lthough it is ultimately the director who exerts creative control over the staging of a play, in practice many of the decisions about the appearance of the production — costumes, backdrops, stage mechanics, etc. — are left up to the stage designer. Stage design, with its synthesis of light, color, movement, technology and other visual and aural elements, attracted some of the most dynamic and experimental artists in Russia during the first years of the twentieth century. They incorporated trends and innovations in painterly and plastic mediums into set and costume design.