The history — and the future — of the stage

Studio 360
The Shed and Lawrence Weiner's IN FRONT OF ITSELF (rendering).

Joshua Dachs is one of America’s premier designers of theatrical spaces, and his firm, Fisher Dachs Associates, has worked on performance halls — renovating them, designing them from scratch — all over America and the world, from Lincoln Center to the Xiqu Centre for Chinese Opera in Hong Kong. Last year he wrote an article for American Theatre, “Improvise, Imitate, Formalize, Reject, Repeat: How the Wheel of Innovation Turns,” about the history of the stage, how it evolved and how it's still evolving.

He takes us on a historical tour from Ancient Greece, to Shakespearean England, to Renaissance Italy, to Broadway and beyond.

One of Dach’s latest projects is The Shed, a new multi-arts center designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group on Manhattan’s West Side, opening in 2019.

oembed://https%3A//vimeo.com/173956112

Are you with The World?

The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.