Set Design

Born in Sacramento, California, Alex was raised in Columbia, South Carolina and West Palm Beach, Florida. Absorbing a mix of cultures and ways from people in the South, East, and West of the United States he returned to California to study and pursue Scenic and Production Design for Theatre, Film, and Television. A graduate of The California Institute of the Arts, Alex has worked on many film and television productions in and out of the Los Angeles Area, including The 2007 MTV Movie Awards, Pirates of the Caribbean II and III, and has worked with such theatre companies as The Colony Theatre, The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Company, The Cuillo Theatre, Florida Stage and The Kirk Douglas Theatre. Alex is currently working with Thinkwell Design and Production, a design firm which deals mainly in themed entertainment design, and working on a film version of the musical The Last Five Years.

Thrilled to be working alongside Invertigo Dance Theatre and Laura Karlin, Alex can't wait to see this company flourish and take its place among the top dance companies of the world. Alex is designing the set for Invertigo's September 2008 premiere of Flip Flops and Platforms.

"Set Design deals with objects for which a designer has thought about to be truthful to the production. However the final product is not the sole idea of its creator. The designer is linked to the production and must not stray from the fact that he/she is there to tell a story, progress the though line, and create a feeling within the audience that is complementary to the production."

"The responsibility to produce a feeling or concept and communicate this non-verbally into a three dimensional tangible object is placed solely on the designer. The purpose of a designer is not to simply establish the environment but also make people think about that environment and its affect on the play's characters. The designer's main purpose, above all however, is to convey and progress the story physically, emotionally, etc., putting his/her own prejudices or ideas away, by determining what is best for a production."

"Both the designer and the philosopher claim a respective tool for their line of communication, the designer in his object and the philosopher in his word. This is the most important concept in design. As the philosopher has thought behind every word spoken or written, so does the designer to his objects. The most important difference is the designer has a production to be truthful to while the philosopher has only to be truthful to his sense of truth. It is at this point that the philosopher and the designer deviate, for the final product is no longer the sole idea of its creator. The designer is still at mercy to the production and must not stray from the fact that he/she is there to tell a story , progress the through line, and by doing such create a feeling within the audience that is complementary to the production."

For more information on Alex Calle, please visit AlexCalle.com for details.