usual approach to other designs. She and Field abandoned a digital model for the scenery in favor of a tangible, three-dimensional model. Her drafting tools combined advanced technology and traditional drawing supplies; she recalls waking up early in the morning last summer with both her iPad and sketchbook in hand.

Still, Professor Gratch succeeded in designing smooth transitions while incorporating an element of the unexpected. Each scene change eliminates the audience’s previous preconceptions of the design.

Aside from the backdrop, the structure that endures throughout the play is an architectural framework containing the actors. Suggesting the steel fixtures of a bridge, it establishes the play’s setting at the turn of the 20th century. To set up the play’s third location, an art studio, crew members opened a mobile structure previously integrated into the architectural framework to reveal the expansive window and painted walls of the artist Dubedat’s home. The scenery establishes a contrast between industrialized, status-conscious London and the romantic image of the artist in his studio.

Over the years, Professor Gratch has been able to steadily continue her freelance work with the help of recommendations and personal contacts. Her on-campus duties prevent her from accepting every offer but she likes to refer clients to previous students, passing on the favor granted to her by the theatrical community with whom she works so closely. 

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