Josafath Reynoso

Bio:

Josafath Reynoso is a Mexican scenographer working in the US as a freelance scenic designer and faculty member at Southeast Missouri State University. He has a BFA in Scenography from the National School of Theatrical Arts (ENAT) in Mexico City and an MFA in Theatre/Scenic Design from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN. He has designed nationally for Triad Stage (Greensboro, NC), The Clarence Brown Theatre, Lab Theatre, Relix Variety Theatre, Carousel Theatre (Knoxville, TN), Lexington Children’s Theatre (Lexington, KY), Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall (Cape Girardeau, MO), among others. Internationally he has designed for Teatro del Borde (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Escena 8 (Caracas, Venezuela), KCDC (Hazafon, Israel), The Industrial Palace (Prague, Czech Rep.), Teatro Salvador Novo, Foro Lopez Mancera, El Circulo Teatral, Teatro Sergio Magaña (Mexico City, Mexico), Teatro del Estado, Teatro Doblado, Foro Luna Negra (Guanajuato, Mexico), among many others. He has been awarded the USITT YD&T Scene Design Award in 2015, First Place in Scenic Design from SETC 2014, the BroadwayWorld 2013 Award in Set Design, the Ready-for-Work Award from SETC, the Professional Development Award from UT Theatre, and an Honorable Mention in Scenic Design from SETC 2015, among many others. He has presented his work at Stage|Set|Scenery in Berlin, Germany and was one of fifteen designers selected nationwide to present at the USITT Young Designer’s Forum and one in twenty nine for the National Design Portfolio Review in NYC. He has represented the US in Berlin, Germany, and Mexico in Prague, Czech Republic and Caracas, Venezuela for the 2007 Scenofest at the Prague Quadrennial, and 2006 Baruta Festival, respectively

Artist Statement:

Scenography to me is about emptiness. Like in the Hindu parable, where a vase is defined by the space within it and not by the clay that entraps it, a set is more about hinting at what cannot be seen than about the elements on stage. It is a character, not a context. Its raw materials are not the wood and paint that shape it, but the emotions that are conveyed through the dramaturgy. It should never keep its secrets from the uninformed audiences, but invites the most discerning parishioners to look further. A set exists only between the rising of the curtain and the moment it falls. It derives its life from the action on stage. When inhabited, it converses with the audience. It speaks in poetry; the poetry of the right-time-at-the-right-place. Most beautiful of all is its capacity to reconstitute. Once every project is done and the final curtain falls on it, it returns to the emptiness of the vase- the bare stage- and then begins again with each play. In my designs, through an emotional approach and intense analysis, I try to capture the poetics of the ephemeral. On stage, a chair is an anchor that connects us to reality when in it, a living, breathing character makes a great realization; a lamppost exists only to frame the single second of perfect love; the floor dances with the music, and even the most monumental structures are but fragile hints of an even greater emotion.