Posted on Dec 21, 2005

If, as Shakespeare wrote, “all the world's a stage,” a theatrical stage can encompass many worlds.

You can get a glimpse of many of these worlds at Union College starting Jan. 12 in a retrospective exhibit of nearly 100 shows of stage designs crafted by Charles Steckler, professor of theater and designer-in-residence at Union College. The exhibit is in Mandeville Gallery at the Nott Memorial, former home to a good number of these shows. It runs through March 12. The opening reception is Thursday, Jan. 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The exhibit features many of Steckler's stage designs, as well as drawings and construction models and interesting artifacts – a piece of cloth from a curtain, painted tiles, moldings, puppets, masks and other props, such as a large “rock” from the set of Waiting for Godot.

Over the years Steckler has taken hundreds of photographs. “Stage design is an ephemeral art form,” he explains. “After the play is over, my work ceases to exist. In fact, it is literally destroyed. All that remains is a memory and these few images. It is an unusual occasion where a stage designer's art can have a second life in a gallery exhibition.”

Curator Rachel Seligman notes that stage design is both a rigorous and an unappreciated field, “bound as it is to its functional aspects. Exhibiting these artifacts, removed from their original function, emphasizes their visual artistry and strength as aesthetic objects.”

Steckler's style is layered and eclectic. His dioramas and collage art connect him to Joseph Cornell and Robert Rauschenberg, says Seligman.

“I call it 'accretion style,'” adds Steckler. “I love the idea of layering. Not every play necessarily lends itself to that treatment, but when it comes up, I feel I'm released into a territory I'm most comfortable inhabiting.”

Theater is a collaborative art, the intersection of several disciplines and crafts. But it is a distinction that defines community as well. At Union, that community is small, but made up of a core of talented people. Says Steckler, “I feel lucky to work with such stimulating artists [and Union colleagues] as Bill Finlay, Joann Yarrow, Patsy Culbert, Lloyd Waiwaiole, Miryam Moutillet, and John Miller. But the backbone of this community, of course, is our students. They are smart, energetic, curious, and inventive. I learn from them every day.”

When Steckler arrived at Union in 1971, it was for a “half-time” position in the Department of Arts. But, together with colleague Barry Smith, he produced an ambitious first year. Both had just graduated from the Yale School of Drama, “although we had never met before,” recalls Steckler. “It was the beginning of a 28-year collaboration that inspired and challenged me. I had not planned to remain at Union beyond that first year. But my work with Barry and our new theater program was reason enough to remain at least another year. The rest, as they say, is history.”

He cites Moliere's Tartuffe (2004) as a show that was great fun to work on. “We created an authentic-looking kitchen of a great house in 1671 Paris, complete with a double fireplace, masonry walls with cornice moldings, Delft wall tiles, marble floor tiles, a cantilevered balcony, oculus window, and crystal chandeliers as well as smoked ham hocks, sausages, and cheeses made of papier-mâché, pastries of Styrofoam, and all manner of cooking and serving utensils.”

Another play that stands out is the Joann Yarrow (artist in residence at Union) production of Metamorphoses (2004) – a fanciful retelling of myths and stories from Ovid. “It was a beautiful production. The script called for a pool, so in the Yulman Theater [home to Union productions since 1995], we built an 800-gallon pool, with advice from former Engineering Dean Bob Balmer and members of the Facilities Department. The entire set was black with the reflecting pool at the center, a wall frieze of classical figures in a nighttime constellation panorama surrounded by thousands of twinkling stars. Against that background, the actors in sumptuous costumes stood out in bright relief.”

For a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest (1993), “We transformed the Nott Memorial into a postcolonial island strewn with the debris of technology and popular culture. We filled the theater with 11 tons of white beach sand and built a split-level beachcomber shack out of distressed barn wood, truck tires, Salvation Army furniture, old TVs, and the front end of a Volkswagen Beetle which served as Caliban's cave. On the surrounding walls, skeletons danced with glowing stars. It was like being in some Surrealist planetarium.”

