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CMU School of Drama
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
‘Arcadia’ brings everything to the stage, from mystery, passion, time travel to science
The NATRAT: How do you discuss every idea in the universe within three hours? The late playwright Tom Stoppard tried to answer this in his play, “Arcadia,” which was performed by the School of Drama from Feb. 26 to March 16 and directed by Kyle Haden, the senior associate head for the School of Drama.
3 comments:
greenbowbear
said...
I saw CMU School of Drama’s Arcadia on the last night and absolutely loved it! The set was, of course, gorgeous. Just like the author of this article writes, it is “dreamy” and “light” and “intricate.” I thought the line “Burback [the set designer] spent months deliberating on the color of the wallpaper, deciding on a light pomona green” was a bit funny. It definitely resonates– the choices we make in theatre are often deliberated over for a while. But it also seems like the author is using it as an example of Burback’s hard work. I feel like it could have been represented better with examples of the other choices Burback made. There is so much research that goes into the design of every theatrical set, and I think its so interesting to delve into that. I loved how technical Arcadia was, and I wish the author got into that a bit more! Something i ABSOLUTELY LOVED was the posters set up by the dramaturg on the show around the lobby. They gave links to information on each of the topics– physics, maths, the enlightenment period, etc. I wish the author credited the dramaturg who did this, because it was one of the most interesting parts about the show for me.
I really wish I had been able to go see Arcadia as I had heard nothing, but good things about it and the scenic design was so gorgeous. This article only makes me wish I had been able to see it more, considering the themes of the play are really of interest to me and I love stories that cover these ideas. I got to watch and participate in the construction of the set for Arcadia and despite knowing that I could never probably be a good Scenic Designer, this set almost convinced me to give it a shot. It is absolutely gorgeous and communicates so much without being too upfront about it. The floor of the set always had my interest, as despite not knowing the story, I could already guess things about it considering the fact that the floor looks like a giant eye. The symbolism there is extremely potent and I think a very good use of visual storytelling.
I really enjoyed watching Arcadia right before fall break. I spent a lot of the first half of this semester working on the show, so I knew very clearly what the scenic and lighting designs for the production looked like, but not in action. I really enjoyed how the show treated the audience like they had actual intelligence, particularly when it discussed advanced topics in physics. I’ve often noticed in more modern media, more time is spent on repetitive exposition than actually driving the plot forward. Characters in Stranger Things will spend eons explaining whatever kind of plan they have over and over and over again before they actually execute on it. I really liked that Arcadia forced the audience to pay attention to understand what was going on within the play, as that to me is more engaging as an audience member. Overall, Arcadia was a really solid production with stunning visuals.
3 comments:
I saw CMU School of Drama’s Arcadia on the last night and absolutely loved it! The set was, of course, gorgeous. Just like the author of this article writes, it is “dreamy” and “light” and “intricate.” I thought the line “Burback [the set designer] spent months deliberating on the color of the wallpaper, deciding on a light pomona green” was a bit funny. It definitely resonates– the choices we make in theatre are often deliberated over for a while. But it also seems like the author is using it as an example of Burback’s hard work. I feel like it could have been represented better with examples of the other choices Burback made. There is so much research that goes into the design of every theatrical set, and I think its so interesting to delve into that.
I loved how technical Arcadia was, and I wish the author got into that a bit more! Something i ABSOLUTELY LOVED was the posters set up by the dramaturg on the show around the lobby. They gave links to information on each of the topics– physics, maths, the enlightenment period, etc. I wish the author credited the dramaturg who did this, because it was one of the most interesting parts about the show for me.
I really wish I had been able to go see Arcadia as I had heard nothing, but good things about it and the scenic design was so gorgeous. This article only makes me wish I had been able to see it more, considering the themes of the play are really of interest to me and I love stories that cover these ideas. I got to watch and participate in the construction of the set for Arcadia and despite knowing that I could never probably be a good Scenic Designer, this set almost convinced me to give it a shot. It is absolutely gorgeous and communicates so much without being too upfront about it. The floor of the set always had my interest, as despite not knowing the story, I could already guess things about it considering the fact that the floor looks like a giant eye. The symbolism there is extremely potent and I think a very good use of visual storytelling.
I really enjoyed watching Arcadia right before fall break. I spent a lot of the first half of this semester working on the show, so I knew very clearly what the scenic and lighting designs for the production looked like, but not in action. I really enjoyed how the show treated the audience like they had actual intelligence, particularly when it discussed advanced topics in physics. I’ve often noticed in more modern media, more time is spent on repetitive exposition than actually driving the plot forward. Characters in Stranger Things will spend eons explaining whatever kind of plan they have over and over and over again before they actually execute on it. I really liked that Arcadia forced the audience to pay attention to understand what was going on within the play, as that to me is more engaging as an audience member. Overall, Arcadia was a really solid production with stunning visuals.
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