Cade M. Sikora

In the spring of 2018, I received the William Case Kramer Research Fellowship from the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute at The Ohio State University for the purpose of studying designer Maria Björnson and her work on The Phantom of the Opera and The Little Prince. Both productions are significant as they are maintained and revived constantly: The Phantom of the Opera still runs in London and New York while being toured internationally and The Little Prince is revived regularly in the United States and has been many productions exported internationally.

In addition to coming to understand Björnson’s intentions and design process, I also learned a great deal about how Björnson collaborated. My research because just as much about Björnson’s collaborators as it did about Björnson. Björnson passed away in 2002, leaving the work of Looking after the designs to her many friends and colleagues with whom she developed the designs. My finding were both intellectual and sentimental as many of her collaborators whom I interviewed felt a certain attachment to the memory of Björnson, a colleague whom they loved and respected and whose vision they strive to maintain.

An article of my findings was published in Theatre Design & Technology by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.