Who are Steckler's principal influences? “Buddha and Picasso. As I understand it, one examined the nature of existence and the other, the nature of perception. Cubism challenged centuries-old habits of rendering space – something I am aware of each time I design a stage set which is both an image and a space. Buddhist teaching and meditation give me a sense of perspective about myself and the workings of my own mind. Early in my life, as a young artist, I was excited by the Dadaist and Surrealist painters and sculptors. Dali infected my adolescent brain as did Joseph Cornell. I attended the High School of Music and Art, in Manhattan, and spent a lot of time at the Museum of Modern Art and the old Whitney Museum, junking out on art. At Queens College, professor Jay B. Keene taught me theater design, sets, costumes, color theory, scene painting, rendering and model-making. He set the spark under my britches and recommended that I apply to the Yale School of Drama. I had many wonderful teachers at Yale; the two notable standouts were Donald Oenslager and Ming Cho Lee. Once my professional training began in earnest, my influences became many, from contemporary American and European designers to the great masters of the past.”

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Mika Street '01 left a promising corporate job to stretch her own entrepreneurial power. In March, the Union history major and fitness enthusiast opened Uptown Pilates, a luxury studio on Manhattan's Upper West Side dedicated to the teachings of Joseph Pilates, the German-born performer and nurse who espoused the mind-body connection.

Like Mika herself, Uptown's 12 instructors all have their 600-hour Authentic Method™ certification. The studio, at 72nd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, is full of activity, and the clientele varies from 16-year-old American Ballet Theatre students to health-conscious nonagenarians.

“I absolutely love it,” says Mika, who worked at a global consulting firm before striking out on her own. “I had a good job, but I knew from day one it wasn't right for me. I definitely credit Union for helping me to keep striving for more in life and to never settle.”

Mika's business spirit may have a genetic component. Her South African parents met in Israel, where Brian, a developer, owned a boat chartering business. He and Linda, an all-round creative spirit, sailed around the world for three years with young Mika and her older brother, Alon, before coming to the States. Now a developer, Alon has his own business in Washington, D.C.

At Union, Mika took dance, played lacrosse, joined the outing club and enjoyed Professor Stephen M. Berk's classes. “He really cemented my passion for history,” she said.

Her international roots exerted their pull, too. She spent two terms abroad, one in Israel and one traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Australia. After graduation came the consulting job at Accenture, but she soon left to explore Central America.

Now Mika, 25, feels at home in New York City. And if her new business sounds very centering, it should. Developed in the early 1900s, Pilates uses breathing techniques and repetitive exercises to tone, stretch and balance.

“Pilates is for everybody,” Mika says. “There are more than 700 exercises with variations. It's trendy, but it's also been around for a century. The purely Authentic Method™ will be here forever.”

Mika was teaching and envisioning her own studio when the Pilates center where she earned her certification closed. The need for a new space was there — and so was she.

“I do believe opportunities are something you create,” she says. “I knew I wanted to start my own business, and I'd been dabbling in a few things, but the passion wasn't there. Then it all became clear: this studio really was the most perfect fit.”

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Union's newest learning environment has wireless access, a minimalist design, versatility galore. Also: spectacular views, wooden benches, sun and/or shade. Bugs are optional.

The College's first-ever outside classroom, nestled behind Schaffer Library, is a gift from the Class of 2005.

“It's not going to be elaborate, but during spring and early fall, a lot of teachers and students will appreciate having a nice area outside where classes can be held,” said Mandon Lovett '05. “I'm excited,” said Carolyn Gabriel '05. “It's been a fun process and project.”

As interns in Affiliate Giving and co-chairs of the 22-member
Senior Gift Committee, Gabriel and Lovett spent a good deal of
the past year encouraging their classmates to donate to the cause. They worked closely with George Tiggle '98, assistant director in Annual Giving.

Their hard work and powers of persuasion paid off. Sixty-eight percent of the 497 members of the graduating class participated in raising $5,674 for the project.

A political science major from Little Falls, N.Y., Gabriel was captain of the track team and Film Committee chair. Lovett, a political science major from Alexandria, Va., played football and ran track. Both say their work with Affiliate Giving gave them a chance to hone leadership skills, network with alumni and meet new people.
According to Tiggle, the College is eager to get students involved in their class gifts when they are freshman. “We want to get them more excited about philanthropy and the idea of giving back,” he said.

Said Lovett: “We instill the idea of giving early, so when your senior year rolls around, it won't be a surprise. Then, once you graduate, giving will be second nature.”

