JONES, ROBERT EDMOND

Jones, Robert Edmond: translation

(1887-1954)

A native of Milton, New Hampshire, Robert Edmond Jones was educated at Harvard University, did some scene design work in New York in 1912, then spent a year observing Max Reinhardt's work at the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin. With his renowned setting forThe Man Who Married a Dumb Wifein 1915, he began his long upward trajectory of scene designs (and often lighting and costumes) for Broadway productions. Most importantly, he implemented the revolution in theatrical practice called theNew Stagecraftthat was begun byJoseph Urban.The theories of Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig were central to his work; using a limited color palette and simplified visual images andsymbols, he rejected 19th-century painted realism.

Jones's influence continued with his acclaimed productions of Shakespeare for producer Arthur Hopkins:Richard III(1920),Macbeth(1921), andHamlet(1922). Jones also enjoyed a long association with Eugene O'Neill, first with theProvincetown Players, and later as designer of many of O'Neill's dramas on Broadway, includingDesire Under the Elms(1924),The Fountain(1925),The Great God Brown(1926),Mourning Becomes Electra* (1931),Ah, Wilderness!* (1933), andThe Iceman Cometh* (1946). Through his long, prolific career Jones designed a range of classic and contemporary plays, includingLove for Love(1925),The Green Bay Tree(1933),The Philadelphia Story* (1940), andLute Song(1946), and he wrote several important books, includingContinental Stagecraft(1922; with Kenneth Macgowan) and his widely influentialThe Dramatic Imagination(1941).