Teaching An Endangered Art
With computers taking an increasingly prominent role in scenic painting, two experts in the field have started
their own school to ensure its longevity.
By Evan Henerson
Issue: October 2003

Scenic artist Laurence Casey works on a drop for 42nd Street at the Scenic Arts Studio.
When a drop appears or falls on a Broadway stage, chances are good it originated at the Scenic Arts Studio, the Great White Way’s own “Drop Central.” SAS will always be well represented on Broadway and on the road. But with five or six drops on the studio floor on any given day, it’s not always easy to determine how prolific the studio is.

“Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers, Beauty And The Beast, 42nd Street,” says Janet Stapelman, director of education at the Studio and Forum of Scenic Arts, listing a few of the shows that currently display SAS drops. “From one week to the next, I don’t remember what we’re working on.” Drop painting is a specialty, a skill which people like Stapelman and SAS shop owner Joseph Forbes are looking to teach to a new generation of artists. In September, Forbes and Stapelman opened the doors to SFSA, a professional and vocational school taught by members of the United Scenic Artist Local 829 at SAS’s Cornwall, New York-based facilities.

Students take studio and forum classes on evenings and weekends. The aim, says Stapelman, is to develop the type of on-the-job apprenticeship that she and Forbes experienced but which is no longer readily available. Both school administrators studied with Lester Polakov some 25 to 30 years ago, earning entry into the union via an exam—the same union whose celebrated members included Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, among others.

“Lester taught us what we needed to know to pass the union exam, but by doing that he created a whole generation of people who came into the business with the same training,’’ says Stapelman. “Then he went out of business in 1988 and the union exam was discontinued. We became the dinosaurs where before we were the rookies.”

“What we learned is pretty unique,” agrees Forbes. “We’ve expanded what Lester was teaching in classical theatrical painting to what a scenic artist does for film, commercials, industrials and murals. It’s a unique and different set of skills for each venue.”


Scenic artist Richard Prouse with a drop from Broadway's Beauty And The Beast
Forbes believes that without an entity like SFSA and its faculty of master scenic artists, the skills he learned are in danger of dying out. A generation of scenic artists are learning their design techniques on computers. “They don’t know what to ask for when it’s time to do it for the stage,” says Forbes. Forbes, who developed an interest in art while in high school and then studied formally in college, realized that good money could be made and creative satisfaction achieved by using one’s art skills in something other than traditional painting. “I’ve known several artists of national reputation who would work in a scenery studio over the summer or winter, then leave, go to their own studio and come back,” he says.

The instructional niche that Forbes and Stapelman could create became apparent last summer when a young artist working at SAS could not line a drop. “The painter had never had the opportunity to do lining on a drop, and it was embarrassing to him and embarrassing for the lead artist who had to teach him on the job,” recalls Stapelman. “Joe came to me at the end of the day and said, ‘We really need to start a school.’”

“In today’s economic climate, young scenic artists have to hit the ground running,” she continued. “There isn’t enough time to let them be apprentices on the job.” That’s where SFSA tries to fill in the gap, teaching its students to pop out drops quickly and efficiently. Having artistic skill is an important trait, administrators say, but so is speed and a healthy desire to be part of a grand tradition. Lots of hands-on experience in New York or regional theater may help you along in the program, but it’s not the only criteria for success.

“We may get students who have great desire, but have no training whatsoever,” says Stapelman. “For them, our three years might become five years. We have to be very flexible because our policy for admission is based on a genuine desire to make a career in the theater.”

Forbes seconds the sentiment. “For me, it’s less about talent and much more about motivation and desire,” he concedes. “If you want it, there’s an awful lot you can learn without coming to the table as a gifted artist. I don’t consider myself a particularly gifted artist. We just work really hard at what we do.”

The first year, “Foundation,” has students taking art history classes, in which they are asked to review and interpret the techniques of masters from the sixth to 19th centuries. Polakov’s “Donut Theory of Light,” which instructs students in the need to understand painted light in the scenic design process, is the subject of a single class.

Forum classes touch on topics ranging from sculpting and designing in foam to painted marble techniques to a class that centers on the safe handling of scenic painting materials. The second year, “Advanced Techniques,” continues the work of the first year. By the third year, students are working more closely with master scenic artists and creating lengthier projects. Semester fees range from $1,400-$1,800 for forum and studio classes respectively to $500 for life drawing courses and $108-$139 for individual studio and forum classes. Administrators hope to have 20 students in the school’s first year of existence.

Scholarships are available, and one of SFSA’s first scholarship students is the shop’s office administrator. Susan Payne first visited SAS while still a high school student and quickly found herself fascinated. “I saw a Buffalo Bill drop from Annie Get Your Gun,” recalls Payne. “It was amazing to see. I had never considered what went into making backdrops. I just thought they appeared somehow. And [the painters] were really great about explaining the process.”

For more information on the SFSA, please visit www.studioandforum.org or call 845-534-1110.



Evan Henerson is a lifestyle/features writer who covers theater for the Los Angeles Daily News.

Photography courtesy of Scenic Arts Studio