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

“The intellectual stimulation I received at Union continues as a love of reading and a quest for knowledge,” says James W. Taylor '66, appointed a Union Trustee in fall 2004. “As Trustee, my areas of interest are containing costs and enhancing the quality of student life.”

Active in business, philanthropy and automobile collecting, Taylor earned his B.S. in psychology and later took an executive course at Harvard Business School to study family business management. He is a former member of the Trustee Board of Advisors (1997-2000) and of the Terrace Council Membership Committee.

He is the first Trustee among a large Taylor family of College alumni. His brother and partner in The Taylor Made Group is John Taylor '74 – with whom he has given the $1.5 million lead gift for Union's new music facility (see related story). His late father, Willard H. Taylor '42, endowed one of the College's largest scholarship funds, and his nephew, Bryan Taylor '08, keeps him up-to-date on College goings-on.

As president and CEO of the Gloversville, N.Y.-based Taylor Made Group, one of the boating industry's largest manufacturers and suppliers, Taylor has held many of the industry's top board posts.

He is on the board of the Graduate College of Union University and is involved in a range of community philanthropic activities, from Boy Scouts, YMCA and United Way to WMHT Public Television and several health, drug treatment and hospital foundations. He is also a member of the board of the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch, a Paul Newman camp for children with chronic illnesses.

A collector of more than two dozen autos, he also takes his passion for cars on the road. In 2002, he and a colleague outfitted a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche and headed for Rio de Janeiro to confront the epic Inca Trail rally. His diary of that remarkable eight-week, 15,000-mile adventure was chronicled in the Union College magazine that year.

In August, he begins a month-long road rally in South Africa.

Taylor traces his fascination with cars to his father, also a collector. “I still have the 1931 Cadillac Phaeton that he had,” he says. “In high school, I drove a Model A Ford, which I still have today. When I was a sophomore at Union, one of my friends had a new Austin Healy. I lusted after that car and bought my first one 12 years later.”

As someone who approaches most things boldly, from cars to careers, Jim Taylor is sure to pursue his newest role at Union with the same sense of purpose and passion, proud to be among those steering the College in ever-better directions.

Posted on Dec 21, 2005

Steckler has touched a number of alumni and colleagues at Union.

Actor Tom Riis Farrell '81 appears in The Stepford Wives, most recent of his movies; as well as in Broadway productions; and on television, playing guest leads in Law & Order, New York Undercover, Spin City, NYPD Blue, and New York News: “I met Charles in freshman year, as I was passing through the Nott. He was building the set for Death of a Salesman, and he said, ‘You're staying, aren't you?!' and began to jokingly harangue me about how I had to stay, it was my duty as an artist, a student, a human being. The Nott soon became my home away from home.

“I originally came to Union to appease my parents. My not-so-secret desire was to become an actor, and after a year at a ‘respectable' college like Union, I had every intention of transferring to some conservatory or other. But by the end of winter term, I'd been cast in a play for the third time in one year. Friends of mine who'd gone to schools with big theater departments had graduated with fewer roles under their belts than I had already done as a freshman. So I decided to stay at Union, get a wonderful liberal arts education, and take advantage of the one-on-one interaction that I was lucky enough to have with astounding professionals like Charles and Barry Smith [who retired in 1999], as well as the numerous guest artists from New York City who paraded through.”

Joe Millett '77, resident stage manager for the Clarence Brown Theater, on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville: “I have been a freelance stage manager since graduating from Union with time out for a master of fine arts degree from the University of Southern California.

“As a freshman, unsure of my path in life, I knew I loved theater, but I also knew it was a hard way of life, and only for the dedicated, serious artist, intensely committed to the highest aesthetic goals. Monks, in short, feeding only on art.

“My first show at Union was Arthur Kopit's Indians, a trenchant piece that paralleled America's conquest of the West with America's actions in Southeast Asia (I was cast as a particularly dimwitted senator). The set was to be made of barn wood, to come from local condemned farm properties.

“The day the lumber was to be loaded into the Nott, we students gathered for the work. All around me flowed a sea of serious faces (all strangers), practically scowling. This is going to be a long Saturday, I thought.

