2010 OISTAT Governing Board Meeting was held from March 31st to April 3rd in Kansas City, Missouri. The EC reviewed the current state of OISTAT membership, the organization’s financial report, and election issues. In addition, the group discussed the latest progress of OISTAT’s major projects with the Commission Chairs, including Scenofest 2011, World Scenography, Digital Theatre Words, and the Technical Invention Prize(TIP). As OISTAT projects increase and develop, the current website is no longer able to meet the needs of the organization. The OISTAT Secretariat is charged with the development of a new website in order to provide better service to members and other professionals throughout the world. At the invitation of USITT, the representatives of OISTAT gave the following presentations at the USITT Annual Conference :
- On April 1st, Lin Heng-Cheng (Taiwan), World Stage Design (WSD) 2009 Gold Medal winner for Costume Design, was invited to present his outstanding theatrical costume designs blending the eastern mode with western style; Lin’s award-winning design was also exhibited in the Stage Expo International Exhibits area.
- On April 1st, Cindy Limauro (U.S.A.), one of the Artistic Team for Scenofest 2011, gave an account of the themes and ideas for the 2011 Scenofest workshops and related events.
- On April 2nd, Liu Xinglin (China), the winner of the WSD 2009 Gold Medal for scene design, talked about his personal design approach and presented his spectacular scene designs, including the award-winning piece, Tangwan ; Liu’s award-winning production was also displayed in the Stage Expo International Exhibits area.
- On April 2nd, USITT members who are active delegates to OISTAT shared their OISTAT experiences with their colleagues. Michael Ramsaur, Vice President of OISTAT, spoke on the 2009 World Stage Design and OISTAT World Congress held in South Korea; Laura J. Crow, Head of the OISTAT Costume Working Group, recounted the creative projects of the OISTAT Costume Working Group; Richard K. Thomas, member of the OISTAT Sound Working Group, shared a glimpse of the innovative projects of their working group; Fritz Schwentker, member of OISTAT Technology Commission, talked about the outreach efforts of the Technology Commission.
- On April 3rd, Kate Burnett (UK), Chair of OISTAT History & Theory Commission, discussed a range of English productions in ‘found spaces’ in her paper ‘Let’s Do the Show Right Here!’; Reija Hirvikoski (Finland), Chair of OISTAT Scenography Commission, spoke on “The Highlights of Finnish Stage Design”.
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