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Oregon
ly emera
arts & entertainment
november 9. 1984
Set designer Williams: a bona fide artist
Jerry Williams is, literally, the man behind the
scenes of many University Theatre productions.
Williams, a nationally recognized scene
designer and University theater arts professor, is
responsible for the design of many University and
Eugene-area theater sets, as well as others
throughout the United States.
Williams says that only a small amount of
recognition has been given to set designers in this
country, but that it has recently been discovered
as an art form. Williams himself doesn’t lack
recognition, however.
“I get lots, but that’s because I’m so good,” he
says with a smile.
University Theatre Director Grant McKernie is
one who recognizes Williams’ talent.
“He is an imaginative, tremendously artistic
designer who can be whimsical, flamboyant or
restrained,” McKernie says.
Williams’ most recent design is the set for
University Theatre’s upcoming production of
Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” — a story that
dramatizes the downfall of a woman struggling to
control her destiny.
For most of his designs, Williams says he reads
the play, talks with the director and then lets
ideas “stew” in his head for awhile. What stews,
he says, is the conception of a set relevant to the
play and one that creates an environment for the
action of the play.
Story by Dave Carlson
Photo by Michael Clapp
“You house the play,” he says.
The set for “Hedda Gabler” is indeed a house, a
Georgian mansion, which Williams says will be
as inviting as a public building.
Because the play’s style is realism, there is little
room for metaphor within the set design,
Williams says. But to emphasize Hedda’s
spiritual imprisonment he wanted a very “cool”
set.
“I wanted to show little home comfort on the
human level,” he says. “The elegance lacks
warmth and is a barren prison.”
Williams says he hopes this feeling will be
transferred to the audience for a better under
standing of "Hedda Gabler.”
The actual construction of the elaborate set is
carried out by University Theatre technical direc
tor Jerry Reinhardt and a bevy of students, many
of whom get course and lab credit for their work.
In his 11 years in Eugene, Williams has design
ed 35 sets for University Theatre, Oregon Reper
tory Theater, Eugene Opera and others. But
Williams has not limited himself to local theater.
“Scenic design is my form of publishing and I
live by the old maxim, publish or perish,” he
says.
By “publishing” on a national scale, Williams
has received the kind of recognition that allows
him to design scenes for such well-known
theaters as the Cricket Theatre in Minneapolis
and the Alley Theatre in Houston, where
Williams worked before coming to Eugene.
This road to national fame started in the 1950s
in Missouri when the young Williams was trying
to decide if art or theater was his calling. At
Carnegie-Mellon University ^in Pittsburgh,
Williams says he was immediately labeled a
scenic designer, and his two callings were
■ melded.
Fortunately for the University this “celebrity
designer,” as “Hedda Gabler” director Faber
deChaine calls Williams, has found a niche in
Eugene sharing his knowledge and his designs.
“Hedda Gabler” will run November 15, 16, 17,
29, 30 and December 1 at the Robinson Theatre.
For more information call 686-4191.