“Then Charlie opened the front door and shouted, 'Wagons, ho!' Suddenly, everybody smiled, and strangely enough, I was smiling, too. We formed a bucket brigade (although we called it by a very similar name), and wood coursed through the building. And through it all, casually joking, was Charlie. Who is this student, I thought, and did he need a roommate?”

Sarah Teasdale '94, now in medical school in Massachusetts. She's also directed the theater program at the Boston Latin School: “My best memories of Union are of working in the Nott on Charles's sets. All fantastic creations-wildly inventive, bringing to life an entirely new world. Charles could see extraordinary possibilities, down to the most meticulous detail. For the Oedipus set, director Barry Smith wanted an Eastern-Buddhist flair, so Charles turned the Nott into a temple. The seats became prayer pillows (audience members had to remove their shoes before entering), the center of the stage was a large altar with a flame pit, and on the wall behind was a two-story, three-dimensional Buddha. Construction involved thousands of small, square tin foil tiles spray-painted gold, but the best part was the hair: Charles somehow collected hundreds of stale bagels, and we coated them with shellac and tin foil and sprayed them gold. It was the most labor-intensive hairdo I've ever known!”

Emilia Teasdale '97 (Sarah's sister) is a theater teacher in the New York public school system: “I met Charles as he was building a set in Upperclass Dining Hall. The Nott had been closed for construction and they had not started building the Yulman, so theater had to happen wherever it could. Charles and Lee Rose were doing Spiked Heels in the dining room. I volunteered to be assistant stage manager, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Charles created an apartment set with all the little touches-pictures on the wall, three working doors, clothing thrown over the sofa-while people were eating lunch. Most of the crew were freshmen. Getting used to living away from home, making new friends, taking college courses was rough. But Charles made it a great experience, and of course, I was hooked on theater from then on.”

Rachel Elfenbien '88, who worked with Jim Henson Productions (The Muppets), lives in Seattle, and is still involved in theater: “We did Aristophanes' The Birds when I was here, and Charles outdid himself in creating the Cloud Cuckooland set. I recall him with impish glee building a jungle gym and painting a Greco-Roman frieze all around the Nott. He had seats removed from the theater, and replaced with pillows that squeaked -kind of like whoopee cushions.

“Charles could have gone anywhere, and he chose Union. Union is lucky to have him. We were all very, very lucky.”

Doris Lo '07: “Charles is eclectic, and eccentric, and innovative. My first day at the theater as a freshman, I was in the design studio before his set design class. He was working at the table, on something round and colorful, like a color wheel, and he was spinning it. Because I was timid, I sat there watching and listening. Finally someone asked what it was, and when Charles said it was his syllabus, my eyes lit up in awe. He said he didn't want to hand his students a piece of paper to read so he decided to try something new.”

John Miller, lighting designer and technical director, Union College: “Charles has been a great friend to me and my family and is my youngest's godfather. We work pretty much round the clock, getting up at 3 and 4 a.m. Then we come in and realize that we are both losing sleep over a particular problem in design and construction. In the morning he listens to my stories and I listen to his. It's our way of turning a day of mayhem into one of fun.”

Jay Kohn '74 is production manager at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he has been on staff for 24 years: “From his earliest days, when he was only a few years older than those of us in his classes, Charles had good working relationships with his students. (He shared with me since then that he viewed us as his college buddies, since he had never lived in college dorms and had those kinds of relationships.)

“The first show we worked on was a provocative and violent work called The Madman and the Nun, by Polish playwright Stanislaw Witkiewicz; the set was a polished, gleaming hospital amphitheater with a metal gurney in the middle, surrounded by authority figures representing hospital orderlies (of the four figures, two were plaster casts and two were live actors made to look like plaster figures). It was a strong visual statement, and those of us building it worked long hours with Charles, bonding over late-night set painting and 3 AM visits to the Scotia Diner for fuel.”

Sam Ullmann, professor emeritus of English, who taught modern and contemporary drama. He is still involved in local theater: “I see probably 50 plays a year, so I think I've got a sense of what's good and what isn't. Before Charles arrived, Gifford Wingate (English department faculty member) ran the theater, directed the actors, and got students to paint a few background props. We didn't even have an arts department. When Charles came as Union's first scenic designer, that really transformed the theater program and brought it to a much higher level. He could easily be on Broadway.”

