- Donald Oenslager
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Donald Oenslager (March 7, 1902 - June 11, 1975) was a celebrated American scenic designer who won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.
Contents
Biography
Oenslager was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and became interested in design while studying in Europe. His first work as designer was for the ballet "Sooner or Later" in 1925. He had started as an actor in the 1920s at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Harrisburg Playhouse.[1]
He designed sets and often lighting for more than 140 Broadway productions between 1925 and 1975. In 1959 he was awarded the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for his work on Leonard Spigelgass's play A Majority of One. He had received a Tony nomination two years earlier for his work on the play Major Barbara.
He taught scenic design at the Yale School of Drama for many years [1] and the institution continues to award an annual scholarship for stage design in his name. Among his notable pupils were John Lee Beatty.
A number of his scenic design sketches are part of the permanent collection at the Museum of the City of New York. The Museum had an exhibition of his designs in 2008.[2]
He brought "a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design."[1]
Works (selected)
- Good News (1927)
- The New Moon (1928)
- Follow Thru (1929)
- Girl Crazy (1930)
- You Said It (1931)
- America's Sweetheart (1931)
- Anything Goes (1934)
- The Farmer Takes a Wife (1934)
- First Lady (1935)
- Stage Door (1936)
- Red, Hot and Blue (1936)
- Johnny Johnson (1936)
- You Can't Take It with You (1936)
- I'd Rather Be Right (1937)
- Skylark (1939)
- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939)
- My Dear Children (1940)
- Claudia (1941)
- Born Yesterday (1946)
- Present Laughter (1946)
- Park Avenue (1946)
- The Fatal Weakness (1946)
- Years Ago (1946)
- Angel in the Wings (1947)
- Life With Mother (1948)
- Goodbye, My Fancy (1948)
- The Rat Race (1949)
- The Velvet Glove (1949)
- Sabrina Fair (1953)
- The Prescott Proposals (1953)
- Dear Charles (1954)
- Janus (1955)
- Major Barbara (1957)
- The Pleasure of His Company (1958)
- The Marriage-Go-Round (1958)
- A Majority of One (1959)
- A Far Country (1961)
- A Case of Libel (1963)
- Spofford (1967)
References
- ^ a b c Donald Oenslager papers and designs, 1922-1982 Billy Rose Theatre Collection, frick.org, retrieved March 5, 2010
- ^ Setting the Stage: Scenic Designs by Donald Oenslager Museum of the City of New York, retrieved March 5, 2010
External links
Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (1947–1975) David Folks (1947) · Horace Armistead (1948) · Jo Mielziner (1949) · Jo Mielziner (1950) · Boris Aronson (1951) · Jo Mielziner (1952) · Raoul Penè Du Bois (1953) · Peter Larkin (1954) · Oliver Messel (1955) · Peter Larkin (1956) · Oliver Smith (1957) · Oliver Smith (1958) · Donald Oenslager (1959) · Will Steven Armstrong (1962) · Sean Kenny (1963) · Oliver Smith (1964) · Oliver Smith (1965) · Howard Bay (1966) · Boris Aronson (1967) · Desmond Heeley (1968) · Boris Aronson (1969) · Jo Mielziner (1970) · Boris Aronson (1971) · Boris Aronson (1972) · Tony Walton (1973) · Eugene Lee / Franne Lee (1974) · Carl Toms (1975)
Complete list · (1947–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2004) · (2005-present (Play)) · (2005-present (Musical)) Categories:- 1902 births
- 1975 deaths
- American scenic designers
- Tony Award winners
- American artist stubs
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