`Yes We Can,’ Says
Theatrical Design Firm
By Caitlin McNamara
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
GOWANUS — In a bright white basement room of the Old American Can Factory, new tenants have set up shop. In doing so they joined the quietly thriving creative community inhabiting the recently renovated industrial complex less than a block from the Gowanus Canal.
Led by set designer Lee Savage, a group of friends with myriad theatrical and design related skills — costume, lighting and set designers, directors and composers — together occupy Studio D1 under the name Wingspace Theatrical Design.
“We pooled resources, and share books and tools,” says Savage, who holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. “We have a ‘house of design’ together where people can each enhance each other’s projects.”
Wingspace has more than a dozen members, but only seven have desks in the studio. Others don’t need flat surfaces to do their work, but all members come in to meet regularly. A producer could find all the talent needed for a show at this address, although the members also work independently or in pairs, recommending each other for projects.
At the launch party in February, four MacBooks sat open around the room, among large bowls of chips and fruit, giving partygoers access to the new, hours-old Wingspace web site. Designed for them pro bono by friend and Yale alum Willy Wong, the site offers easy perusing of member bios, projects and resumes. Oversized books such as China By Rail and tomes about fashion through the ages fill several open metal bookshelves that serve as room partitions.
Savage says graduate school was his first experience working in a communal environment. “When I moved to New York, I felt a kind of selfish desire to recreate that. I couldn’t see working in an apartment and showing up for a few meetings before the show. To turn to someone and say, ‘what do you think’ is so valuable.”
Members of Wingspace can nominate new members after having a “great collaborative experience” with them, Savage says, “if you feel you are symbiotic, creating something as a group. Part of membership is commitment to the group itself.”
Several of the founding members met at Yale, but school education has no bearing on membership eligibility. Instead, he says, “We need diversity of talent.”
The most striking feature of the new Wingspace headquarters is the ceiling. Large square beams radiate from a center column like spokes of a giant wheel. Bare bulbs and sunlight illuminate original white washed brick. Against the historic backdrop, a size-zero manikin stands wearing a photo of an Olsen twin pinned where the head would be.
Fashion sketches are taped to the pillar near announcements of upcoming plays by Wingspace members and the first discussion in the “Salon Series,” which is Monday night. (It will be an “open discussion exploring the design process of Soho Rep’s recent production of BLASTED by Sarah Kane.” RSVP to events@wingspace.com.)
The Old American Can Factory was built in 1886, according to the web site of XO Projects Inc, the industrial designers who redeveloped and now operate the complex. Building manager Nathan Elbogen is careful to “curate tenants” in a way that maintains the particular creative environment.
From Factory to Films
Tenants include Akashic Books, Archipelago Books, One Story Press and Ugly Duckling Presse. Roof Top Films, Market Road Films and Friday Films documentary production call the factory home. Dozens of sculpture, painting, movement, architecture and fashion studios can be found behind industrial size doors.
Savage believes a previous tenant of their studio was a former dean of Rhode Island School of Design (where Savage attended undergrad). The most recent was a violinmaker, who moved elsewhere in the complex, making room for Wingspace.
Trolley tracks of a sort are still visible in the hallways of the basement floor. On the main floor sits a Linotype machine, outside the studio of Lite Brite Neon, a modern neon fixture manufacturer that Time Out New York has called “arguably the neon king of New York.”
“It took a long time to get the space,” says Savage. “Nathan wanted us to wait for when this space became available. Without him, we wouldn’t have the spirit that exists in the Can Factory.”
“I wish I could spend more time there. It’s a wonderful place to work.”
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© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009
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