Diane Smith-Sadak '85, program director and associate professor of acting and directing at Towson University Department of Theatre Arts: “As a teacher, Charles was always professional, yet relaxed and profoundly focused on the potential of each student. He had, in other words, a deep well of faith and patience. I still remember words of encouragement that have shaped my own aesthetic as a director, and defined my working vocabulary with the designers I have collaborated with since that time.

“I am awed by the way his mind works; whether on a problem of scenic design, discussing a book, his prolific work as a visual artist, or doodling designs for Barry's and my wedding cake on a restaurant napkin. He can be off in the ether one moment, discussing the far reaches of philosophy and theology, and then turn on a dime and put you right back into the world of chairs, tables, and lamps. He provides dreaming and breathing room, and then returns to the world of the supremely functional.”

Bill Finlay, professor and chair of theater and dance, Union College: “When I interviewed for the job here, Charles was on sabbatical so I was only able to view photos of his production designs. I immediately recognized his incredible artistic talent and saw shows that he had designed that could have easily transferred to any professional theater in the country.”

Hilary Tann, professor of music, Union College: “I remember when I was first chair of performing arts, having to sign off on 'half a Volkswagen' for Charles. After all, where else would a contemporary Caliban stay in The Tempest? This was my introduction to what it meant to oversee a theater budget; I gradually got used to the requests and loved the results. Wherever Charles is making a home becomes a den of oddly juxtaposed bric-a-brac. Everything is potential set-making material. And everything is potentially a set. Always a sense of things freshly seen and always a sense of play.”

Michelle Jester '98, lives in Rennes, France, where she teaches at Lycée-Collège St. Vincent, a private school with a program for students fluent in English: “I first met Charles while doing props on The Servant of Two Masters in 1995 – the first production in the main theater space of the Yulman. Charles was wonderful to work with, giving us advice and teaching us when necessary, all the while treating us like the adults we were becoming. His office and studio were filled with fascinating books, weird little gadgets, and drawings, drawings, drawings. That always impressed me – so many things to look at.

“After he'd come back from vacation with rolls and rolls of film, you would spend 45 minutes looking at 300 photos of Italian eaves, French half-timbered houses' window sills, Swiss doorways, etc. – all of which were taken in case he ever needed inspiration for a set one day. But he did teach me to look more closely at the beauty around me and to take inspiration from it.”

Mark Boylan '71, professor at the College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology: “Charlie inherited the old Nott theater-in-the-round, where the more creative set designs … consisted of a few chairs, a table, and maybe a brass bed. Despite its limitations, he saw the space's potential and set about creating a sort of theatrical IMAX. The first two productions that year, Ondine and Peace, were stunning examples of his approach. And in the spring, when Peter Tarshis and I, having just written Disnetia (a musical satire about a world taken over by Walt Disney), asked Charlie to design the set, we were thinking perhaps he could replicate a television studio. Instead, Charlie constructed a grotesque 20-foot Mickey Mouse head, with an open mouth, through which the actors ('Mouseketeers') marched in. Very Fellini-esque – and very risky – since if the Disney lawyers had ever found out about all this, the three of us could have landed in court.”

Lee Rose '76 went on to California Institute of the Arts and returned to Union as director of the College Center and adjunct professor in theater. At Union, he taught classes and directed several shows on which he and Steckler collaborated. He is on the faculty at the University of Maine at Machias: “The only way I can communicate succinctly what knowing and working with Charlie has meant to me is in the way he remains my mentor as I continue to learn to teach theater. In class, as a scholar and a working artist, I am amazed how often I find myself asking simply, 'What would Charlie do?' I consider him among my muses.”

Ari Gottlieb '99, a self-described actor who will always be involved in the theater in some respect, is applying to law school: “In my first class with Charles, I was terrible at just about everything (we were building the set for Equus), but he always managed to find something for me to do where I could neither hurt anyone nor damage the set. I remember being impressed with how calm he was, how nothing seemed to rattle him. And when you meet Charles, you feel like you've known him forever.

“In 2004, Chris Welch and I did a show at the Edinburgh Fringe. We had heard rumors that Charles would be in Scotland, though we didn't want to get our hopes up. I'll never forget coming down from the theater landing and seeing the door open and Charles walk through – thousands of miles from Schenectady, in a tiny, thirty-person, non-air-conditioned theater.”