COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 5 ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, AMOS ADAMS the built environment is intended to produce.” After Germany’s reunification, Eisenhuttenstadt’s population decreased by 50 percent, as steel production privatized. In response, the government embarked on an urban renewal program that explicitly draws its inspiration from Eisenhüttenstadt’s socialist history. Many apartment blocks were demolished in underpopulated areas, and people were moved to renovated and restored housing in the inner city. The goal was to revitalize housing complexes that originally fulfilled the needs of young families and redesign them to accommodate the needs of the elderly. The success of Eisenhüttenstadt’s city center revitalization highlights the importance of drawing inspiration from alternative models of urban living and connecting with local histories. Fox’s research demonstrates that both residents and architects in Eisenhüttenstadt conceived the city—particularly after reunification— as a social project that relied on the built environment for its conditions of possibility. “It’s a sort of model of urban thriving that’s not predicated on growth,” Fox says. “We have this idea that urban renewal must require population growth and economic growth to some degree, but can you have urban renewal without restoring that population loss?” THEATRE FINDING FREEDOM In the early hours of May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls and a crew composed of fellow slaves stole a cotton steamer in Charleston, S.C., picked up family members at a rendezvous point, then navigated their way through the harbor. Once clear of the harbor and outside of Confederate waters, he had his crew surrender the ship to the blockading Union fleet. Smalls would later go on to serve five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. His amazing life was depicted in an October world premiere production of Finding Freedom, The Journey of Robert Smalls at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, with media design by Joseph Amodei. Combining media with music and stage movement, Amodei, assistant professor of theatre, designed the production’s visual content, blending responsive screen projections with live video and film to connect the audience with the world in which the characters live. Finding Freedom depicts the early years of Smalls enslaved in Beaufort, S.C.; years learning the land, waters and Gullah traditions of his mother; the bold seizure of the USS Planter through the Charleston Harbor; and his later life of advocacy in Congress. “In this case, media design is how content and videos contributed to the story,” Amodei says. “For me, it’s blending that with live camera, videos switching work that’s mixed, with these more imagistic portraits. And then also I feel like I’m in charge of interactivity, having sound affect the quality of the experience, making sure everything’s networked together so it can be really, really precise for some of the movements.” A world premiere takes months of planning. Amodei says the production team began discussing the broad concepts surrounding the design with director JaMeeka Holloway. Then came weekly conversations, sketching, digital creating, storyboarding, all getting ready for the rehearsal process. Understanding the subject’s context shapes the designs, Amodei adds. The incorporation of media into productions creates a true interaction, and sense of intimacy, with the audience, Amodei says. “[Media design] adds a type of liveness that I think people enjoy,” he says. “We see this type of camera now in concerts, and there’s a long history of this type of work, but it’s often been hard to do for various reasons or relegated to more experimental work, which is also great. But now, we live such mediated lives, it almost makes sense to bring this type of world into live storytelling.” Finding Freedom, The Journey of Robert Smalls premiered at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C.
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