EVELYN JACOB spotlight feature Set designer’s goal is more than breaking down 4th wall NCE A year, E. Don Zacharias comes out of the wood- work, so to speak, to create an impressive set for a major Canadian theatre produc- tion, Last year the West Vancouver designer transformed the Van- couver Playhouse’s stage for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and this year, right on cue, he took time out from his custom wood design shop to catch Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. Those who took in the Playhouse production will remember those dreamy, sheer curtains that hung from ceiling to floor, dividing the stage into a tidy universe of interrelated spaces, and the mass of make-believe tram lines, telephone wires and elec- tricity cables suspended above the stage. To Zacharias, the set has always meant more than simply throwing together chunks of wood and strips of steel. It’s always been more than a mere backdrop through which actors move. It is an integra! part of the entire pro- duction, reflecting the mood and philosophies written into the . script. “When | design,” says Zacharias, ‘'I really believe the design is like another acter. When a playwright writes a play, he puts an actor on stage to communicate a message. The set has to have that same ability. It should be able to change nat only physically but emotionally.’” When Zacharias first started out in theatre design, his philosophy NEWS photo Mike Wakofield WEST VANCOUVER designer E. Don Zacharias: A good theatre set design is one that reflects the emotional concept of the play, not just its locale. behind set-making was ahead of its time. “When I started warking in the local theatres in 1974 1 was surprised at how uninterested peo- ple here were in new ideas. Most designs were box sets — very conventional. But theatre design is more than just making something look pretty or geographically ap propriate. Now the popular ap- proach is where the design is start- ing to influence the conception of the overall production.” Zacharias’s recent credits in- clude Top Girls, staged in Edmon- ton and Cold Comfort in Van- couver, and he’s taken the Street- car before: in 1984 he had his first go at Williams's steamy classic of Southern passions in Calgary with Playhouse artistic director Larry Lillo. For that production he strung venetian blinds from floor to ceil- ing to conjure the play’s many moods. While he believes his former approach was more irter- tHe SALMON HOUSE ON THE HULL CHRISTMAS FROM THE SALMON HOUSE The perfect present for the per- son who has everything A Salmon House gift certificate! Available in any denomination. Come up and see us! | JOIN US THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON! The Salmon House would be happy to take care of your Christmas party arrangements. We have excellent group menus or would be happy to arrange a specific menu to suit your needs. Call us soon for your reservation 926-3212 The staff at The Saimon House would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. esting than his second architectur- ally, it was less meaningful poeti- cally. This time he used the final scene — a traumatized, hyper-romantic Blanche taken to the sanitorium — as his starting point. “That to me,’’ he says, “was the strongest image in the play — Blanche walking off into a black void. | worked everything towards that image.”’ A Winnipeg native, Zacharias says a Common misconception about staging a play is that the en- tire concept is the director's. But in fact it is a collaboration See Set page 29 ee PALERMO’S Wednesday, November 7, 1990 - North Shore News ~ 27 anaes Great Pasta! | all dishes oe served with saiad and garlic bread | — NOVEMBER SPECIALS — ~ Chicken Cacciatore whossed salad 8 garlic bread. ~ Seafood Casserole wisalad, rice, vegetables & garlic - Salmon Hollandaise wisaad, ne, vegtabos & tic bread Restaurart on dine-in restaurant meals till Wov. SO, 1990 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Restaurant 11:30am - 8pm Store Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10am - 8pm Sun. 12noon - 8pm * 2 for 1 applies to lower price items ordered. 93 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver 985-9328 @©e0008000 00%088 66 ©@0693806 6 o0ke 8 @8600006 @e¢09960 Xe “uoydurepe: 10; uodnos juesezg Vangie Thiele “Good food at the same reasonable prices” 1746 Marine Dr, West Vancouver Known on the North Shore for our consistently great Italian food & fabulous pizza Customer Appreciation Month of November Come and celehrate our semi- annual customer appreciation this month and receive a 15% discount off any pasta dish or our famous pizza. Also available on whole wheat crust. Cappuccino $1.50 Espresso $125 all your favorite italian desserts 10% off Home Deliveries: Our Farnous Pizza and all Italian Dishes Mon-Thurs llam-pm Friday — tlam-230am Saturday 5pm-23Cam Sunday 5pm!O30pm 926-7891 CALL 439 9311 PAI 7: OR SPEAK goon fos more wlormanon . Taiking HOURS: Yeliow