Take Ten: Tony Cisek

Fresh from his success with Constellation Theatre’s The Wild Party, set designer TONY CISEK has transformed the historic parameters of the Folger Theatre [1] for Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra [2], playing through November 19. This week’s Take Ten offers the inside scoop on a success story three decades in the making.

1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?

My parents got me tickets for the 1980 Broadway revival of West Side Story after I brought home a rather stellar report card my freshman year of high school. I knew the film version by heart, so I thought I knew what I was in for, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. As you could guess, the story I thought I knew so well came alive before my eyes as if I had never seen it before. I think my interest in theatre began there.

2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?

Again, freshman year of high school: I needed two more extracurricular points to join the National Honor Society (geek!), so I signed up for stage crew, run by a rather lax teacher. My job was to run lights for the spring musical, The Wiz, which at that time meant cranking rather large dimmer handles up and down in a rhythmic manner during the musical numbers from a little booth high above stage right. Having an active role in the show was a blast, even if the degree of safety, electrical and otherwise, was questionable at best.

3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?

One of my favorites is Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. I just love how it so fully challenges both the mind and the heart. I designed a production at Rep Stage years ago under the direction of the sublimely astute Kasi Campbell, featuring a perfectly cast Karl Miller as Septimus Hodge. Every rehearsal revealed yet another layer of Stoppard’s genius, and the final dance amidst the flames moved me time after time. I can’t wait to explore it again!

4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?

I’ve been fortunate not to have to take a non-design job since grad school. But having done my time with a temp agency after undergrad, I would highly recommend you not hire me as your front desk receptionist.

5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?

About ten minutes into the opening night of Elizabeth Egloff’s The Swan, again with Kasi Campbell at Rep Stage, the actor playing the Swan—completely naked at this moment in the play--hopped up onto a table and it collapsed under him. For safety, I had asked for the table to be secured to the deck, and without the wiggle room to shift slightly on impact, the structure of the table gave way under the force of the actor. Kasi stepped out of the audience to stop the show, as I helped a stagehand drag a rather unsightly prop table on stage, unscrew the broken prop and screw its instant understudy into place. And the show went on. Awkward!

6) What are you enjoying most about working on Antony & Cleopatra [2] at Folger Theatre [1]?

Making theatre with [director] Robert Richmond is its own reward. And we have a great team with lighting designer Andrew Griffin and costume designer Mariah Hale. Finding yet another way to envision the Folger has its pleasures too. And the Folger staff could not be more supportive of our creative endeavors. How else could we get a turntable in the middle of the room!?

7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?

The network name for my laptop is DaVinci. Leonardo would be my first choice for a dinner companion. Has there ever been a more passionately curious mind?

8) What is your dream role/job?

So far, I’m pretty happy with the one I’ve got—thirty years and counting.

9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?

I’d love to see Peter Brook’s “white box” production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream  through the lens of a theatre artist in 1970, to experience having my understanding of theatre blown apart, which seems like a useful thing to do once every five years or so.

10) What advice would you give to an 8-year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?

To the 8-yr old: There are a lot of ways to be creative in life. Only pursue theatre if you can’t NOT do it.
To the MFA student: Say yes--to every job offered, to every chance to travel, to every new opportunity presented, for as long as you can. You will always learn something, and while doing it you’ll build a rich library of personal experiences upon which to draw when bringing ideas to the table.

TONY CISEK is a scenic designer who has collaborated with companies across the US including Roundabout Theatre, Arena Stage, Guthrie Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, South Coast Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Portland Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore CenterStage, Indiana Rep, Syracuse Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, Cleveland Play House, Folger Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Studio Theatre, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Signature Theatre.  For his work as a scenic designer he has received four Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, five Drammy Awards in Portland, two Barrymore Award nominations in Philadelphia, as well as numerous other citations for outstanding design.  Tony has also designed for opera, TV and film.  He was the principal theatre consultant for the Atlas Performing Arts Center, completed in Northeast Washington, DC in 2006.  He has taught at Catholic University and George Mason University, is a member of United Scenic Artists, and holds an MFA in Design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  www.tonycisek.com [3].