Sibyl Wickersheimer
It has taken me years to concisely articulate how influences have shaped my set design practice. I am attracted to breaking apart an overall shape, allowing the structural layers of it to be fully exploited. Daily discoveries evolve in the cracks and crevices.
The list of teachers, artists and architects who inspire me is a long one, and I could list a different one each hour of the day. Gordon Matta Clark comes to mind this hour. And the teacher who insisted I follow the rules in Color Theory. And the teacher who allowed me to substitute models of post-modern narratives for written papers.
My family background has had a huge influence upon my work. My relationship with theatre coincidentally began in middle school in Urbana, IL when my mother’s family was allowed back into the Czech Republic. It was 1989, twenty years after the 1968 Russian invasion during which they had fled the former Czechoslovakia.
I was impressed – this country elected playwright Vaclav Havel president in the post-communist era. Perhaps the urgency for expression has kept their theatre from being tedious or precious. The rough playfulness of Czech art is lean, raw and direct; transforming art into action. 2019 will bring my 3rd Prague Quadrennial and my 6th visit to the country now called Czechia since 1989.
My recent set design for ‘I Carry Your Heart’, is inspired by my admiration for the Czech tradition of theatre as much as by Matta Clark or by all the people and places of my life. The design is one of my favorites. It creates a safe space for the intimacy between donor/recipient. The shape merges functional simplicity with sculptural form. It is useful for physical exploration of essential domestic interiors without being literal.
The final transformation of this set brought our production team great satisfaction when the set was donated to a Los Angeles public elementary school. Students at Open Magnet Charter School reinvent the pieces daily as a play structure, meeting place, outdoor classroom, and amphitheater. This felt as if the production itself had come full circle in a profound way. I am grateful for Jessica Hannah and Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles for that experience and many others.
The desire for such continuity has gained in importance to me. While I work, I hear the combination of influences in my minds’ eye but ultimately have only my own voice to rely on. So, I keep looking outward and inward.
